2014: The year everyone's security took a hit

In the pigpen of security during 2014, all hogs, regardless of affiliation and technology choices, found themselves covered in muck at some stage. The amount of muck involved varied from platform to platform, but no one could claim to remain untarnished by year's end.

Whether it was the widely distributed OpenSSL Heartbleed vulnerability, OS X and iOS being caught in man-in-the-middle SSL attacks, or Windows' recent Schannel remote code execution issues, the common thread that ran through each platform was what was once referred to as Secure Sockets Layer, but would be more aptly dubbed Swiss cheese when all was said and done.

With all players suffering, and each new vulnerability revealing only what not to use rather than what techniques and technology should be used, regular users would be forgiven for feeling less sure of the security with each passing day. But such are the experiences that must be worked through in order to learn that an incorrectly perceived reality is nothing but self-delusion.