The internet has come under a sustained and significant threat from network malware, especially since the emergence of the global Windows network worm in 2001 with Code Red and Nimda. Prior to this, most network worms were on a small, localized scale.

The popularity of online streaming videos, social-networking and shopping sites have created new attack vectors for hackers to spread malicious code that could wreak havoc on company networks. Small to mid-size businesses (SMBs) across a variety of industries not only have to deal with everyday IT issues, but also face the challenge of securing and managing employee Internet access.

Although email spam has long been around, it has only recently become increasingly widespread and advanced. One would think that with the ever-advancing technology, there would be a way to combat these annoying pieces of email bombarding our inboxes. But as computer technology becomes more sophisticated, so too does spam.

We used to live in an analog world. We played records, radio stations had static interference, we flattened out dollar bills to work in vending machines and we anguished over hanging chads. Sure, everything was converted into bits and bytes in the end, but the world we interacted with was a physical one.

In the last six months, image-based spam has pushed its way to the forefront of spam technique discussions. Image-based spam is not new, but it is now wreaking havoc on the effectiveness of many anti-spam products.

The concept of organizations keeping a watchful eye on employees during company hours is nothing new. From the introduction of the time card 120 years ago, which required employees to clock in at the beginning and end of the work day, employee monitoring has evolved from simple confirmation that individuals are present and accounted for, to more detailed insight into employee activities taking place while "on the clock."

Today one out of four emails on the internet is an image spam message. This is not because spammers have just realized the marketing benefits of captive colors. Instead, this is because the spammers have identified a weakness in many anti-spam systems and are moving diligently to maximize this opportunity by fully exploiting this weakness.

It's pretty unlikely that employees wished this holiday season for even more email and spam messages to be waiting for them in their inboxes each morning. However, the reality is that organizations - across all industries - have experienced a dramatic increase in inbound email over the past calendar year, much of which is spam, and inbound email volumes will likely continue to increase at a rapid pace during 2007.

We've all heard about the recent rise in spam, and while I dislike spam as much as the next person, I recently received a spam message that got me quite excited.

The speed of change in IT security is intense and often seemingly chaotic. Security solutions today must constantly morph to reflect not only the shifting needs of customers, but also the advancing capabilities of security threats. The proliferation and progression of DoS attacks and phishing sites, to name a few, demand new means to detect and block criminals. Senior executives, meanwhile, want simplicity and better command and control over the many security solutions they implement. Despite this ever-changing landscape, there are, however, a number of general trends that, from our view as investors, are likely to organize and drive development of IT security products and services over the near and intermediate term.