Trends in Security: 2011 Predictions from Oracle Security Leaders

The following is from: http://www.oracle.com/us/dm/2011trends-274221.html?msgid=3-3263072422.

I agree with the overall prediction, but want to add that the social website will see increase security breaches along with increasing attack on mobile environment. 

"As threat levels rise and new technologies such as cloud and mobile computing gain widespread acceptance, security is widely expected to occupy more and more mindshare among IT executives in 2011. 

To help prepare for the coming year, we asked two Oracle security leaders—Amit Jasuja, vice president of Identity Management and Security Products; and Vipin Samar, vice president of Database Security—to help us track key trends in security in 2011. 

1) Threat levels will grow—and there will be more serious breaches.
According to Samar, threat levels are on the rise for many reasons. A challenging economy increases the likelihood of breaches, and layoffs can open holes in IT security. Most organizations have not done enough to protect against insider threats. According to Jasuja, organizations will continue to look for security solutions to stop user access to applications based on real-time patterns of fraud and for situations in which employees change roles or employment status within a company. 

2) Cloud computing will continue to grow—and require new security solutions.
Recent investments in private cloud computing are providing significant returns, but also can lead to companies "putting all their eggs in one basket" as the result of increasing database consolidation, according to Samar. Cloud computing requires a new kind of vigilance he says, demanding investment in security solutions such as the new Oracle Database Firewall that defend against more threats. 

3) Mobile devices will challenge traditional security solutions. 
The proliferation of mobile devices—combined with increasing numbers of remote employees and expanding global partner networks—continues to dissolve the traditional boundaries of the enterprise, according to Jasuja. This, in turn, will require a holistic approach within an organization that combines strong database security, strong authentication and fraud protection, externalization of entitlements, and central management across multiple applications—and open standards to make all that possible. Oracle Security Solutions are uniquely positioned to meet these challenges. 

4) Security platforms will continue to converge.
As organizations move increasingly toward vendor consolidation, security solutions must also evolve, Jasuja and Samar both believe. Next-generation security platforms must have best-of-breed features, yet must also remain open and flexible to serve global markets and local conditions. As a result, says Jasuja, developers need products such as the service-oriented Oracle Access Management Suite in order to efficiently and reliably build identity management into applications—without requiring security experts. Oracle offers comprehensive solutions such as transparent data encryption, privileged user controls, auditing, and more at the database level that don't require modifying existing applications. 

5) Regulation of personally identifiable information (PII) will increase—including expanding definitions of what PII means.
In 2011, more and more jurisdictions are likely to follow California and Massachusetts in increasing regulation of PII, says Samar. He also expects the definition of PII to grow over time, especially because of the rapid rise of image sharing on social networks. The good news, says Samar, is that when data has been encrypted by security solutions such as Oracle Advanced Security, breaches don't need to be reported because the data itself is still protected. 

Jasuja adds that as organizations incorporate services from the cloud they will need to use security standards. In 2011, he expects growth in the use of virtual directories as companies connect data silos inside their organizations and use federation to connect to cloud services. Oracle Virtual Directory andOracle Identity Federation have out-of-the-box connectors so companies can connect their enterprise to the cloud quickly. 

6) Organizations will increasingly pursue "business-centric compliance." 
As privacy and security regulations increase, businesses will look for "business-centric compliance" solutions that combine strong security and compliance management tools with better user experience for faster, lower-cost implementations. Read more about how Oracle Identity Analytics 11g takes a "business-centric" approach with features such as Cert-360. "