Technology Consumerization

2013 Consumerization Trends to Watch

Posted by Christopher Budd in Consumerization Dec 11th, 2012 | no responses

Every year, Raimund Genes, Trend Micro’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) talks with staff and researchers to develop projections for the coming year. For 2013, Raimund’s predictions indicate that security issues related to the consumerization of IT will be front and center in terms of new developments, both positive and negative.

2012 was a big year of transition with consumerization topics moving more to the center of the security watchlist, most notably the explosion of Android malware. In Raimund’s view, this movement of consumerization topics will only increase in 2013. In fact, nearly half of his predictions relate to consumerization trends:

  • The volume of malicious and high-risk Android apps will hit 1 million in 2013.
  • Windows 8 offers improved security—but only to consumers.
  • As digital technology plays a larger role in our lives, security threats will appear in unexpected places.
  • Consumers will use multiple computing platforms and devices. Securing these will be complex and difficult.

Taken together, these predictions clearly indicate that criminals are seeking to capitalize on the consumerization of IT.  And while there will be improvements, such as Google’s improvements to try and prevent malware and Microsoft’s improvements to Windows 8, users are facing an increasingly complex world in the post-PC era and that the stakes are continuing to increase as devices become more and more integrated into daily life.

These predictions show that security in the consumerization space isn’t a niche topic any more: it’s arguably the biggest and most important topic for the coming year.

You can read the report to get more details and learn about predictions around others areas. You can also get more of Raimund’s thoughts on the coming year on his blog, and in his annual video podcast.