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Security Watch: RSA Expo Sneak Preview

Posted by Luc Hatlestad on February 13, 2006

The biggest security event of the year starts today in San Jose, Calif., featuring numerous big-name speakers as well as a wealth of new product and solution announcements.

The theme of the four-day RSA Conference will center on ancient Vedic mathematics and a sage named Aryabhatta, who published an astronomical treatise in the year 499 that was written in 118 Sanskrit verses; the volume has had lasting ramifications for science and mathematics. RSA has invited author and cryptographer Dr. Subhash Kak to deliver one of the keynote speeches about how Vedic mathematic relates to today's information issues.

Other keynote speakers include Microsoft's Bill Gates, Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy, Cisco Systems' John Chambers, Symantec's John Thompson, Internet Security Systems' Tom Noonan and VeriSign's Stratton Sclavos. Art Coviello, CEO and president of RSA Security, also will deliver a keynote address in his role as de-facto host of the event.

The conference will also feature panel discussions and educational seminars on numerous security topics, including messaging, management, endpoint security and security services.

For example, Symantec just announced a next-generation consumer security service for Windows Vista and Windows XP that will likely be discussed at length at RSA. Code-named Genesis and scheduled for release this fall, the new service will integrate with Symantec's Norton technologies to provide continuous protection to end users from various forms of malware.