Will RSAC bounce back this year? Was 2022 just a rebound year that will lead to a revived and engaging show in 2023? We're about to find out as we begin this year's RSA Conference season.
It's RSA Conference Season
Much like Groundhog Day in April, you know it's RSAC season when the spam emails start flooding in. Although I wouldn't waste a time machine on traveling to the future to gather and sell email addresses for event attendees, it seems like the peddlers of verified 2023 RSAC attendee lists did just that:
So at least we know there will be 35,386 attendees this year... a decent increase from 2022.
Breaking Down the 2023 RSA Conference
Like we did in 2022 and many other years before that, we'll break down this guide into five separate buckets:
- Training
- Seminars, Keynotes, and Sessions
- Networking Opportunities and Parties
- Programs and Special Events
- The Expo Hall
RSAC 2023 Trainings
| Training | Date/Time | Cost | Link |
| CSA Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) Plus Training | April 23 & 24 - 9-5 | $2500 | Reserve Now |
| Cyber Defenders: Guardians of Critical Infrastructure, Presented by InfraGard National Members Alliance | April 23 & 24 - 9-5 | $2000 | Reserve Now |
| FAIR Analysis Fundamentals Training | April 23 & 24 - 9-5 | $2000 | Reserve Now |
| (ISC)² CCSP® CBK 2-Day Instructor-Led Training | April 23 & 24 - 9-5 | $1600 | Reserve Now |
| (ISC)² CISSP® CBK 2-Day Instructor-Led Training | April 23 & 24 - 9-5 | $1600 | Reserve Now |
RSAC 2023 Seminars, Keynotes, and Sessions
First, a look at the keynote speakers, starting with non-security:
- Eric Idle - Co-Creator of Monty Python, Musician, and Writer
- Dr. Michio Kaku - Theoretical Physicist, Bestselling Author, Renowned Futurist, and Popularizer of Science
- Poet Ali - Performer
And some of the security industry keynote speakers:
- Lesley Carhart - Principal Industrial Incident Responder, Dragos, Inc.
- Dr. Boaz Gelbord - Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer, Akamai
- Vasu Jakkal - Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security Business
- George Kurtz - Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CrowdStrike
- Heather Mahalik - DFIR Curriculum Lead and Senior Director of Digital Intelligence, SANS Institute and Cellebrite
- Bruce Schneier - Security Technologist, Researcher, and Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School
- Wendi Whitmore - Senior Vice President, Palo Alto Networks
The full list of keynote speakers is available here.
Sessions - Day by Day
The full agenda is available here, but some interesting sessions throughout the week include:
Monday, April 24, 2023
| Time | Session |
| 8:30 - 10:30 AM | Becoming the Threat: Blue Team Friendly Attack Simulations - Aaron Rosenmund, Pluralsight (Facilitator) |
| 8:30 - 9:20 AM | Do Better: Board-Level Accountability in Cybersecurity Chris Hallenbeck, Tanium (Moderator) Greg Silberman, Zoom Video Communications (Panelist) Brian Stafford, Diligent Corporation (Panelist) Maggie Wilderotter, Grand Reserve Inn/DocuSign (Panelist) |
| 8:30 - 9:20 | Modern Bank Heists Tom Kellermann, Contrast Security (Moderator) Ron Green, Mastercard (Panelist) Matt O'Neill, U.S. Secret Service (Panelist) |
| 10:50 - 11:40 AM | Defender Perspectives: Navigating Cyber Threat Intelligence Differentiators Lisa Ackerman, GSK (Moderator) Levi Gundert, Recorded Future (Panelist) Tom Hofmann, Flashpoint (Panelist) Junay Hom, Nisos (Panelist) |
| 12:00 - 3:00 PM | RSAC Innovation Sandbox |
| 1:10 - 2:00 PM | Kindred Chaos - Security vs Privacy Incident Response Sri Maddipati, Google (Speaker) Ashley Tolbert, Netflix (Speaker) |
| 2:20 - 3:10 PM | Whoa, You’ve Been the CISO for 3 Years at Your Firm—Now What? Yael Nagler, Yass Partners (Speaker) Lenny Zeltser, Axonius (Speaker) |
| 5:00 - 7:00 PM | Welcome Reception - Expo Halls |
Tuesday, April 24, 2023
| Time | Session |
| 8:30 - 9:20 AM | Hack the Institution – A Map To a Strong Partner-Based Security Program Molly Mae Potter, Dell Technologies (Speaker) Bobbie Stempfley, Dell (Speaker) |
| 8:30 - 10:30 AM | Human Security Engineering: Stopping User Initiated Loss Dr. Tracy Celaya Brown, Iron Mountain Data Centers (Facilitator) Ira Winkler, CYE Security (Facilitator) |
| 8:30 - 9:20 | Surfing as a Team Sport: Riding the Regulatory Wave as a Top Competitor Fran Faircloth, Ropes and Gray, LLP (Moderator) Christopher Hale, Cisco Systems (Panelist) Matti Neustadt, Forstai Cyber Kinetics LLC (Panelist) James Sfekas, Microsoft (Panelist) |
| 9:40 - 10:30 AM | Cybersecurity Thinking to Reinvent Democracy Bruce Schneier, Harvard Kennedy School (Speaker) |
| 9:40 - 10:30 AM | The Psychology of DevSecOps Jennifer Czaplewski, Target (Speaker) Kathryn Pimblett, A.P. Moller Maersk (Speaker) |
