Monday, April 16
(Tuesday, April 17, is below)
One of the first things you notice when you arrive for RSA is many security billboards between SFO and the Moscone Center.
It was fun to see LogRhythm's billboard standing out. They are a great partner at SecureWorld regional cybersecurity conferences across the U.S., and to the InfoSec communities we serve.
And before we reach downtown, an unusual site: a thunderstorm towering above San Francisco!
The lead story on the local news Monday was the weather. That's pretty unusual for the Bay Area.
Next, it was time for a great RSA kickoff dinner. It was a real treat to talk to the founders of the Cloud Security Alliance. You sense progress is being made.
Tuesday, April 17
Now, it's Tuesday, and energy inside the Moscone Center is ramping up along with the registration lines.
It seems every company has "breaking security news" about the industry or themselves.
Intrinsic ID announced its technology is now in 100 million IoT devices. "Reaching deployment in 100 million devices is testament to the significant role security plays as the number of connected devices continues to accelerate," says Pim Tuyls, Intrinsic ID’s CEO.
I guess that 100 million is a start. I hear form our SecureWorld Advisory Council members all the time that more must be done to secure the IoT and the medical Internet of Things.
They are so right. I recently saw a Gartner estimate that we already have 8.4 billion IoT devices in use around the world, and many of those are being used in business.
I have two back-to-back stops before my next live blog update.
Next up, I'm headed to hear DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen speaking about the latest Department of Homeland Security efforts to keep us cyber secure.
And I'll swing by the AlienVault booth for a "big announcement."
I'm lost at RSA. And it is an adventure....
Update: America's cyber enemies need to watch out
Hearing from Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was fantastic. She did not mince words about the U.S. stance on cyber:
"I have a news flash for for America's adversaries. Complacency is being replaced by consequences," she said.
This statement reflects a shift underway at the Department of Homeland Security toward a "forward leaning strategy" when it comes to cybersecurity. I'll write more about her session later—including five things she says must change now in information security.
Next, I went to what you might call an "out of this world" announcement for AlienVault. Their booth is actually a spaceship!
The company introduced in-person and on YouTube Live a free "Alienvault OTX Endpoint Threat Hunter" that shows indicators of compromise across your endpoint devices. You can read more about this first-of-a-kind, here.
Lastly (for this update), I have some good news. Elvis is alive, has a twin, and seems to really like people in InfoSec!
I caught part of the cryptography panel today, and came across a really interesting exchange on privacy and Facebook.
Moxie Marlinspike is the founder of Signal. And he says Facebook faces a crisis that is on par with the oil industry disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. "Facebook is going through that metaphorical moment, where the camera is underwater and you see the oil spewing into the gulf. Facebook is in that moment right now."
Here are some other surprising things I saw on Tuesday at RSA 2018:
- RSA leaves no sponsorship possibilities unturned. Even the stairs are sponsored!
- Thales had a mobile escape room where you "have to beat the hackers" to get out.
- The Fox from ZeroFOX waved me over for a selfie. That really increases the odds of being included in this post!
- Remember that recent study that said hiring video gamers for InfoSec is a great idea? Apparently, some of them have already been hired because these games were busy all day long:
- There were plenty of these mobile billboards winding the downtown streets—among the slew of guerilla marketing tactics competing for eyeballs. This one from SOFTwarfare, a new iPaaS vendor for cybersecurity architects.
And that's a "wrap" on Tuesday, April 17, 2018.
I'll write more about specific sessions later because they deserve more detailed coverage. But, hopefully, today's Live Blog gave you a flavor of some of the things involved in a single day at RSA 2018!
