Less widely understood and discussed are the variable costs related to incident response, which can differ widely from case-to-case and if unmanaged can run far higher than fixed costs.

FORBES: Data Breach FUD: Fear, Uncertainty And Dollars

The firms that did worst were those that relied less on variable pay that is, pay related to performance and more on high fixed salaries.

ECONOMIST: Incentives

The financial media, supported by investment product advertising, does not want to discourage investors from taking on the risks related to the cornucopia of products advertised even those products that are always a bad deal, such as variable annuities.

FORBES: Pension Consultant Shenanigans (September 4, 2004 )