Four tips for attending RSA Conference 2022
RSA is back in person running from June 6th to 9th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This year’s theme is transform–something that we can all get behind from both a security and erosional perspective after the past few years.
It’s been a while since most of us have attended a big conference in person, so here are a few tips to help you get the most from a jam packed week.
Find your comfort level
I’ll be honest with you. This is probably going to be a weird experience for a lot of us. I know I’ve got concerns about being out and among this many people again.
The good news is that the conference has a Health & Safety Hub that details all of the precautions they are taking to help keep us all physically safe.
People come from all over the globe to attend this conference. That means a wide variety of cultural norm and comfort levels so make sure to review the conference’s Code of Conduct, take it to heart, and please respect everyone’s choices about their own safety and comfort level.
For myself, I’m making sure that I give myself space to relax and time in my schedule to back away and reset if needed. There’s so much going on at the show that this can be hard to do.
The good news—and the first tip—is that the full conference pass includes on demand access to all track session captures (audio + slides) and keynotes. So if you do take some time to yourself, you’re not going to miss out.
Talk to people
The first tip can be considered a bit of a back up plan in light of this second tip. While the content in the sessions and keynotes is usually great, the biggest advantage of the show is connecting with people in person.
RSA has a legendary “hallway track.”
The advantage of having attendees from all over means the opportunity to reconnect with others in the community.
There’s nothing more frustrating than randomly crossing paths with someone you want to speak with but you’ve got to run to another commitment.
Make sure that you don’t pack your schedule so tightly that you won’t be able to stop and chat with the people you run into while at the show.
Plan your session attendance
There will be hundreds of sessions throughout the week with topics ranging from AI to the human element to Zero Trust. The full agenda is available online.
You can login today and reserve a seat in the sessions that you want to attend. Walk ups will be available for sessions that have space available. But if you want to make sure you get a seat for the live session, reserve onenow.
Here are five sessions that might be of interest;
- [CSCS-T09] Continuous Security – Integrating Pipeline Security, by Vandana Verma Sehgal (OWASP). This talk looks at how you can build security into the CI/CD process while meeting developer and business needs.
- [PROF-W01] Security Leadership: Influence without Authority, by Sarah Currey. (AWS). Everyone with a security focus should be an advocate for your program internally. This session dives into how people can lead without a title, a critical skill for everyone!
- [CSCS-W02] How to Keep the Cloud from Casting a Bigger Shadow on Shadow IT, by Bret Arsenault (Microsoft). “Shadow IT” continues to be a problem…one that’s more complicated than most people understand. Bret’s sessions looks at how you can enable engineers and developers to adopt a security mindset.
- [DSO-M03] Tooling up: Getting SBOMs to Scale, by Allan Friedman (CISA) and Kate Stewart (Linux Foundation). Supply chain attacks were in the news way too often the past couple of years. This session dives into the world of the software bill of materials (SBOM) and lays out what work still needs to be done.
- [DSO-W09] Product Security at Scale: Lessons from Comcast, by Sandra Cavazos (Comcast). Running a successful security program is hard. At scale it’s even harder. This talk looks at the nuances of Comcast’s programs to help you understand how to build and scale your program.
Remember, there are a lot more sessions available throughout the week and on-demand afterwards. Make sure to login with your full or digital pass to add your favourites or reserve a seat.
Visit the Expo
The Expo at RSA is actually one of the highlights. Yes, you read that right…because I re-wrote it several times. RSA is the cornerstone security event of the community.
The Expo is a great way to get a quick overview of what vendors are offering and where the general focus of the community is.
Make sure to put some time on your schedule to wander through the Expo halls to learn more about the latest technologies and security controls that might help you and your team meet your security goals.
Of course Lacework will be there. We’re in booth #4528 in Moscone North and we’ve got a great team on-site ready to talk about all things cloud security. Our booth will feature the Polygraph experience where you can walk through a demo of the platform and afterwards someone from our team will also be handing out free Lacework t-shirts. In addition, you can visit Polygraph.com which is a new immersive digital experience to show how the Polygraph® Data Platform is solving the cloud security problem.
A busy week ahead
RSA did a great job last year delivering the conference digitally. We’re all excited about getting back together in person for what promises to be a fantastic event.
These tips should help you find your footing. Just remember to wear a good set of sneakers, because you’re going to get your steps in bouncing from event to session to keynote throughout the week.
See you there!
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