Security in the Future - from leading futurologist Ian Pearson into the security threats that will be faced in the office of the future

A Futurizon Report compiled for Canon, October 2008

Executive Summary

There will be a number of changes in the ways in which we work, how our teams will be organised, and the equipment we will need. These will all have security implications.

Firstly, as artificial intelligence continues to improve, we will see the office become more of a meeting place and less focused on desk work.

Secondly, as teams become increasingly inter-company, the boundaries between companies will blur significantly. This will mean that people will work quite often with project colleagues in different companies, whom they have only known briefly. This will mean that greater focus on security in shared machines.

Thirdly, miniaturisation is probably the biggest direct hardware threat facing IT security. As devices become tiny but powerful, it will become much easier to hide surveillance devices and engage in corporate (and personal) espionage. It will also become easier to introduce harmful software into machines. This trend is already apparent with the increasing use of high capacity memory sticks, which as we have seen recently, can hold huge quantities of potentially sensitive information. In the future, a wide range of tiny devices, even electronic jewellery, will be wirelessly connected into a range of office and personal systems, and security policy will have to cope with this abundance and variety of threats.

Fourthly, paper is still a comparatively advanced information storage and display technology, unconstrained by the usual technology barriers of operating systems and software. Although electronic paper will add video and interactive functionality in due course, our high affection for paper is likely to continue, so printers, scanners and copiers will remain part of our lives for a long time yet.

Finally, it is important to recognise that staff will still need to be able to work freely if their company is to flourish, so security needs have to be delicately balanced against the need for ease of working. Security should not intrude so heavily into working practice as to interfere excessively with productivity.