Simson Garfinkel takes a look at the future trends in security tools for CSOonline.com. He focuses on the next generation of tools being designed to address problems that CIOs are trying to resolve today. The email wish list includes technology that operates at the system level (removing the end user from equation); combines antispam with antivirus; and simultaneously protects company confidentiality. In the area of forensic tools he notes disk forensic tools “that can run off a bootable CD-ROM so that they can be used without disturbing the host operating system” and network forensic tools that are more proactive and automatically report abnormalities. With regard to the delivery of a variety of security “appliances” he registers a concern regarding their ability to be “updated in the field”. Most run on operating systems that have significant security vulnerabilities of their own and require constant updates to remain secure. Finally, he comments on the prospects for biometrics and single sign-on systems, and progress in the area of encryption.