Seven Alien Highlights From RSA 2016

At RSA 2016, AlienVault descended on the Moscone Center with its glowing larger-than-life UFO and Ethel, the floating cow, to carve out its own Area 51 on the show floor. We got a lot of compliments on our booth, and were told by many attendees that it was one of the best!

With thousands of security professionals converging in one place, there were too many events to document fully, but here are our top seven highlights of RSA 2016:

1. Face-to-face Communication

   Remote communication and interactions can be extremely useful and efficient, but nothing compares to the opportunity to have actual, face-to-face interactions with our customers, partners and the broader security population.

   We loved having the chance to hear from people directly, help answer their questions and take back their feedback and suggestions. RSA remains the perfect venue to do this.

2. Updated OTX

   We took this opportunity to announce an updated version of our Open Threat Exchange (OTX)

   With this new release, OTX has enhanced the ability of the security community to collaborate. Each OTX participant can now directly contribute their own knowledge about emerging threats to improve the ability of the community to effectively detect and respond to them. OTX members can also submit edits to existing data and contribute other relevant information, such as additional indicators of compromise (IOCs), improving the clarity and accuracy of the data and resulting in a more actionable threat intelligence stream. AlienVault Unified Security Management (USM) customers automatically receive the threat intelligence of OTX through the USM console, enabling rapid detection of the latest threats.

3. Threat Intelligence

   “Threat intelligence” remained a strong theme at RSA. We had many great interactions with attendees who wanted to learn more about our threat intelligence and OTX. We ran regular presentations in the booth throughout the day to discuss our view and perspective on threat intelligence and why it needs to be an essential component of any threat detection solution.

   Anticipating that it would be a hot topic at this year’s conference, our own Russ Spitler also gave an interview explaining the key points that you should consider when choosing a threat intelligence vendor: https://www.alienvault.com/blogs/security-essentials/how-to-pick-a-threat-intelligence-vendor-an-interview-with-russ-spitler

4. Unified Security

   Many people who stopped by the booth were very interested in the benefits of integrating multiple security controls into a single solution. By combining five essential security capabilities into one dashboard, our USM enables even small IT teams to have full visibility into their operating environments.

5. Survey

   Want to know what RSA attendees think about the Apple vs FBI battle and issues around privacy? Well, we took a survey at our booth that generated a lot of interest. Stay tuned for the results, which will be announced in a blog and report around about March 15.

6. #AlienHug

   Our #AlienHug password contest captured the alien-style charm of a company with a personality that sets it apart from the rest of the vendors. Each day, we released a password on Twitter. Attendees who said the password at the booth won the adorable baby alien that was touring San Francisco before RSA!

7. Giveaways

   Our giveaways remain extremely popular with RSA attendees. Adding a bit of Alien fun to the conference, it’s always great to see people smiling as they walk away with our infamous green light-up sunglasses, or refresh themselves with a cosmic cocktail.