Recently, Symantec convened a panel of researchers to review the 2009 threat landscape and to discuss what we can expect in 2010.

The group was unanimous in saying what we saw this year was ugly. Botnets prevailed and took over as a primary means of disseminating spam and spreading malware, while social engineering attacks became more sophisticated.

But the group was also in agreement in saying that what we experienced this year will pale in comparison to what 2010 will bring: “fast flux” botnets will dominate, rogue security software vendors will up their game, and fraud targeted at social networking applications will grow.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that with some preparation and the right security solutions in place, we can continue to outsmart the bad guys.

Here are the security trends that are likely to be noteworthy in 2010:...