<p>As we put tie the bow around 2012 and take a breather before diving headlong into 2013, there are still plenty of folks willing to offer predictions for what we'll see in 2013. Most involve some kind of dire situation where the attackers launch new attacks, defenders get caught flat footed and corporations lose data in record quantities. You know, the typical prediction FUD that circulates around to keep security web sites full, even when practitioners should be spending time with their families, not reading meaningless predictions. Not that the folks making the predictions are wrong. I also believe attackers will launch new attacks and many organizations will lose more data in 2013. Basically it's been that way every year since I started following the security market, and the coming year won't be any different. Will mobile malware finally become an issue? Will it be continuing operating system issues? Will it be the cloud (whatever that means) as the main culprit of security fail? Does it really matter?</p><p>You can count on change. The attacks have changed. The attackers have changed. Yet their goal remains the same, which is to steal your stuff. And that will still be the case over the next 12 months. I'm going to go out on a ledge and take a big risk by predicting that another set of vendors will have new must-have innovations that will swing the balance of power back to the attackers. Just ask them. In other words, there will be another batch of sweet smelling snake oil in 2013, just as there is every year.</p><p>These new vendors, fueled by millions in VC money, will send out zillions of email messages making outlandish claims, buy tons of display ads, and show up at the conferences you attend. They will be selling you the 2013 version of the silver bullet. The technology will be climbing towards the "peak of inflated expectations" on the famous Gartner hype cycle, which means not enough people will have failed using the new widget to know it's not a silver bullet. So at long last, I'll make the only security prediction that matters for 2013.</p><p>There will be no security silver bullet.</p><p><a href="http://www.darkreading.com/blog/240145269/the-only-security-prediction-that-matters.html">Keep reading...</a></p>