Naughty

U.K. HM Revenue & Customs. More than 25 million records of children were lost in a breach that affected 40 percent of the British population.

Consumers responding to phishing e-mails. Online "phishing" and man-in-the-middle attacks continue to rise in profitability because consumers aren't paying attention to red flags.

TJ Maxx. Forget Santa's naughty list, they're already reaping the horror of their own insecurity in the court system. A lump of coal might be a welcome relief.

Nice

PKI [Public key infrastructure]. The 1990's solution that looked for a problem finally has found more than a dozen and come full circle. This technology is more pervasive than ever with more PK-aware applications on the rise.

Banks that step up security. U.S. Bank, Bank of New Zealand and others are increasing online security, adding things like picture replay, question-and-answer, grid cards and fraud detection solutions.

Smart, safe surfing. Let's hear it for online retailers that use encryption to secure transactions.