It’s December, and in the security industry that means one thing: predictions from experts about what trends will emerge in the next year. As always, some stuff is new, while other items show up on these lists every year.

Criminal groups will increasingly adopt nation-state tactics. There are a couple of ways that I see this potentially working: the nation-state groups could work together with criminal groups towards a common goal. State groups could also contract their espionage activities out to criminal groups, that will use criminal tools and expertise to perform spying activities, steal intellectual property or gather intelligence about vulnerabilities. Below there are nine predictions from experts.

A new tool called Password Changer is designed to change multiple passwords for different websites all at once – especially useful in light of Heartbleed and other security threats. 

A new product from Dashlane could take much of the hassle out of changing your major website passwords, which could be particularly handy in the event of a security breach. Cyberattacks and hacks against major websites seem to have turned into a daily occurrence, often leaving user log-in credentials exposed. And people who use the same password at all or most of the sites they visit can be particularly vulnerable. 

A detailed analysis by cybersecurity experts from the University of Maryland found that website administrators nationwide tasked with patching security holes exploited by the Heartbleed bug may not have done enough.

First disclosed Heartbleed presents a serious vulnerability to the popular OpenSSL software, allowing anyone on the Internet to read the memory of systems that are compromised by the malicious bug. Experts analyzed the most popular websites in the United States to better understand the extent to which systems administrators followed specific protocols to fix the problem. Website administrators everywhere should have immediately taken three steps to regain better control and security over their systems.

In what seems like the most impactful security vulnerability since the OpenSSL Heartbleed affair, a new Internet-wide bug emerged this week in the Bourne again shell (Bash).

While its true severity remains unknown, the Bash vulnerability (also known as “shell shock”) is being talked about everywhere, and you may have even seen your local news anchors discussing the story in front of a green-screen covered in fast-scrolling computer code on last night’s evening news. Bash is present in a very large number of Web-servers and in-home appliances. What is Bash?