4 Reasons 2011 is the Year to Get Serious About Security

Prognosticators are silly. Or that’s how I’ve always viewed them, anyway. They combine past experience with their perspective on current trends to make predictions and pretend to be smarter than you.

Many prognosticators in the financial world have failed miserably, and we’re all paying the price now. Their current excuse is “irrational exuberance.”

But prognostication holds a bit more water these days, thanks to technology that can quantify and collate mass amounts of data to provide an educated guess.

Here’s me being a prognosticator: In 2011, unprecedented security issues will reveal just how vulnerable we are and highlight the flaws in our systems. In other words, we have a big challenge.

What makes me say this? Here are just a few reasons:

1. In recent months, “hactivisim” has become a popular term, even among non-technical people.

2. A new virus called Stuxnet has stoked anxieties about cyber warfare.

3. Cybercrime targeting the government has become bolder than ever.

4. Mobile phones are eclipsing wired phones, so software developers are more focused on mobile. But is your cell phone ready to be your bank?

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto, discusses online banking security on CBS Boston. (Disclosures)