RSA 2010: Security industry gathers for RSA 2010

The 2010 RSA Conference is underway with an impressive array of speakers

The RSA 2010 security conference has officially opened its doors today, and organisers are hoping for a record turnout.

The speaker list includes Janet Napolitano, secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Howard Schmidt, White House cyber security co-ordinator, and Robert S. Mueller, director of the FBI.

Hundreds of other speakers, meanwhile, will host seminars dealing with all aspects of IT and physical security.

"For nearly 20 years, the RSA Conference has been the best place for information security professionals from around the world to engage in thought-provoking discussions on issues that affect our industry and the world at large," said Sandra Toms LaPedis, area vice president and general manager of RSA Conferences.

"As cyber warfare, cloud security and protecting the enterprise in the face of consumerisation and mobility emerge as new challenges for IT departments, our attendees rely on the RSA Conference for practical insights and real-world answers to these issues."

An alternative security conference, Security B-Sides, will also start tomorrow. Billed as the first grass roots, DIY, open security conference in the world, the two-day event will see professionals and hackers discussing current security issues.

"The goal has and always will be to expand the spectrum of conversation and enable a greater variety of events," said the organisers.

"Certainly one can take the business perspective and say that any and every security conference competes with each other, but this would ignore the fact that these events are free and simply offer people another alternative to everything else."