The RSA Conference in San Francisco officially opened Tuesday with everyone sitting in the dark. Literally. Amit Yoran, the new president of RSA Security began his opening keynote while standing on a dark stage. "My stumbling around in the dark is a pretty good metaphor for anyone who's trying to protect networks today," Yoran said, describing how the industry has failed to deliver on its promises.
"2014 was yet another reminder that we’re losing the contest,” he said. "We can neither secure nor trust the pervasive complex, and worse, end-point participants in any large or distributed committing environment," Yoran said.
RSA Conference also announced its winners for the RSA Conference Awards after Yoran's keynote. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Richard A Clarke, CEO of Good Harbor Security Risk Management and former special advisor to three consecutive Presidents of the United States on cybersecurity. John N. Stewart, senior vice-president and chief security and trust officer at Cisco was given the Excellence in the Field of Information Security award. Excellence in the Field of Mathematics was awarded to Dr. Hugo Krawczyk and Professor Ivan Bjerre Damgard. J Michael Daniel, currently the special assistant to the president and the cybersecurity coordinator was awarded for Excellence in the Field of Public Policy.
Richard Clarke issued a grim warning to the conference attendees, that cybersecurity must protect intellectual property or other countries will ultimately erode the United States' edge in business innovation. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson also spoke about encryption and the importance of cybersecurity.
The show floor opened Tuesday, and attendees walked the aisles, checking out various exhibits and discussing the merits of various technologies. Did you see the Oculus Rift setup at RSA Security's booth? Let us know what other booths you particularly enjoyed.
Sandbox had a lot of foot traffic, as attendees checked out some of the hands-on demos, from Joe Grand's industrial controlsLi systems setup, the OpenGarages station (particularly relevant in light of BT's announcement the company was going to step into automotive security), and CSI Forensics. NetWars kicked off in the late afternoon, as competitiors downloaded virtual machines and tried to solve puzzles and hacking challenges. Beer Camp, with artisan beers such as Nooner, Side Car, Ovila, River Ryed, Stout, and Bigfoot from Sierra Nevada, was buzzing with conversation and laughter.
Around the Media
Check out what journalists had to say about RSA Conference, Day 2:
- USA Today, on Secretary Jeh Johnson
- Fortune, on Amit Yoran
- Information Management, on the conference
- Conference overview
See you tomorrow for Day 3! The learning opportunities and excited haven't stopped yet.
Please let us know if you need anything else.