Here's the problem with breathlessly reporting on every purported Anonymous hack the second it happens: most of the time, the breaches don't turn out to be a big deal. Take yesterday for example; after a hacker posted a 1.7GB torrent containing server files from the "Bureau of Justice" on the Pirate Bay, early headlines blared variations of "OMG! ANON HAX DEPT. OF JUSTICE!" Unfortunately (fortunately?), that's only kinda true.

After a hot and heavy summer – whew! – things are starting to cool down a bit on the nefarious hacker front. But even though LulzSec and Anonymous have chilled out in the wake of numerous arrests, the lesson remains: almost no website is safe against a skilled and dedicated hacker. Wait! Take off that tinfoil hat! While small business owners will still need to deal with the embarrassment of a successful hack attack, they won’t need to sweat the monetary fallout if they jump on the new SMB data breach insurance being offered by Hartford insurance.

Rapid breathing, sweaty palms, and a tightening of the chest; those physical effects used to be associated with prom night or horror movies, but thanks to all the high-profile hacking antics hitting the headlines these days, you might experience the same jitters whenever a website asks you for some personal information. Even worse, companies don’t always own up to when they’ve been pwned and put your data in danger. It’s getting better, though. California just passed a law that requires companies that have been OMG h@x3d to directly inform their customers of the breach.

Another day, another hacking story full of lulz. This one's a little bit different though; the laughs don't come courtesy of Lulz Security or Anonymous, for the first time in what seems like ages. What's amusing about this story is the target! Hit videogame maker BioWare announced late yesterday that user account data may have been stolen in a recent server breach. That's not funny. What is funny: the server was a 10 year old community server that handled the "Neverwinter Nights" forums. While LulzSec recently ravaged Bethesda in search of Skyrim screenshots, the BioWare hacker apparently prefers his RPGs well-aged.