During World War II, British intelligence agents planted false documents on a corpse to fool Nazi Germany into preparing for an assault on Greece. "Operation Mincemeat" was a success, and covered the actual Allied invasion of Sicily. The "canary trap" technique in espionage spreads multiple versions of false documents to conceal a secret. Canary traps can be used to sniff out information leaks, or as in WWII, to create distractions that hide valuable information. WE-FORGE, a new data protection system designed in the Department of Computer Science, uses artificial intelligence to build on the canary trap concept.

While 2020 won't likely rank on the list of best years ever, for IT leaders there really have been some silver linings. Maybe that's because the huge unexpected disruption of the year -- a pandemic that changed market demand, supply chain, and where and how we all work -- shined a spotlight on how technology and IT are engines that keep an organization functioning, even in the worst of times. At this point so many CIOs can talk about how they moved entire workforces to home technology setups over the course of a day or two. They fortified their VPNs, acquired laptops and other equipment, and put together remote collaboration strategies. Still others focused on the customer.

Fourteen years ago, with 23 million people watching, Justin Guarini came achingly close to superstardom. Guarini, with his mop of curls and a taste for flamboyant, '70s-style shirts, had given up his dream of starring on Broadway to try to become the first "American Idol" in 2002. He ended up the runner-up to Kelly Clarkson. The bright TV lights went dark and the personal assistants scattered. Guarini crashed -- and then went back to his first dream.