Secureworld expo 2012, Decrypting the Mayan Code - Santa Clara Day 1 Musings

Day 1 of secureworld expo 2012, Decrypting the Mayan Code, in Santa Clara (Bay Area) was a lightly attended event.  None of the smaller sessions I    attended on Day 1 were more than half-full.  The afternoon panel discussion was full, however.  There were more than sixteen sessions on Day 1, a combination of open sessions, 2-Day   conference attendees’ sessions, and invitation only session.  A sense of déjà vu over a past RSA San Francisco event.  The theme of the conference,   “Decrypting the Mayan Code” 

Some Observations

• Opening   Keynote – PCI in 2012 and Beyond.  More of the presentation was spent on promoting the organization than where PCI was heading.  I learned that the speaker has a hearing-impaired dog.

• Check Point Software - Security Blueprint talk -   Good talk about Check Point’s security map without doing a technology deep dive.  Check Point delivers their technology “your way”, depending on whether you want an appliance,   VMware, or you have fully imbibed the private or public cloud kool aid.  They stated that their solutions provide comparable features, functions, performance, regardless of the form factor you purchase or license their technology.

• RSA - Authentication, Addressing a Changing IT Environment talk -   Quick overview of some authentication alternatives.  Brief mention of “issues” RSA had in the past year with theft.  Other companies involved with authentication were in the audience (and identified themselves).

• Panel discussion – BYOD; Laptops, Smartphones, Tablets, Oh My!  (Absolute, Air-Watch, Appsense, Good Technology, RSA ) – A good discussion.  Well attended.  The consensus was that BYOD has taken off and there is no going back.  Now, it is a matter of protecting the data.  Members of the panel felt that  t there is an obvious positive ROI to implementing BYOD within the company.  Disagreement as to whether the growth has come from the masses demanding (or just doing) this, or from the executive offices demanding it.  One company more or less recommended the 80/20 suggestion for implementation.  Namely, that you could get 80% of what your company needs with 20% of the effort.  Much of the discussion used the briefcase motif.  If the employee owns the briefcase, how can  you justify the company owning the lock if there is  personal information in the briefcase?  The suggestion; consider the company having a smaller briefcase within the personal briefcase.  The company then would own  that briefcase, the lock, the data, and the right to wipe/empty that briefcase of any information.

• Little success in getting competitors to dis one another in the exhibitor area despite my gentle lobbing of hanging curves.  Fortinet stated that they had next generation firewalls, (NGFWs);  before Palo Alto Networks and that Palo Alto Networks took over the phrase, (most people consider them the originator of the term).  Palo Alto Networks recognizes Websense not at the event) as a competitor, but feels that their technology still provides a better solution (it also sounds as Palo Alto Networks   had a nice internal celebration when they had their IPO.  Riverbed; no discussion of interest.  Blue Coat; a tad sensitive.  Their response when I asked what technology was under the hood of their DLP appliance (it appears not be a DLP/Malware appliance as in the previous version); their initial response was a non-confrontational, “why are you asking that?”  They then mentioned that it was from Code Green.

For those who are interested – Tchotchkes!

In addition to the usual data sheets;  tee shirt (leftover  from Black Hat), commuter mugs, BPA free water bottles, mugs with handles pens, pens, pens, transformer like pen!, mobile phone holder, a  ring style Frisbee flying saucer clone, candy, and a sumo wrestler stress toy (very cool).  

 

Casino break! 

Interesting listening to non-professionals explain the game and rules to those who had little experience with the games.

 An advanced screen of the movie “code 2600” is scheduled for day two of the conference. 

About secureworld expo 2012 – Decrypting the Mayan Code

 This is a multi city event.  Events are scheduled for Detroit, Dallas, and Seattle.

 http://www.secureworldpost.secureworldexpo.com/