Top 10 themes from RSA

2. Cloud computing
Shaun Nichols: Cloud computing has become such an obnoxious buzzword that reporters joke of playing drinking games with the term whenever an executive takes to the podium. If you were to take a drink every time 'cloud computing' was uttered during Tuesday morning's keynotes, you likely would have woken up in a jail cell that evening with a nasty hangover.

With seemingly every part of traditional software now being pushed into a web-based 'cloud' service, security vendors are left scrambling to protect users. Additionally, many vendors are now looking towards cloud services for their own products. Web services are now being prepped by many security companies as replacements for the drive-busting signature libraries currently in use.

Iain Thomson: If one more person raved about cloud to me I was getting ready to scream. Cloud was everywhere at this conference and it started to get a bit much.

Cloud is an important new area of business but it isn't the only card in the deck. It does make deployment less expensive and offers enterprises much more flexibility, but it isn't a magic bullet.

In particular I've got concerns about handing over important data to third parties. Not only are the cloud vendors now prime targets for hackers, but laws controlling data flow still haven't been sorted out. Cloud is new territory and I'd like to see a bit more stability in the market before entrusting my data outside the company.

1. The economy
Iain Thomson: You saw evidence of the tanking economy all over the show. There were fewer people in evidence on the show floor, the exhibition stands were smaller and less flashy, and the local bars were nowhere near as p acked as usual.

This feeling of doom wasn't helped by pretty much every keynote speaker reminding us all about how the economy is suffering. "Worst financial crisis in a generation," "biggest challenge since the Second World War" and "darkest days since the 1930s" are all direct quotes.

All parts of the IT industry are being hit by the recession, but security should weather the storm fairly well. No-one is going to be totally secure, however, and everyone here knows it.

Shaun Nichols: If you make your money selling products to others (in other words, a business) the economy is going to be the elephant in the room. The security industry is no exception. It's no secret that companies are spending less and trying to make do with older products, and how to push security in an economic crisis was a central theme of this year's conference.

As we touched on when discussing job security, the industry likes to label itself as "recession-proof", but the air of concern about the economy was almost palpable at this year's conference.