The world’s biggest happening in the cybersecurity field – the RSA Conference – is held annually in San Francisco, CA. The week-long event, February 13-17, 2017, offered an opportunity to learn more about information security and cryptography. A record-breaking 43,000 people had a chance to see 15 keynote presentations and hear from more than 700 speakers in 500 different sessions. Attendees could visit booths of 550 companies on the expo floors, or attend tutorials, seminars or peer-to-peer sessions.

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RSA is a leading data and network security company. In general, the recurring RSA conference focuses on new approaches towards security and introduces the latest technology. The event has two main parts: speakers and expo. It is a great opportunity to meet and hear presentations from top security leaders, and pioneers, as well as interact with peers.

Keynotes, Speakers and Agenda

During five full days, keynote presentations ranged from a cryptographers’s panel discussing new threats in this field, to emerging attack techniques, panel sessions on IoT (Internet of Things), medical device vulnerabilities, the growing threat of ransomware, advanced cyberthreats and incident response to astrophysics. The debate on ransomware highlighted the rising costs for companies dealing with this issue.

Potential government regulations were a major topic of this year’s conference. Rep. Michael McCaul, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, discussed why we are losing on the cyber-battlefield and how to address the challenges coming from other state actors. This was an especially hot topic with the new administration in Washington, D.C. For example, proposed government policies and legislation could shape the protection of critical infrastructure, cyber threat intelligence sharing or industry standards.

Mark McLaughlin, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, delivered a presentation about the vulnerabilities of all connected devices and cloud storage. He elaborated on improved future technologies and how to successfully counter cybercriminals. Eric Schmidt, the Executive Chairman of Alphabet Inc,, discussed artificial intelligence and machine learning and what it means for cybersecurity. Here are more details about what he said about AI becoming a “key to advances in diverse areas, such as healthcare or datacenter design.” The closing entertainment was delivered by Seth Meyers, current Late Night host.

RSA Conference Expo

The two-floor expo offered the chance for the next generation of cybersecurity innovators to present their latest technological solutions. It was an opportunity to show “how to secure an increasingly insecure world” by information security leaders in this field. It also offered hand-on learning labs. For instance, attendees could choose from 16 two-hour interactive sessions with focus on live cyber-exercises or infosec strategy.  Identity platform maker UnifyID won the award for the “RSA Most Innovative Startup 2017.”

It was a successful event, according to those who attended. Even though it did not offer solutions for all cyber threats, it was packed with good speakers and latest technologies and techniques. Next RSA Conference will be also held in San Francisco, from April 16-20, 2018.

This is the full list of covered topics this year:

  • Analytics, Intelligence & Response
  • Application Security & DevOpos
  • Association Special Topics
  • C-Suite View
  • Cloud Security & Virtualization
  • Cryptography
  • Governance, Risk & Compliance
  • Hackers & Threats
  • Human Element
  • Identity
    Industry Experts
  • Law
  • Mobile and &IoT Security
  • Policy & Government
  • Privacy
  • Professional Development
  • Protecting Data & Applied Crypto
  • Security Mashup
  • Security Strategy
  • Sponsor Special Topic
  • Technology Infrastructure & Operations

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To find out more about the topics or speakers, visit https://www.rsaconference.com/events/us17