I really do think heartbleed was a wake-up call for some people and a lot of extra auditing is being done, perhaps with some healthy paranoia fueled by the recent NSA allegations. Software, in general, imo, is pretty insecure. The exploits, bugs, etc are out there and if you'll find them if you look hard enough. Considering software is always being updated, that also means news bugs and security issues.

As a sysadmin, I've just seen too often how the sausage is made. I have zero illusions about security. There are just too many avenues to compromise, be it via software or via plain-jane social engineering. I think one day in the future we (or our children) are going to look back at the age of viruses and buffer overflows and wonder how the hell we managed to get by, the same way I look at cars from the 50s-60s that suffered from things like vapor lock, were incredibly unsafe, and other issues that really don't exist today.

Its not like each year is an increase.. but it seems this year has had more major giant remote ones then in the past

what's "new" (been done for a few years now) is that there's more marketing drive behind them. Fancy commercial names and websites dedicated and issues are often exaggerated.

Actually super critical vulns are still rare (like HB, codered, etc.)