Prediction: An Entrenched Computer Security Company Will Get Hacked in 2016

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 18: The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency is displayed in the foyer of the original headquarters building in Langley, Virginia, U.S., on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009. CIA Director Leon Panetta said this week he never contemplated resigning over a newly begun Justice Department inquiry into tactics used during interrogations of terrorist suspects. (Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Photograph by Andrew Harrer — Bloomberg via Getty Images

The staff of Fortune recently assembled its predictions for 2016. Here’s one of our forecasts.

First, a disclaimer: Fortune wishes no ill upon any company. That said, we believe a trusted name in security will be utterly and embarrassingly hacked in 2016. Perhaps it’ll be a veteran firm like Symantec (SYMC), or an entrenched tech giant with a cybersecurity arm—like Intel (INTC), Cisco (CSCO), or EMC (EMC) (er, sorry, Dell). Point is: Ever since Edward Snowden pillaged the NSA, the world has come to grasp that no organization is sacred—or fully secured. Already this year, computer crackers drubbed the Italian spyware firm Hacking Team and breached the personal email account of the CIA director. So, quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

This article is part of the 2016 Fortune Crystal Ball, a package of 33 predictions about business, politics and the economy by the writers and editors of Fortune. To see the entire package, click here.