RSA Conference (APJ)

RSA Conference (APJ)
Name	RSA Conference (APJ)
Status	Active
Genre	Cybersecurity conference
Frequency	Annual
Country	Various Asia-Pacific locations
First	2007
Organized	RSA Security

RSA Conference (APJ)

The RSA Conference (APJ) is an annual Asia-Pacific and Japan regional edition of the global RSA Conference series, convening professionals from cybersecurity, information technology, finance, telecommunications, and government cybersecurity agencies. It assembles participants from organizations such as RSA Security, Verizon (company), Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems, and Google alongside regional entities like Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center, Australian Signals Directorate, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and Singapore Cybersecurity Agency. The event features vendor exhibits, technical sessions, keynote presentations, and training aligned with trends from NIST Cybersecurity Framework, ISO/IEC 27001, MITRE ATT&CK, and regulatory developments in jurisdictions such as Japan and Australia.

Overview

RSA Conference (APJ) functions as a regional forum linking vendors, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from markets including Japan, Australia, Singapore, India, South Korea, China, and New Zealand. Typical attendees include representatives from Bank of America, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Accenture, Deloitte (company), KPMG, PwC, and regional telcos like NTT, SoftBank, and Telstra. The program covers threat intelligence, cloud security, identity and access management, cryptography, and incident response, with reference points to work by Bruce Schneier, Whitfield Diffie, Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman on cryptographic principles.

History and Development

The APJ edition emerged as part of RSA Conference's global expansion alongside events in San Francisco, Amsterdam, and London following the growth of cybersecurity markets in the 2000s. Early APJ editions reflected regional responses to incidents like breaches affecting Sony Corporation and sector-wide events that involved institutions such as Equifax and Target Corporation. Over time, the conference adapted to frameworks from APEC, ASEAN, and standards bodies including ISO, drawing contributions from research groups at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University, University of New South Wales, and corporate labs like McAfee Labs and Symantec Research Labs.

Conference Programs and Tracks

Programs typically include vendor exhibition floors, hands-on labs, training courses, and multi-track sessions such as cryptography, cloud security, application security, threat hunting, and governance, risk, and compliance. Notable curriculum elements reference methodologies by SANS Institute, CIS (Center for Internet Security), ENISA, and case studies from JP Morgan Chase, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank, and Standard Chartered. Specialized tracks often highlight research from conferences and journals like Black Hat, DEF CON, Usenix Security Symposium, IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, and ACM CCS.

Notable Speakers and Keynotes

APJ editions have hosted speakers from corporations, academia, and government: senior figures from RSA Security and EMC Corporation, researchers like Dan Kaminsky and Mudge (computer security) alumni, academics from Stanford University, MIT, and University of Cambridge, and officials representing Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (Japan), Department of Home Affairs (Australia), and Ministry of Communications (India). Keynotes often discuss findings related to investigations by Kaspersky Lab, FireEye, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and reports from Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report teams.

Venue, Regional Presence, and Attendance

Venues have included major convention centers in Tokyo Big Sight, Marina Bay Sands, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, and other metropolitan hubs. Attendance ranges from thousands to tens of thousands, drawing delegates from multinational corporations, government delegations, start-ups accelerated through programs like Y Combinator, and research institutions such as National University of Singapore and Seoul National University. Exhibitors historically include vendors like Fortinet, Check Point Software Technologies, Trend Micro, Okta, and Splunk.

Impact on Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Community

RSA Conference (APJ) has contributed to capacity building among practitioners and to the diffusion of practices including zero trust architectures popularized by Forrester Research and cloud security models championed by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. It has fostered collaboration between CERTs such as CERT Australia, JPCERT/CC, and CERT India, influenced incident response preparedness in financial institutions like Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, and amplified research from labs including NCC Group and NTT Security.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critics have cited issues familiar to major conferences: heavy vendor presence favoring market messaging by companies like VMware (company), Oracle Corporation, and SAP SE over independent research; accessibility concerns for smaller research groups and start-ups; and debates over sponsorship influence on program selection paralleling controversies at Black Hat and DEF CON. Other controversies include discussions on disclosure ethics involving private-sector reports from CrowdStrike and Kaspersky Lab, and tensions between surveillance policy advocates from agencies like NSA-aligned researchers and privacy proponents influenced by work from Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Category:Computer security conferences