In reflecting on 2018 from a security perspective, some of the major themes, as I've written previously, have been about new AI security tools, industry consolidation and the blurring of lines between physical and cyber security. GRDP, the California Consumer Privacy Act and Facebook's seemingly never-ending scandals related to consumer privacy have also raised regulatory and public awareness of data privacy as a key issue and concern. These discussions will continue into next year and beyond, and there a number of other big trends that are likely to dominate the security industry in 2019. Here are seven that I believe we'll be looking at in the new year and for some time after that: As the number and range of threats continue to grow, it's clear that only AI can counter them. That's why we saw some big companies announce AI-based solutions in 2018, including Palo Alto Networks' behavioral analytics solution Magnifier and Alphabet's Chronicle.

Decentralized artificial intelligence(AI) is one of the most promising trends in the AI space. The hype around decentralized AI has increased lately with the raise on popularity of blockchain technologies. While the value proposition of decentralized AI systems is very clear from a conceptual standpoint, their implementation is full of challenges. Arguably, the biggest challenges of implementing decentralized AI architectures are in the area of security and privacy. The foundation of decentralized AI systems is an environment in which different parties such as data providers, data scientists and consumers collaborate to create, train and execute AI models without the need of a centralized authority.

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!"

These topics were hot in 2016, and interest in them should continue strong in 2017. However, the discussions will take new turns. I predict that three particular trends will gain real momentum and re-shape the cyber landscape in 2017. Anxiety about our machines turning on us is already running hot, as you can tell from the popularity of shows such as Westworld and Humans. In light of the recent Dyn attack, questions have been raised about the security of IoT devices.