Securing identities and other data and complying with regulations that make it law were among the hot topics fielded by the security and risk experts at Forrester Research in 2010, the think firm said in a new report.

Concerns about identity and fraud accounted for 26% of all 1,553 inquiries fielded in 2010 by the research and advisory firm's security and risk team, Forrester analyst Stephanie Balaouras said in a new report. Twenty-two percent were about governance, risk and compliance while data and mobile device security accounted for 20%, Balaouras said.

The identity and fraud questions centered on directories, multi-factor authentication, single sign-on and privileged identity management, the Forrester report said, while governance, risk and compliance areas of interest included business continuity concerns and how to stay on top of security standards, regulations and legislation, Balaouras said.

Many clients of the firm were interested in knowing what their peers were doing, she added, and “throughout 2010 we also heard repeatedly from our clients that the increasing focus on oversight and governance, coupled with the explosion of social and mobile device use, was forcing them to fundamentally change their existing approach to security.”