HP announced the latest in a string of acquisitions on Monday, with plans to buy security software company ArcSight for $1.5 billion in cash. In the last six months, the PC manufacturer has announced plans to acquire Fortify, 3Com, Palm and 3PAR, to name a few, giving it a larger footprint in networking, mobile computing and -- most notably -- security.

The moves are bold, but not surprising. Not unlike chip manufacturer Intel, which last month announced plans to buy McAfee, HP has long been in the commodity business, which offers thin margins. The best way to compensate is through the buy up of modest-sized companies that play in growth markets (ie, networking, mobile computing, security) and offer substantial growth margins.

Expect more of the same.

Remember that rumor about Disney movies including - er, we'll call them provocative images, amid the animation? Well apparently messages that are invisible to the untrained eye have infiltrated the Web, and are being used by spies to give away our secrets.

Gizmodo reports that Moscow communicated with alleged spies in the U.S. by encoding instructions on public websites -- a process called steganography.

Read for yourself about this and other high-tech tricks used during this undercover operation.

What's the biggest advantage of taking the job of cybersecurity coordinator at the White House? Being able to turn your nose up at Congress, apparently.

During a Senate hearing to discuss a cybersecurity bill he introduced with Sens. Thomas Carper, D-Del., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Thursday, Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., noted in opening testimony that Cyber Coordinator Howard Schmidt has been invited to testify before the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on numerous occasions, but Schmidt has always refused, citing executive privilege. Lieberman used this fact to argue for a Senate appointed director of cybersecurity, which is among the provisions included in the bill.

Certainly, there are cases where the president and other members of the executive branch may need to resist interventions by the legislative and judicial branches, which executive privilege provides. However, one would hope these cases would be few and far between, and that executive privilege wouldn't be used to balk at legitimate efforts to get some grasp on the security issues facing federal computer networks. That may not be the White House's intention in keeping Schmidt from offering his perspective to Congress, but that's ultimately the message sent.

The White House also has blocked access by the press to Schmidt, whom I for one counted among my most valuable sources prior to his appointment.

Is this what President Obama meant by transparency?

On Thursday, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Don Proctor, Cisco's senior vice president and leader of the company's cybersecurity task force in the Office of the CEO.

Though little information about the task force can be found online, Proctor's executive bio includes this vague description about his role: "works with Cisco customers and partners, and government leaders to advance the safety, privacy and integrity of their critical network infrastructure."

Still unclear on what exactly that entails, I asked him. He described himself as the cybersecurity "executive sponsor" inside of Cisco.

Drawing my own conclusions, I gather that Proctor's role is one part technologist, one part advocate, one part evangelist and one part lobbyist -- participating in a public-private dialogue and promoting partnerships to improve the overall state of cybersecurity and (as a valuable byproduct) further establishing Cisco as the authority in all things that touch the network.

So is this a legitimate job description or just a good corporate marketing strategy? Perhaps a bit of both, though based upon Proctor's qualifications, he understands cyber and is a legitimate techie, having spent the better part of his last 15 years at Cisco in software development.

Expect other vendors to follow Cisco's lead, as this concept of 'cyber executive' catches on. But beware of imposters.

The House passed on Friday by a 229 to 186 vote the Defense authorization bill, which included an amendment to overhaul federal cybersecurity policy.

Inclusion of the the amendment's information security provisions in the Defense bill is an obvious attempt to speed passage of existing measures from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to update the Federal Information Security Management Act, which dictates agencies' information security processes, and establish a National Office of Cyberspace in the White House with budget authority and governmentwide coordinating responsibilities.

A spokesperson for Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who offered the amendment with Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., claimed the decision to include the amendment with the authorization bill was less strategic as it was practical, since "properly securing our cyber infrastructure is a national security issue." But let's be honest: the Committee hopes this will push the measure through, perhaps even before Congress's August recess. Whether that happens remains to be seen; this bill has a lot of meaty content that will likely face some opposition -- most notably the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law.