eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
If you’ve been watching this space at all the last few days (if anyone is still watching) you’ve noticed a serious lack of coverage of any kind, in particular a total absence of any writing about the RSA Conference.
But not because I’m lazy!
My excuse is that I’ve been busy working my day job for Core Security, seeing the trade show life from the other side, and yes, I’ve got a whole new respect for PR folks as a lot of my time has been spent moving around the show and city with Core spokesmen and customers. Fellow reporters and bloggers, the other side is not as easy as you might think, though, it is pretty fun and rewarding.
So, what’s up with RSA? I’ll have more to say on the matter shortly, but if you saw my colleague Brian Prince’s coverage of Cyber Czaress’ Melissa Hathaway’s presentation, it’s not too hard to tell the security community was pretty disappointed with the lack of details provided in her speech on the Obama Admin’s 60 day cyber-sec review. But that was just about the only letdown.
The consensus seems to be that Hathaway was issued something of a gag order by the White House as they have yet to hear all the details of the report. Suffice to say, that was an unfortunate piece of bad timing for everybody’s interests.
However, beyond that, from what I’ve been able to discern, it’s been a typically inspired meeting of the market, with plenty of chilling research presentations and lots of constructive debate across the entire spectrum of the IT security business. Government security issues have been a major theme, as have talks on security for the cloud, SaaS, VoIP, wireless and other emerging technologies.
Tuesday’s keynotes and presentations were very solid, highlighted by Symantec’s Enrique Salem and Microsoft’s Scott Charney. Wednesday I was barely on the floor, save for Hathaway, and today the place is starting to wind down, though there were some truly fascinating sessions, including one on infrastructure security in the early Thursday time slots.
The show floor is a little quiet now, and it would appear that spending in that regard is down for even those companies who bought themselves some space. The bars have been pretty busy at night, though I haven’t even made the W once, where the main action always is. McAfee’s party drew a large crowd last night, and the RSA Codebreakers’ Ball is sure to get just about everyone who is left in town tonight.
It’s been a long week, and if you’re still interested, I’ll be posting on some more substantive conference-related topics over the next couple of days.
RSA… it’s always a trip.
Matt Hines has been following the IT industry for over a decade as a reporter and blogger, and has been specifically focused on the security space since 2003, including a previous stint writing for eWeek and contributing to the Security Watch blog. Hines is currently employed as marketing communications manager at Core Security Technologies, a Boston-based maker of security testing software. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Core Security, and neither the company, nor its products and services will be actively discussed in the blog. Please send news, research or tips to [email protected].