IN YOUR CAREER as a security professional, you will make it your business to know how to secure your organization’s IT assets, networks, and systems. You are already learning a great deal about the tools, technologies, processes, and procedures currently available. In your work you may apply firewalls to secure the perimeter of the network and virtual private networks (VPNs) to secure data in transit. A deep knowledge of the current security landscape is vital to your professional success. But you need to know what’s on the road ahead, too. In this chapter, you will learn about what’s next.

Today’s information security professionals face a daunting task. Not only do you need to understand how to secure a complex, diverse, and rapidly changing IT environment, but you also need to be aware of the challenges and threats to come. An in-depth understanding of security technologies, such as VPNs and firewalls, and of threats like malware and social engineering provides the foundation of your arsenal. To be truly successful, however, you also need the ability to identify and respond to trends in both the technologies and the threats under development. To keep up with attackers, you need to know what is coming and where to get reliable, current information.

Throughout your career as an information security professional, you will encounter situations in which you must apply security best practices to new technologies or new architectures. You may find that you are conducting investigations, trying to determine how your infrastructure was compromised. You may be monitoring new attacks and trying to develop new defenses. Whatever challenges you face in the future will require that you leverage the experience, understanding, and best practices you have learned to ensure that you are effective against new risks and threats.