--Among the newer threats in the collection of predictions for next year are those targeted against so-called and cloud computing environment according to Websense. As the popularity of RIA grows there will be a growth in attacks that take advantage of vulnerabilities found with core RIA components and within user-created components to take remote-control of end user systems. Similarly cloud computing environments will be increasingly used for sending spam or hosting malicious code, Websense noted.

Meanwhile IT managers themselves appeared to have a slightly different take on what the future holds on the security front.

A poll of 825 IT managers conducted by think-tank the Ponemon Institute, conducted on behalf of patch management vendor Lumension Security, showed about half saying that outsourcing was their biggest security concern.

Much of the concern appeared to be driven by the anticipation that companies will be increasing outsourcing of functions involving sensitive and confidential data to third parties, according to the study. Other threats mentioned by the group involved the threat from cyber criminals and security issues stemming from the growing use of mobile devices to store and access sensitive data.