"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." These wise words of world-renowned business author Stephen Covey challenge each of us as we stand on the precipice of a new decade. But what's the'main thing' when navigating technology as we enter 2020? The simple answer is… Cybersecurity. As innovation explodes into every area of our lives, cybersecurity is providing the glue that can enable the good and disable the bad for implementing cutting-edge innovation as well as reducing risk from older vulnerabilities. We also see cybersecurity continue as the top priority for chief information officers (CIOs) in 2020, just as it has been for most of the past decade, with groups like the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO). But even as cybersecurity solutions offer a way forward to ensure privacy protections are workable and effective, most people see the data breaches, ransomware, identity theft, denial-of-service attacks and other cyberattacks as proof that cybersecurity has become the Achilles Heel, not the savior, for new innovation. Even as exciting advances occur in artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, 5G networks cloud computing, mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT), these same developments seem to cause negative societal disruptions that make daily news headlines. So what will happen next with cybersecurity? That's what this annual security prediction roundup will cover, from the perspective of the top cybersecurity industry companies, thought leaders, executives and journalists. Every year we catalogue the evaluators to see who has made a New Year's security prediction list and checked it twice.

It seems like every vendor in the data security industry makes predictions this time of year. Which ones should you pay attention to? All of them, says Dan Lohrmann, who formerly served as the state of Michigan's CISO and CTO. See Also: IoT is Happening Now: Are You Prepared? "I really view it as something that professionals need to widen their perspectives," Lohrmann says in an interview with Information Security Media Group.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." Winston Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going." And, "Never, never, never give up." As we look back at top cyber stories and security trends in 2017, these wise words from fearless leaders who have gone before us certainly apply to cybersecurity and the new 21st-century challenges confronting our world in 2018. Last year we started with, "You ain't seen nothing yet!"