RSA Conference 2013
San Francisco
Moscone Center
February 25 – March 1, 2013
Attendance: est. 24,000+
Exhibitors: 360+
Media/Analysts: est. 450
Calysto Overview
Already heralded as the largest cybersecurity conference in the world, RSA got even bigger in 2013, as attendance was way up. In years past, a typical RSA Conference in the U.S. attracted about 15,000 attendees. This year’s conference was likely a record-breaker with an estimated 24,000 registered to attend. Every part of an enterprise organization plays a role in protecting data and information. The growth of the show this year makes it clear that there is a bigger push in this area and business, IT, and security executives are paying more attention, funding cybersecurity initiatives, and seeking industry knowledge about threats, vulnerabilities, and defenses.
Show Floor
The exhibit hall was filled to the brim with more than 360 vendors setting up massive booths to showcase their latest products and services. The products run the gamut from protection for colossal networks against Distributed Denial of Service attacks to new antivirus tools for consumers. Exhibitors included Microsoft, 3M, AirWatch, BlackBerry, Cisco, Federal Bureau of Investigation, HP, IBM, Intel, Juniper Networks, MANDIANT, McAfee, Oracle, Symantec and Verizon.
Some exhibitors garnered extra attention with help from icons such as Darth Vader and the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Others offered games of chance, including spin-and-win and various video games as well as in-booth magicians to mystify the crowd while also educating them about their products.
Themes
The stated theme of this year’s conference was “Security in Knowledge.” As knowledge has always kept us one step ahead of security threats, the goal of the RSA Conference was to “bring our security insights and perspectives together to ignite the mass of information that surrounds us.”
Much like many of the other technology conferences that have taken place in the first quarter of this year, the big theme going around the RSA show was Big Data. Big data has gone way beyond its identity as an IT industry buzzword. It is an essential factor in the future of successful IT security operations.
Darlene Storm wrote in her Computerworld blog:
“The big topic was big data, including how it can bring big security problems…
Regarding big data vulnerabilities, RSA/EMC Executive VP Arthur Coviello warned, ‘Our attack surface and risk will be magnified in the coming years as a result. We have all have the ability to access large data stores because of cloud, but we’re not the only ones that can access these data stores. Our adversaries will, as well.’”
Sessions
The privacy panel, featuring chief privacy officers from Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Mozilla drew a particularly big crowd when Google’s Keith Enright, blasted Microsoft for its “Scroogled” advertising campaign, which features people talking about how using gmail will result in getting advertising from marketers. The “don’t get Scroogled” campaign, which is running on primetime television and as an online petition against Google, is “misleading” and “intellectually dishonest,” Enright said. Microsoft’s Brendon Lynch countered that it was helping consumers “make an informed choice.”
Closing out the 2013 RSA conference was the former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, she discussed how security is changing the way we view political, economic, and social issues.
She noted that one of the problems with both the Internet and the cloud is that these are the most borderless of any of the institutions that we have experienced to date. She explained that it’s hard for people to share security information because admitting that you were hacked can be conceived as embarrassing.
“I would hope that we could also build a new norm within the U.S. government and within the private sector that we don’t have a choice but to share information about what has happened in the past so we can protect in the present,” Rice posited. “That is the immediately problem and the immediate task before the United States of America.”
View all of the RSA keynotes here.
Media & Analysts
Media sponsors for the conference included: InformationWeek, TechTarget, SC Magazine, Dark Reading, eMedia, PCMag.com, Cyber Defense Magazine, FierceMarkets, IDG Tech Network, Info Security Magazine, NextGov and The Register. Other media covering the event included: Network World, Government Technology, ZDNet, eWeek, CRN, FierceMobileIT, ITWorld and VentureBeat.
Summary
Dan Lohrmann, Government Technology:
“There are so many conference sessions, side-meetings, receptions, demonstrations, bake-offs, dinners (and lunches and breakfasts), separate conferences running concurrently and more that it is hopeless to think that attendees can participate in even a small fraction of the available activities.”
Jon Oltsik, Network World:
“In between trade show gimmicks and cocktail parties, many of my RSA meetings took on a more serious and sober tone. Based on a series of breaches…there is a general recognition that our cyber adversaries have gotten much stronger while the IT attack surface continues to grow. Given the clear and present cybersecurity dangers, the information sharing and education component of RSA seemed especially focused this year.”
“Until recently, information security was the Rodney Dangerfield of IT, it didn’t get no respect. Given recent events however, everyone – CEOs, legislators, military leaders, heads of state, etc. – is paying attention.”
“All in all it was a very good RSA conference with timely topics, serious discussions, and a rational perspective on where we are and what we need to do.”
Digital security often makes for grim conversation, and RSA was no exception this year. However, many of the security experts agreed on one piece of good news: the good guys are working together like never before. “Collaboration” was the magic word on everyone’s lips.
Two of the most talked about events at this year’s RSA conference were the executive order from the President to increase cyber security in the U.S., and the report from Mandiant which traced hacker activity to within China. These two events may have something to do with the astounding attendance numbers of the show this year.
Peter Bernstein, TMCnet:
“This was a big show dealing with big challenges, and really scary activities.”
Every organization with an interest in cybersecurity would benefit from the information exchange at the RSA conference. The growing attendee numbers are proof positive that the issues discussed here are more relevant than ever before. Media and analyst opportunities are readily available for those that have products and services that announce new security industry breakthroughs.
Next: RSA Conference 2014 will be held from February 24 – 28 in San Francisco, CA.
Articles of Interest
Getting Weird At RSA 2013: 10 Scenes That Made People Look Twice
By Kevin McLaughlin
CRN
March 5, 2013
Reflections on RSA Conference 2013
By Sean Deuby
Windows IT Pro
Mar. 4, 2013
20 Examples Of Wacky, Over The Top RSA Signage
By Kevin McLaughlin
CRN
February 28, 2013
RSA Panel: Thieves Thrive On Stolen Medical Data
By Marcia Savage
CRN
February 27, 2013
Big Data Could Bolster Security Models, But It’s Early: RSA Chairman
By Robert Westervelt
CRN
February 26, 2013
8 Cool Network Security Products At RSA 2013
By Robert Westervelt
CRN
February 26, 2013
RSA Conference: Embrace Big Data Analytics for Security, Coviello Says
By Brian Prince
eWeek
February 26, 2013
8 Must-Attend Security Sessions At RSA Conference 2013
By Robert Westervelt
CRN
February 25, 2013
RSA Conference gets underway
By ZACHARY FRYER-BIGGS
Federal Times
February 25, 2013
Consumer-driven security inspires entrepreneurial spirit at RSA Conference 2013
By Danielle Walker
SC Magazine
February 25, 2013
RSA Conference: Big Data, BYOD Join Other Hot Security Topics
By Robert Westervelt
cRN
February 19, 2013