The 27th annual RSA Conference officially kicked off this morning with RSA President Rohit Ghai welcoming attendees and trying to set a positive mood for the show.
Ghai told the audience that even though 2017 was a tough year for the cybersecurity industry those on the front lines need to remain upbeat, focus on their successes and he introduced three themes that he believed will help improve cybersecurity in the future.
The first is to “end the idea of the silver bullet.” Instead of focusing creating a tool or system that will be foolproof in at some unknown point in the future, cyber defenders should look to make small, but steady improvements.
“Focus on being a little safer each day. Focus on strengths and the aggregation of little things. These add up. Look for the 1 percent improvements,” Ghai told the crowd.
Ghai also pressed for quicker adoption of new technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence and when a vulnerability or flaw is found to make sure everyone knows about it. He used an example of how Tesla cars inform their ecosystem of road issues so another Tesla does not hit the same pothole, he said the same idea has to be brought to cybersecurity.
Finally, Ghai stressed the need for great teamwork and that such teams are best formed and grow stronger through diversity.
RSA 2018 is expected to draw about 50,000 attendees and runs through April 20 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
