Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2019.  Read them in this 11th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Jim Barkdoll, CEO, Titus

Data, Security, Machine Learning, Cloud

It should come as no surprise that security was a major concern for enterprises in 2018. As we approach 2019, what will be surprising are the priorities, players and guidelines that will affect how proper security measures are implemented and the role trained security employees will play in assisting organizations to be more secure. Encryption, the cloud, AI and machine learning will continue to be a significant focus in the year ahead.

1.  The Silver Bullet Doesn't Exist:  Data Protection policies will continue to fail until we abandon ‘silver bullet' thinking

We continue to see organizations struggle with adopting a successful data protection strategy and that will continue through 2019 without a fundamental shift in thinking. While it's nice and convenient to believe that consolidating security solutions to a single proposal that requires few resources will ‘solve everything,' the reality is that this approach doesn't work. Similarly, going ‘all-in' on a particular technology (i.e. going ‘all in' on encryption without deploying complementary solutions), still leaves organizations vulnerable to both external attacks and data mishandling at multiple levels. A comprehensive, multi-faceted approach that addresses the work needed to set up and feed realistic policies that meet an organization's specific needs.

2.  New names will enter the security market...and they aren't who you'd expect

Organizations of all shapes and sizes continue to struggle with how to deal with and protect sensitive personal information, however, the problem is particularly pronounced for large, multi-national corporations including Facebook, Google and even Twitter. Though regulations like PCI and GDPR protect elements of personal data, they aren't all-encompassing, so look for these behemoths to make a move to acquire security firms as a means of addressing this critical challenge.

3.  The Hype of Machine Learning; Actual Delivery is Suspect: The promise will outweigh reality on artificial intelligence and machine learning

Any tech vendor worth its salt will want a piece of this market, so we can expect 2019 to yield a flurry of announcements around new AI and/or ML initiatives. That said, it will still take time for this excitement to convert to tangible solutions that will have a positive impact on day-to-day operations.

4.  Regulations, Fines and Consequences...But Good Data Stewardship is on the Horizon

Now that GDPR is being fully enforced, we will see the first big fines and consequences announced related to regulations. This will result in two things - a significant bump in organizations developing best practices to ensure regulatory compliance and data safety, as well as more countries and individual states passing regulations in an effort to keep data safe.

5.  Head in the Clouds, Don't Fool Yourselves:  Cloud won't solve access issues, despite continued adoption

As organizations continue to flock to the cloud to take advantage of its ease of use and access controls, they'll continue to see the same security issues they encountered on-premises. Why? Because without understanding the value of their data and enacting measures to safeguard their most critical information, the same security issues will exist, no matter where the data lies. Though cloud achieves a considerable number of productivity and user convenience goals, it cannot solve data protection challenges in and of itself.

6.  Retail Sector is a Target: The next major retail breach is looming

Though regulations like PCI safeguard specific pieces of personal information, the retail industry still lags behind other markets (financial services, healthcare) when it comes to pervasive regulations that adequately safeguard personal information. In addition, as retail has small margins, they often do not make significant investments in the security initiatives necessary to avoid a major data breach. It's been five years since the landmark Target data breach, which many believed would spur significant retail security measures. We've yet to see this happen.

7.  Third Party Orchestrators Will Close the Security Skills Gap

It's no secret that one of the key reasons organizations tend to adopt a more reactive approach to security is because of a shortage of skilled security workers. 2019 will see that shortage continue, however, a new class of organization is rising to address this gap - orchestrators. These independent specialists assist organizations in tying together their existing security investments and solutions to realize a truly end-to-end security solution. These orchestrators will see challenges from big vendors looking to capitalize on this trend, however, as those vendors often offer only proprietary solutions, there will continue to be room for these independent firms.

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About the Author

Jim Barkdoll is CEO of Titus, Inc.  Jim leads the overall vision, growth strategy and go-to-market initiatives. He most recently served as TITUS' chief revenue officer where he led the global sales operations, marketing and customer success teams. Jim has over 20 years of business development and executive leadership experience with an established track record of successfully growing teams and revenues within channel, SMB, midmarket and enterprise accounts. Prior to TITUS, Jim was executive vice president of Sales at Toushay Inc. Prior to Toushay, Jim served as vice president, Americas with BlueCat Networks, Inc. and spent 10 years with Quest Software in a variety of senior management roles.