By Olivia Shannon, @Olivia_at_O
The RSA Conference has announced the finalists in this year’s Innovation Sandbox. The Innovation Sandbox highlights the most groundbreaking new security technologies being presented at this year’s RSA Conference on February 25th.
The Countdown2Infosecurity team would like to congratulate this year’s finalists for RSA Conference 2013 Most Innovative Company (in alphabetical order): Read the rest of this entry ?
Eleanor at the tea room enjoying a traditional English tea California style
By Rose Ross, @Rose_at_O
At RSA in San Francisco last week, we were fortunate enough to grab a bite with Eleanor Dallaway, Editor and Associate Publisher of Infosecurity Magazine, which was recently rebranded and relaunched. Our lunch and learn was an excellent opportunity to find out more about Eleanor and her publication. This is what we learned over our cream tea in the Yerba Buena Gardens above the Moscone Center.
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself:
I’ve been on Infosecurity Magazine for six years, and I’ve been Editor for nearly four of those years. I have also been associate publisher of the magazine for almost a year, which means I serve as a bridge between the commercial side and the editorial team.
When I started with Elsevier, the publishing company that owned Infosecurity Magazine, I was also working on Metal Powder Report — quite an eye-opener after covering things like alcoholism and other student-related issues for Label, a lifestyle publication with links to Loughborough University, where I studied English. Before Label, I got journalism experience on the news desk and then features desk for a local newspaper, the Leicester Mercury.
Q. Tell us a little bit about Infosecurity Magazine
Infosecurity Magazine focuses on the business and strategy side of infosecurity. It doesn’t do product reviews, for example. Instead we look at how security integrates into the business. We are very end user focused. Read the rest of this entry ?
By Rose Ross, @Rose_at_O
A picture paints a thousand words so here is RSA Conference in San Francisco day one.
Have a chat with Poli the Parrot on the Techguard stand. (And as a brit I can’t resist a link to the infamous Monty Python Parrot Sketch)
On the pirate related theme, we spotted this guy escaped in the forest from the IOActive stand.
If you want to win something neat. Pop over to the Titus stand to take flight with a neat remote control helicopter. Someone will have to run the gauntlet in the Chaos cabinet to get data under control. Check out Kristian’s efforts.
And last but by no means least, the German IT security booth with lots of the finest security from the European powerhouse. This oompah band.
And of course the ladies serving beer yesterday would NOT have spilt bier on Angela Merkel (Here courtesy of the Huffington Post)
By Rose Ross, @Rose_at_O
The Countdown team are always on the lookout for handy resources for the Infosec PR and marketing community, so when we were planning our fun at RSA later this month we found a little gem. We stumbled across a very nice tour guide for those in search of the great and and the good of the security blogger world.
The Security Bloggers Network syndicates blog posts from a long list of top notch security bloggers (Don’t worry we’ll be asking for interview for the blog here!). Many names you’ll recognize and many that you may not. Give it a visit and enjoy your trip!
http://www.securitybloggersnetwork.com/security-blogger-awards/
We also spied the Social Security Blogger Awards which is announced each year at the Bloggers Meet up at the US RSA show. Nominations are usually by a panel of blue collar judges made up of some of the leading security journalists in the media. Voting for the actual winners is done by SBN members.
What sets the SSBA apart is it is not a popularity contest, but rather an award by security bloggers and podcasters for bloggers and podcasters. It is truly a guild or peer award. Any blog or podcast that is nominated to the finalists represents the best of the best in their category.
Here are the finalists for the 2011 awards:
Before the finalists, special thanks to our all star panel of celebrity judges:
1. Bill Brenner of CSOOnline
2. Ellen Messmer of Network World
3. Kelly Jackson-Higgins of Dark Reading
4. Larry Walsh of Channelnomics
Without further delay I am very pleased to announce the finalists for the 3rd Annual Social Security Blogger Awards:
Best Corporate Security Blog
Best Security podcast
Most educational security blog
Most entertaining security blog
Security Blog that best represents the industry
The single best security blog post of the year
By Rose Ross, @Rose_at_O
No, not really, unless the risk is that the crisis management team at RSA doesn’t get into gear on the situation.
The Countdown team have been reading with interest the discussions on twitter and in the blogsphere about the stance of the RSA Conference on neighbouring Infosec chat and techfest, Bsides that are both taking place in San Francisco simultaneously.
Last year, apparently RSA issued waivers as a type of “get out of jail free” for anyone who exhibited or sponsored the event if they also exhibited at or sponsored the Bsides event which was nearby in the city. (It appears there is a 5 mile exclusion zone barring sponsors’ from participation in any events / conferences etc. which RSA deems as competitive)
Our take:
If you have such a clause (surely it could mean that an exhibitor’s sponsored drinks party nearby could be an issue surely during show hours??), then don’t issue waivers one year and then withhold them the next. Why? Because now you are saying it wasn’t a threat last year and this year it is. So making sure everyone is going to check out Bsides as an alternative rather than an extra.
More on the issues here on the InfosecIsland blog: http://infosecisland.com/blogview/19783-BSides-San-Francisco-Feels-RSA-Conference-Pressure.html
Events like Bsides are essential for nurturing the up and coming talents – who are innovative and edgy maybe pre-VC. Those same firms will own day grow up to have budgets to be at RSA. If RSA exhibitors are there at Besides. All the more reason for them to be at RSA at next year too.
RSA is a great conference, but in this situation Bsides will probably get the sympathy of the Infosec tweeters. Our advice to RSA. Lift the ban, embrace Bsides as the RSA fringe festival. It is your future, find a way to co-exist!
More on both events here.
The Countdown team look forward to chatting about Infosec and enjoying #securitybeers with you at both events in San Francisco next month.
By Olivia Shannon (@olivia_at_o)
Congratulations to the top ten finalists in the Most Innovative Company at RSA Conference 2011 contest – and special congratulations to the winner, Invincea.
“The top ten participants in this year’s Innovation Sandbox represent the entrepreneurial spirit of the security industry. Invincea was judged the most innovative by our diverse panel of judges,” explained Sandra Tom LaPedis, Area Vice President and General Manager of the RSA Conference.
A slideshow of this year’s Innovation Sandbox is available here. The finalists, in alphabetical order, include:
The criteria for inclusion in the Innovation Sandbox category held that the product or service had to have been launched after March 2010, and the product was required to be demonstrated live and on-site during the Innovation Sandbox event at RSA.
Entrants had to be privately held companies with less than $5 million annual revenues, and their management teams had to have proven successes in the delivery of products to market.
But the main criterion was for nominated products to have the potential to make a significant impact on information security.
Watch this space.
Countdown2infosecurity's Blog 