The popular platforms of today are bound to be the targets of tomorrow

By Kevin Prince, chief technology officer, Perimeter E-Security and Doug Howard, former chief strategy officer

(The following is adapted from the forthcoming book, Security 2020, scheduled to be published later this year.)

The social networking (think Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace) phenomenon is only going to grow. And anytime there is a system, program, or process used by millions of people, criminals look for ways to exploit it.

There have already been worms, scams, viruses, and malware targeting social-networking platforms and their users.
In addition, companies have shifted from paper records to electronically stored information. This is especially true within the healthcare industry, and other industries have had similar initiatives the past few years. While these companies are getting more efficient, digitization has opened up new doors for cyber criminals to exploit. As a result, companies will see a huge upswing in the number of data breaches. We predict massive healthcare, financial and retail breaches and fraud.

We also foresee major attacks against networks that control infrastructure and utilities around the world. Some may target mobile phone towers and communications. Others may aim for emergency service communication. Still others might mark hospitals and other critical care facilities. More