Safe computing outside the corporate perimeter
Employees logging into corporate networks from home PCs over public broadband connections are now commonplace. As a result, security software and hardware that once did a fine job of guarding sensitive systems looks increasingly vulnerable. That's because all these remote networkers, be they employees or partners, are no longer snuggly inside the "official" data-security perimeter.

Also, persistent worm-virus outbreaks, such as Nimda, explain why more and more corporations are going through the considerable hassle of putting security software--firewall, intrusion detection systems, antivirus software--on every desktop machine. Companies with end-to-end protection remain in the minority, but they won't be for long as it becomes easier to link up fleets of desktops with central control consoles that not only talk to the big, heavy-duty security appliances but also to the thousands of small programs guarding the road warriors' machines.

Identity theft goes berserk online
Call in the copycats. When well-organized ID thieves convinced a clerk at a Long Island (N.Y.) software company to give them access to tens of thousands of credit reports using his company's password, they illustrated how the Net makes the part of ID theft that was hard until now--accumulating the information--much easier. With widely available credit reports such an integral part of American business, it's hard to imagine how the credit agencies can quickly and simply limit access to the reports without impeding the flow of commerce.

With easy access to credit reports available to thousands of people throughout the U.S., expect blockbuster ID thefts in 2003 and beyond. Whereas credit-card numbers were traded freely on the Internet in the past, now the bad guys will trade entire personal dossiers. And fixing the problem will be much harder because it's pretty easy to screen out someone who has picked up one of your credit-card numbers but much harder when it comes to a rogue who has that, your bank-account number, your social security number, and the last five addresses you have called home.

Of course, this little list is just the beginning. I haven't even touched on still-early trends such as merging physical and online security: Companies are starting to look at guarding these assets in coordination because often computer-security breaches start with physical breaches.

Likewise, more and more businesses are installing software that tracks theft of sensitive, high-end intellectual property. Once ham-fisted, the second generation of these systems works much better, according to Gartner security analyst John Pescatore.

All told, computer security remains one of the more dynamic areas of the moribund IT sector. And it'll get only more interesting in the coming year.