| 9:40 - 10:30 AM | Who Says Cybersecurity Can’t Be Creative? Sam Sabin, Axios (Moderator) Chris Cochran, Hacker Valley Media (Panelist) Mari Reisberg, Sustaining Creativity (Panelist) Caitlin Sarian, TikTok (Panelist) Daniel Trauner, Axonius (Panelist) |
| 1:15 - 2:05 PM | It’s Not All Fun and Games: Cyber Threats to Professional Sports Joseph Szczerba, FBI (Moderator) Steve Grossman, NBA (Panelist) Tomás Maldonado, NFL (Panelist) Dave Munroe, National Hockey League (NHL) (Panelist) |
| 4:40 - 6:15 PM | RSAC CyBEER Ops |
| 4:30 - 6:40 PM | Women's Networking Reception |
Wednesday, April 25, 2023
| Time | Session |
| 8:30 - 9:20 AM | Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: The Paradoxical Effect & Impact on Security Colonel J. Carlos Vega, Executive Security Advisors (Moderator) Dr. Hise Gibson, Harvard Business School (Panelist) Nicole Gilmore, MITRE Corporation (Panelist) Larry Whiteside, Jr., RegScale (Panelist) |
| 8:30 - 9:20 AM | Integrating Privacy Protections into National Security Systems Rebecca Richards, National Security Agency, DoD (Moderator) Karen Dunkley, Central Intelligence Agency (Panelist) Hillary Fielden, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (Panelist) Andraleigh Rodini, Department of Energy (Panelist) |
| 9:40 - 10:30 AM | Real World Stories of Incident Response and Threat Intelligence Lily Hay Newman, WIRED Magazine (Moderator) Lesley Carhart, Dragos, Inc. (Panelist) Katie Nickels, SANS Institute and Red Canary (Panelist) Wendi Whitmore, Palo Alto Networks (Panelist) |
| 11:10 - 11:30 AM | The State of Cybersecurity – Year in Review Kevin Mandia, Google Cloud (Speaker) |
| 1:15 - 2:05 PM | CISO Legal Risks and Liabilities Gadi Evron, Team8 (Moderator) Stewart Baker, Steptoe & Johnson LLP (Panelist) Kirsten Davies, Unilever (Panelist) Alyssa Miller, Epiq Global (Panelist) |
| 3:20 - 3:50 PM | Axonius: What Does Progress Mean in Security? Lenny Zeltser, Axonius Nate Burke, Axonius Amanda Fennell, CISO & CIO, Prove |
| 4:30 - 6:00 PM | Expo Pub Crawl |
Thursday, April 26, 2023
| Time | Session |
| 10:50 - 11:40 AM | Cybersecurity Strategic Activity, Recent Trends & Predictions Dino Boukouris, Momentum Cyber (Speaker) |
| 2:10 - 3:00 PM | Diving into the Tenacious Threats of Cloud Data Lakes Sushila Nair, Capgemini (Moderator) Oliver Forbes, NTT DATA (Panelist) Dr. Diane Murphy, Marymount University (Panelist) John Yeoh, Cloud Security Alliance (Panelist) |
There are over 400 sessions, in categories like Analytics, Intelligence, and Response, Cloud Security, C-Suite View, DevSecOps and AppSec, Risk Management, and many more.
RSAC 2023 Networking and Parties
You can find the official RSAC 2023 Networking Opportunities here, including the welcome reception, pub crawl, CyBEER Ops, and Women's Networking Reception.
For years, we tracked the RSAC parties on the Axonius site, but now groups like RSAC Parties are much more up-to-date with a site and twitter account dedicated entirely to tracking them. A few highlights:
Monday, April 24, 2023
- Guidepoint Security RSAC Happy Hour
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Venue: Temple Nightclub San Francisco
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
- Black Kite Signature Whiskey Tasking Event
Time: TBD
Venue: Four Seasons Hotel - Presidential Suite - SEC Social Club
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Venue: The Fly Trap, 606 Folsom Street - Pluralsight RSAC Cocktail Hour
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Venue: 25 Lusk
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
- Elevate Keynote & Breakfast
Time: 8:30 - 10:00 AM
Venue: Hyatt Regency - RSAC EWF Meet and Greet In-Person sponsored by PwC: Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Cyber
Time: 11:30 AM
Venue: Moscone South - RSAC Happy Hour with Harness
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Venue: Southside Spirit House
RSAC 2023 Programs and Special Events
- RSAC Innovation Sandbox - This is where cybersecurity's boldest new innovators compete to put the spotlight on their potentially game-changing ideas. Ten finalists have three-minutes to make their pitch to a panel of judges.
- Launch Pad - RSAC Launch Pad returns as three early-stage startups pitch their bold ideas Shark Tank®-style to industry veterans for strategy advice and community awareness.
- Sandbox - RSAC Sandbox hosts eight villages for hands-on experiences, CyBrew Café, cutting edge research talks, and a lounge to recharge.
- Early Stage Expo - This exhibit space showcases up-and-coming companies and provides you with the opportunity to meet the cybersecurity leaders of tomorrow.
RSAC 2023 Expo Hall
This year there are 619 vendors exhibiting in Moscone North, Moscone South, and the Early Stage Expo. You can research vendors on the RSAC marketplace to plan your expo hall visit. Unfortunately, the marketplace doesn't list what swag each vendor is giving away...
And of course, you should definitely come visit Axonius in Moscone South at booth 734.
