The RSA Conference has grown significantly in size and stature in recent years, fueled by the news of seemingly endless security breaches and the real effects being felt by business leaders across the world. With such a laser-like focus on security issues, events such as RSA have become must-attend affairs for enterprises and public sector organisations alike.
The constant wave of high-profile cyber-crime stories in the news and concerns that come along with BYOD have widened the appeal of RSA. Security is now seen as a key concern for every area of an organisation. Once the realm of security specialists, RSA events are now global, and are attended by staff of all levels, increasingly this includes C-level executives, who are eager to ensure the digital assets of corporations are fully protected.
With security’s enhanced presence as a main priority in mainstream business, now is the ideal time to fully educate C-level executives on the technology needed to combat growing cyber threats.
Mobile enterprise security was a major talking point and, beyond BYOD, the focus was identity management and techniques of device authentication. Interestingly, discussions at the event noted demand is now being driven by employees and customers, who are becoming increasingly security aware. This shows a sea-change in the industry where, rather than the development of technology driving progress forward, it is now end users applying pressure to enterprise to adopt more robust methods of authentication for their services.
This all comes down to education, and the UK is leading the way. Consumer programmes such as the Government’s Cyber Streetwise campaign have been central in raising awareness of online security best practice and back-up the work being done by the security industry as a whole.
However, the UK’s pivotal role in the cyber-security landscape goes beyond education. In terms of technological evolution, there are a growing number of US companies partnering with firms and organisations in the country’s bustling cyber-security sector to deploy the highest level of authentication and security solutions available.
This looks set to increase following the strong presence of UK firms at RSA. As we experienced by the impressive attendance at Intercede’s Tech UK reception, there is a real interest in the ground-breaking ideas coming out of the UK from organisations around the world, especially in the US. Amongst the high-profile attendees was President Obama’s cyber security advisor, Michael Daniel, highlighting the reputation the UK’s thriving security community is currently enjoying.
The level of support at RSA from a growingly-diverse range of professionals illustrates security is at last breaking out of the IT office and into the boardroom. This can only be a good thing as companies continue to step-up defences to protect themselves and their customers from increasingly sophisticated cyber-criminals. Given the strong hand played at RSA, the UK looks well-set to provide the ideas and inspiration to lead this global industry for years to come.
By Richard Parris, CEO, Intercede
