RSA Conference 2016 Abu Dhabi is just a few weeks away, and we here at RSA Conference couldn’t be more excited. Our event in Abu Dhabi brings some of the sharpest cybersecurity minds from around the globe to the Middle East, and this year is no exception. We have more than 40 sessions across seven tracks, and that’s not to mention our Learning Lab and Security Foundations Seminar.
However, with so much on offer, it can be tricky to choose which are right for you. To help make your time in Abu Dhabi as valuable as possible, we’ve asked our Program Committee to identify some session highlights across the various tracks.
The conference kicks off with the Security Foundations Seminar and Learning Lab on Monday.
“We strive to offer a variety of learning formats and topics for our attendees. Immersive, participatory learning is highly effective for many adult learners, so we are pleased to be able to offer the Cyber Crisis Response Lab, presented by The Atlantic Council. This level of interactive exchange, working against real work problem scenarios, provides an off-the-charts impactful learning experience that will absolutely positively impact our attendees’ ability to do their jobs,” said Britta Glade, Senior Content Manager at RSA Conference. Find out more about it here: Cyber-Crisis Response--Live Exercise Scenario.
The Security Foundations Seminar is designed for new security practitioners looking for a holistic view of the current state of information security.
“Our Security Foundations Seminar provides an amazing one-day overview of the security landscape, with content presented by speakers who are known to be highly effective. Meant to be consumed as a whole, this Seminar was constructed to help attendees to get a broad-brush understanding of the marketplace and help frame the conversations that will take place over the rest of the RSA Conference experience,” said Glade.
We hope you’ll check them out!
From among the track sessions, those recommended by the Program Committee are:
- Sustaining a Malware-Free Enterprise Network: Security compromises through malware are on the rise, and it is essential to have an effective strategy and well-defined process to eradicate malware presences and sustain a malware-free (near zero) enterprise IT leading to secured and trustworthy computing and a highly resilient environment.
- Defeating Insider Threat with Cyber and Physical Security Convergence: Insider threat comes in many forms, but the perpetrator is often the same: an inside employee with high levels of access. Insider threats are the hardest to detect and have the most devastating impact. Learn how machine learning and predictive risk analytics identify behavior anomalies and insider threat to deliver complete corporate and critical infrastructure protection for your organization.
- Security @ Scale: Making Security Analytics Work for the Internet of Things: With the explosion of smart devices, significant security concerns arise. Concepts like visibility and identity continue to be mainstays. But scaling these concepts out to the Internet of Things requires thought. This session will describe five key steps required to glean meaningful insights from the impending deluge of IoT data and extract the most relevant signal from an ocean of noise.
- Security Roundup for the Middle East: Trends and Threats: This session will overview current security threats in the UAE, GCC and globally. Through a deep dive into significant security stories and hacks from the first half of 2016, attendees will leave with an understanding of vulnerabilities that cybercriminals may abuse and a view on how to combat them.
- Ransomware in the Middle East: Ransomware is a malicious denial-of-service attack that encrypts data for extortion, holding information hostage in return for money. This presentation will cover types of ransomware, their design, propagation, encryption, command and control, targets, payment, proactive defense and reactive solutions. In particular, it will discuss the use and evolution of ransomware in the Middle East.
- Barbarians at the Gate(way): This talk will examine the tools, methods and data behind the DDoS attacks that are prevalent in the news headlines. Using information collected, this session will demonstrate what the attackers are using to cause their mischief and mayhem, and examine the timeline and progression of attackers as they move from the historical page defacers to the motivated DDoS attacker.
- Security & Disruption: Fourth Industrial Revolution Challenges & Opportunities: Industry 4.0 is the current trend of automation, data exchange and technological innovation. It includes cyber-physical systems, IoT, cloud computing and cryptocurrencies. These represent a revolution as to how businesses, societies, governments and people operate, disrupting boundaries, identity and ownership. What is the nature of security in this newly digitized, always-on, globalized world?
- Lessons Learned from Cybersecurity and Data Protection Roundtable: Natasha Kohne, co-head of Akin Gump's Abu Dhabi office and global cybersecurity and data protection practice, will discuss the insights, lessons learned and recommendations on the cybersecurity and data protection roundtable and the role of the general counsel. What practical measures can the general counsel take to counter internal and external cyberthreats?
Security Strategy & Operations
- Building Bridges: Surprising Strategies and Teammates for Infosec Success: Nearly every aspect of our job as defenders has gotten more difficult and more complex--escalating threat, massive IT change, burdensome compliance reporting, all with stagnant security budgets and headcount. Rather than surrender, it's now time to fight back. This session will provide new approaches to finding financial and operational support for information security across the organization.
- Machine Learning--Cybersecurity Boon or Boondoggle: Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are the latest "shiny new things" in security technology, but while ML and AI hold great promise for automating routine processes and accelerating detection, they are not a panacea. This session will show what they can and can't do in a cybersecurity program through real-world examples of possibilities and limits.
We hope you join us at RSA Conference 2016 Abu Dhabi!
You can still register for the event, to be held 15-16 November 2016 at the Emirates Palace here: https://www.rsaconference.com/events/ad16/register