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The 7 Best Presentations and Highlights from RSA Conference 2016

By The Illusive Networks team

For 25 years, RSA Conference has been the world’s leading information security event, offering great opportunities to connect with technology, trends, and people who want to improve security throughout their business and the industry.

At this year’s RSA Conference, there were a lot of great discussions encompassing the Internet of Things, encryption, artificial intelligence and machine learning, industrial control systems, crowdsourcing, and current industry news.

However, we noticed that there was a major focus on detection capabilities over simple prevention. In an interview about illusive networks’ innovation, Founder and VP of R&D Ofer Israeli noted that the world has come to an understanding that prevention isn’t enough and that cybersecurity has become a game of time.

The quicker we can detect attackers, the faster we can respond and mitigate threats because the reality is that attackers will find their way into enterprise networks. Many of the events and seminars revolved around this focus on post-breach detection.

Here are 7 highlights that we enjoyed from the RSA Conference 2016:

1. Prevention Alone is Not Enough

In his talk, The Sleeper Awakes, Amit Yoran, President of RSA, outlined his views on the state of modern IT security, stating that prevention is a failed strategy. It’s time for vendors to wake up, move away from focusing exclusively on prevention, and start embracing monitoring, response, and behavioral analytics. Security companies need to evolve their strategies and do things differently.

2. The Importance of Encryption

Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer of Microsoft, gave a compelling keynote—Trust in the Cloud in Tumultuous Times. While cloud adoption has transformed the way we work, recent events and incidents have led to debates on the roles that governments and industry should play in defending and securing society. Smith emphasized the importance of encryption in maintaining consumer privacy.

3. Adding Time Context to Threat Intelligence

Senior Security Research Engineer at Tripwire, Travis Smith, addressed the importance of time context when gathering security data. Adding valuable time context to threat intelligence allows organizations to get instant alerts of abnormal behaviors, and gain other critical forensic analysis information.

4. Ascending the Path to Better Security

In his keynote presentation, Vice President and Chief Architect at Cisco Security Business Group, Martin Roesch, discussed the problem of complexity in security infrastructure, and how organizations can measure the value of existing security approaches to gain an advantage against attackers and deliver better security.

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5. The Inevitable Decline of the Digital Age

Mark McLaughlin, Chairman, President and CEO at Palo Alto Networks, gave a fascinating exploration of the challenges of trust in today’s connected world. Since security concerns are causing consumers to lose digital trust, McLaughlin stressed that the industry needs to work on maintaining and restoring relationships.

At the same time, threat sharing and collaboration will help shape cybersecurity of the future. As McLaughlin stated, “The security industry should not compete on what we know, but what we can do about it for you.”

6. Making Internet Safe for Kids

Raising kids in a digital world can be challenging. The Internet offers a fun and interactive playground, but it also creates room for cyberbullying, identity theft, and other threats. The RSAC CyberSafety: Kids initiative was created to educate children to navigate the Web smartly and safely—such a valuable resources for families and corporations.

7. The Codebreakers Bash

Held at AT&T Park, one of the most distinctive baseball parks in the country, the Codebreakers Bash was one of the highlights of RSA Conference 2016. Attendees made some lasting memories celebrating the event’s 25th anniversary over live music, fireworks, gaming experience, food and drinks.

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