The announcement this month that as many as 40 million Target customers may have had their credit and debit account information stolen emphasizes the need for businesses to maintain strong cyber security.

Target revealed that between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, credit and debit card numbers, customer names, card expiration dates and three-digit security codes were all taken when the company’s database was hacked.

With all the attention and focus on college education by both the government and private sector, college graduate rates have actually stalled, a new study has found.

About 56% of students who entered college as freshman in 2007 had earned a degree six years later, according to a report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. That rate is the same as it was in 2006.

A number of factors – including a resurgent automobile industry and an increase in energy industry production – are pointing to an improving economy in 2014, according to predictions from Forbes.

Forbes writer Michael Evans offered a list of factors that have helped the United States experience a “slow but steady recovery” since the end of the Great Recession in 2008.

The nation’s industrial output experienced the biggest increase in a year in November, led primarily by utility companies making big profits during the recent cold temperatures across the country.

According to the Federal Reserve, industrial production increased by 1.1% in November, which is the biggest increase since November 2012.

Compared to November 2012, production is up 3.2%.

A new study on the success rates of college students takes into account the attractiveness of the student. Those who were found to have above average looks ended up having a better chance of earning a four-year degree than those who were found to be less attractive.

The study s being published online this week in a book called “Physical Attractiveness and the Accumulation of Social and Human Capital in Adolescence and Young Adulthood,” co-authored by Rachel Gordon, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Retail sales increased in November, according to the Commerce Department, with increased purchases of automobiles and other goods.

Sales increased 0.7%, which was the largest gain in five months. Sales increased 0.6% in October. Economists had predicted, on average, about a 0.6% increase in November.

The amount of retail sales – $432.3 billion – is 4.7% higher than November 2012, according to the Commerce Department.

The idea that attending business school is only worthwhile if you can get into the top 5 business schools is antiquated thinking, according to data gathered by a website that focuses on business schools and business school graduates.

Poets & Quants recently released data showing that many schools – including far lesser known schools than Harvard and Stanford – offer students an excellent chance to get a job upon graduation.

In another sign of the leveling playing field between men and women in the business world, Mary Barra was named this week as the new chief executive of General Motors Company.

She will be the first female CEO at a major, global car company. Barra will replace retiring chief executive Dan Akerson.

According to an article from Bloomberg Businessweek, Barra, 51, started her career on the General Motors factory floor as an intern 30 years ago. In her current job – senior vice president for global product development – Barra manages product development and quality of all GM cars, a position she has held for 22 months.

Although the issue of student debt has become part of the national debate on higher education, statistics show that high loan debt is not an issue affecting every area of the country.

A study this month from the Institute for College Access and Success reported that there is a disparity in loan levels depending on location in the country and the institution.

Generally speaking, those in the East and Midwest borrow far more money than those in the South and West.

Employers added 203,000 jobs in November, far more than the 180,000 expected by economists, according to numbers released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The numbers from the federal government capped a week of positive news that included numbers from payroll company ADP that showed private companies added more jobs and numbers showing the gross domestic product had grown faster in the third quarter of 2013 than any time since the beginning of 2012.