Among the many different threats we're likely to face in 2010, the first full day back at work for many businesses brings a full array of new connections and new connection challenges.
Thumb drives, for instance, have become so cheap even as their capacity has exploded, that plenty of people found gigabytes in their stockings along with candycanes. Problem is, the candycanes may rot your teeth and thicken your waist, but an infected thumb drive can bring rottenware into your network. Or take confidential data out.
Smartphones loomed large on the gift list this year, and smartphone usage and connection policy had better loom large on your To-Do list (as in: To-Do now).
Other mobile devices present their own risks, not least of which is your inability to know how effectively then new devices are protected. This, too, is something you need to attend to now -- making sure that new netbooks and notebooks fully meet your security requirements before employees put too much company data on them.
Coming back to work after holiday is never easy; hitting employees with a raft of new policies and usage rules won't make it any easier.
But it'll be easier than dealing with the consequences of a malware invasion or data leak. A lot easier.
Welcome back.