Charles Goldberg | VP, product marketing
In a matter of a few days, security professionals from near and far will descend upon downtown San Francisco to attend the world’s premier cybersecurity event– RSA Conference 2020. This year’s theme, the Human Element, brings an entirely different perspective to bear. Sure, AI, ML and bots are making us question the role of humans as we enter a new decade for data protection and privacy, but how is the human element helping us blaze new trails when it comes to cybersecurity in the 2020s? It will be interesting to see how this theme plays out next week.
At Thales we appreciate what lies ahead for security professionals and, as a result, this year at RSA (in our booth #N5445), some of the technologies we’ll be showcasing and discussing include data discovery, trusted access, cloud security and, of course, encryption. Below is more detail on what you can expect to see from us this year…
A post digital transformation world
For years, we’ve been discussing how digital transformation will impact data security. Now, as organizations wrangle with security in a post digital transformation world, the focus is on the way sensitive data is stored and accessed. At RSA, we will highlight how data discovery and classification are instrumental in mitigating risk while addressing compliance, especially as knowing where sensitive data is stored and how to protect it continues to be a concern. Thales has been very transparent on our plans to bring a data discovery and classification product that tightly integrates with our data security products to simplify identifying, classifying, measuring risk, and remediating sensitive data. We will be demonstrating the product at our Data Security Innovation demo kiosk and look forward to usability and roadmap input from our visitors.
Who do you trust?
Trusted access will become more and more important as organizations continue to move at lightning speed to the cloud. And with this meteoric rise comes the security risks associated with the vast amount of devices and apps now connected through the cloud. (Let’s not forget the human element that is looking to hack into them too). To help address the need for safe and secure access, we announced today our first Fast Identity Online 2.0 (FIDO2) and Microsoft Azure AD tested authentication devices, offering passwordless access for cloud apps, network domains and all Azure AD-connected apps and services. This is significant as the over reliance on passwords has made us vulnerable. FIDO addresses this by providing alternative authentication options to passwords.
Smart single sign on, authentication and access management all have a critical role to play in an organization’s strategy for providing trusted access to the cloud and we’ll have multiple demos in our booth that can meet these needs.
Cloud security—put yourself in the driver’s seat
Cloud security is a topic that is here to stay for the foreseeable future. As more and more data is stored in the cloud, how to protect this important asset has become increasingly top of mind for security professionals. In fact, according to the 2019 Thales Cloud Security Study, just over half (53%) of companies control the keys to their encrypted data in the cloud. To find out more about your options in this space, please come by our booth to discuss Bring Your Own Encryption (BYOK), cloud HSM, and participate in a demo of cloud life cycle key management made easy.
Speaking of cloud security, my friend and colleague Sol Cates, vice president of research and technology for cloud protection and licensing activity, will be speaking about best practices and the different approaches for maintaining access and control over keys. His session, “Should You Trust Cloud Providers with Your Encryption Keys” will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 26, from 8:00 – 8:20 a.m. in the North Hall Briefing Center. Grab a cup of coffee and meet me there. Sol (a seasoned speaker at RSA) always has an interesting perspective on what is happening in our industry.
Much ado about quantum
The advent of quantum computing created quite a buzz last year. Enterprises and the general public are becoming increasingly aware of the threat it poses to cryptographic systems that underpin all digital security globally. To prepare for this new era in data protection, quantum resistant security will become a necessity. Thales can help your organization understand what this technology will mean to your business and how to prepare for it. Thales offers Hardware Security Modules (HSM) and high-performance network encryption devices that are crypto agile and support quantum safe encryption, key generation, and key distribution today. If you’re part of the 72% of IT professionals that are concerned about the risk being imminent (stay tuned for more about this finding from Thales next week), learn how to deploy NIST candidate quantum safe encryption algorithms today at our Data Security Innovation demo kiosk.
It’s your chance to beat the hackers
Back by popular demand, we will feature a virtual reality experience that will challenge you to protect an underwater data center. Come by our booth and see if you can beat the hackers in 10 minutes or less. You have a chance to win an Oculus Quest!
We hope to see you next week at our RSA booth in the North Expo Hall #5445. For more information on what Thales is planning at RSA Conference this year and to get a free conference pass, please visit our website.
What’s for certain is this new decade will bring thought-provoking, exciting technologies as well as new challenges and threats that need to be addressed. When it comes to cybersecurity, the roaring 20s is starting out with a bang.