Criminals do not care if your IT budget is being cut this year," said Eric Aarrestad, Vice President at WatchGuard Technologies. "They have one goal in mind, which is to get at your data, customer information, or to gain access to your computers, servers and network resources. By understanding where the next sets of threats will be, WatchGuard helps ensure businesses remain one step ahead of these risks.

Trend #5 -  Security and Compliance Collide
Citing high profile examples of 100M pilfered credit card accounts and massive chain-store failures to protect customer data, one thing is for certain, politicians will act. Expect to see substantive changes to security and identity protection laws, as well as toughened industry regulations, such as PCI DSS. Additionally, new lawsuits over internet privacy, malicious applications, unauthorized remote use of systems and IT resources, and data leakage will forge new legislation and set new precedents for years to follow.

Trend #4 -  Botnets Become Stealthy
Although 2008 could be argued as the year of botnets, expect to see 2009 to be the year botnets become stealthy. Learning from last years lessons, botmasters will unleash new botnets of unparalleled sophistication and surprise. Their goal will be botnets of quality, not quantity as botnets become ever increasingly lucrative.

Trend #3 Social Networking Gets Ugly
Favorite social networking sites will transform into new platforms for launching web-based attacks, as well as for initiating new scams, phishing ploys and other tricks geared to get personal identification information.

Trend #2 Increased Attacks Via SSL and HTTPS
As network systems become more adroit at blocking outside attacks and malware, criminals are becoming more skilled at delivering malicious payloads into networks. What used to be safe and secure, SSL and HTTPS, are now fertile fields for seeding these new attacks.

Trend #1 The Web Puts Everyone at Risk
No longer will porn, gambling or other opprobrious sites host the usual hangouts for malware, spyware or other malicious applications. Instead, consumers will face new threats from trusted domains and everyday websites as they become silently infected with SQL injections or corrupted to host drive-by downloads. Automated attacks will proliferate across the Web that will impact exposed, vulnerable machines and unwary users not expecting to see their favorite website as a potential threat.

A podcast with more information is also available at WatchGuard Radio Free Security: http://www.watchguard.com/education/radiofreesecurity.asp

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard(R) Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of network security solutions, providing mission-critical security to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances and WatchGuard SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network security, unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity(R) Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit http://www.watchguard.com/