RSA Conference 2022 is in full swing! Twenty keynote speakers took the stage throughout the day in front of packed session rooms throughout Moscone Center.

To kick off day 2, we gathered to hear a group of seasoned professionals at some of the world’s top companies including Google, Apple, and LinkedIn for a conversation on Privacy 2022: Perspectives from the Top. In this discussion, led by Dominique Shelton Leipzig as moderator, these experts walked through the current legislative landscape, the risks that both exist and are emerging, and the operational realities of managing privacy in a complex digital environment.

Next came an annual crowd favorite – The Cryptographers’ Panel. Zulfikar Ramzan, Chief Scientist and CEO of Aura Labs, moderated the panel. Ramzan was joined by industry experts Whitfield Diffie, Moni Noor, Dawn Song, and Adi Shamir. The experts explored the most pressing issues facing the industry today. This wide-ranging and timely discussion covered NFTs, the security challenges of cryptocurrency and blockchain, privacy, mobile as well as quantum computing, and machine learning. The panel was largely optimistic about the developments ahead and the potential benefits of increased dialogue between industry and policy makers.    

In a thought-provoking keynote on What Matters Most, renowned security technologist, researcher and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer, Bruce Schneier, shared insights from his upcoming book (January 2023). He examined the changing interplay between computers and humans and the implications of AI systems becoming iteratively better at finding vulnerabilities – and how these capabilities can be intentionally instructed to hack existing systems or equally damaging, inadvertently hack them in ways humans did not anticipate and won’t accept. Professor Schneier concluded the session with a call for society to proactively determine the role technology should have in our lives and not the other way around. Following this speech in an engaged Q&A, attendees asked questions spanning a range of topics, including geopolitics, national security, and the implications of ever-smarter AI on existing systems.

To end day 2, we welcomed 16-Time U.S. Paralympic Gold Medalist, Jessica Long. In her keynote, The Power of a Positive Mindset, Long reminded the audience that the only disability in life is a negative attitude, and how the power of positive thinking has long been known as a useful tool for thriving in life and work. She also explored how to develop a tough mindset to withstand anything and how the power of positivity affects what people get out of life.

Lastly, we extend a huge congratulations to Cynthia Dwork and Moni Naor, the recipients of this year’s Excellence in the Field of Mathematics Award. Dwork is a Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard, and Naor is currently a professor of Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel specializing in Cryptography and Complexity. Congrats!

Wednesday: At a Glance

• Keynotes: We encourage you to check out the full schedule, and keep in mind that Conference will also be livestreaming many of this year’s keynotes. Here are a few you won’t want to miss on Wednesday:
  • Staying Secure in Today’s High-Stakes World – 10:50 – 11:10 AM @ Moscone West Street Level. Join executives from Cosan, IBM and Cisco for a discussion on how enterprises can adopt automated security and build on open technologies to align with their business needs in a new era of cyberattacks.
  • The Five Most Dangerous New Attack Techniques – 11:30- 12:20 PM @ Moscone West Street Level. Each year at RSA Conference, SANS provides an authoritative briefing on the most dangerous new attack techniques in use today, what's coming next, and what organizations can do to prepare. This session gives organizations a chance to prioritize upcoming attack vectors and to get ahead of them. There will also be a special announcement during this session.
  • Building Trust in a Zero-Trust World to Confront Tomorrow’s Cyber Threats – 1:15 – 2:05 PM @ Moscone South Esplanade. In this presentation, cybersecurity leaders from CISO, Mandiant and SolarWinds will explore lessons learned, private-public partnership and how to build trust.
  • How a Musician Used Sheet Music Encryption to Help Soviet Defectors – 2:25 – 3:15 PM @ Moscone South Esplanade. In this keynote, Dr. Merryl Goldberg will share her story of sneaking information into the Soviet Union to help people defect utilizing her own encryption code that turned clear text into musical notes on sheet music.
  • Crossing the Rubicon – 3:55– 4:25 PM @ Moscone West Street Level. Executive Chairman of Team Rubicon and Chief Executive of Groundswell, Jake Wood, will inspire attendees by taking them on a journey from college football's largest stadiums to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, to the founding and development of America's fastest growing disaster response organization, the highly acclaimed Team Rubicon.
• RSAC Early Stage Expo – 8:30 AM. – 4:30 PM in Moscone South, Level 2. Back for another year, Early Stage Expo will offer an innovation space dedicated to promoting up-and-comers in the industry. With emerging talent at every kiosk, attendees will have a chance to meet 35 of the industry’s most promising newcomers.
• RSAC Security Scholar Poster Board Exhibit – 12:25 – 1:15 PM on Moscone North Street Level. Each year RSA Conference Security Scholar hosts 50 select scholars from 38 universities. Many of these select scholars will share their current research with attendees at a poster board exhibition – you won’t want to miss out!
• Expo Pub Crawl – 4:30 – 6:00 PM @ Moscone North & South Expos. Enjoy complimentary beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages as you visit sponsoring companies’ booths to learn about their latest innovations.

A reminder that the Expo hours on Wednesday will be 10:00 AM-6:00 PM. Here’s to another exciting day at RSA Conference 2022!