ESG Blogs

I’m not sure how many people attended Black Hat in Las Vegas last week, but it surely felt like a record crowd. Optimistic attendees lauded the show for its threat research and focus on cybersecurity skills while skeptics bemoaned Black Hat changes, disparagingly referring to the show as ‘RSA in the desert.’

As for yours truly, my week was educational, albeit exhausting. I started early by participating in the CISO Summit on Tuesday where I hosted a panel on AI and machine learning in cybersecurity. My week ended with a Thursday dinner brainstorming session on cybersecurity operations. There were dozens of formal and informal meetings in between. 

I’m about to leave New England and brave temperatures of 110 degrees or above. It may sound crazy, but I’m actually looking forward to the trip next week. Why? I’m heading to Black Hat USA in Las Vegas, and I’m excited to learn more about:

1. Artificial intelligence in cybersecurity. I am hosting a panel at the CISO Summit titled, The Real Impact of AI on Cybersecurity. As part of this panel discussion, we will cut through the industry hype around AI/ML and talk about how real enterprise organizations are using and benefiting from the technology. It should be a fruitful and enlightening discussion.

Like many others in the cybersecurity community, I attended Black Hat in Las Vegas last week. Here are my thoughts on the show:

Such blogs typically offer 3 or 4 takeaways from seminal industry events; I have one from Black Hat 2017—disruption of core cybersecurity markets is in the air.

I’ve been looking forward to this year’s Black Hat event in Las Vegas for several months. In my mind, Black Hat has become the industry’s premier event for digging into cybersecurity technology.  RSA seems to be leaning toward business development and Sand Hill Rd. schmoozing these days.

In this video blog, my colleague Jon Oltsik and I discuss some of the insights from ESG’s cybersecurity research we expect to be topical at Black Hat USA 2017, including:

• The challenges and solutions around security operations and analytics and the need for a security operations and analytics platform architecture (SOAPA).
• The constant state of change in the endpoint security landscape in which organizations regularly re-evaluate processes, technologies, and vendors.
  

With the largest Black Hat to date now in the rear view mirror, it’s clear there is edginess not only in the hacker community, but also in hot cybersecurity market segments where vendors are competing for thought leadership as well as wallet share.

SuperZoo 2016, a pet retailer show, provided a bizarre, but fitting backdrop including those of the furry, four-legged variety co-mingling with the cybersecurity industry. I had the opportunity to speak with CISOs, vendors, threat researchers, and catch up with friends. After navigating the up and down escalators of Mandalay Bay, I left with these takeaways:

Last week’s Black Hat 2016 conference was a whirlwind of activity. Here are a few of my takeaways:

Being a cybersecurity industry analyst can be a bit like a dog on a walk. Squirrel! And off you go. Which is to say creating a plan for Black Hat next week, be it which sessions to attend, what tech to look for, what trends to double-click on (never mind what parties to hit), can be challenging. With an attempt to keep some of the squirrels out of my peripheral vision, here a few of the ones I’ll be chasing next week at Black Hat 2016.

I was at Cisco Live a few weeks ago in the 100+ degree heat of Las Vegas and like other cybersecurity professionals, I am off to Sin City again next week for Black Hat.