RSA Conference 2016 Abu Dhabi deemed success with 1,100 attendees

The RSA Conference documented more than 1,100 participants from across the globe.

The event, noted as the world’s top information security conference and exposition, is held in collaboration with the UAE National Electronic Security Authority (NESA).

“RSA Conference Abu Dhabi 2016 was a great success as it provided us with a platform to connect with industry leaders and discuss best practices for securing IT environments,” Hadi Jaafarawi, managing director at Qualys Middle East, said. “We also had the opportunity to showcase our latest solutions that allow our customers to achieve two-second visibility across all of their global IT assets, get the continuous view of their security and compliance posture and identify those that are already compromised.”

A variety of topics were discussed by the 35 exhibitors at the conference. Nine keynote speakers touched on subjects like industries, including cloud, smart city security, telecommunications, IoT, policy and government.

Some top name exhibitors included Tenable Network Security Inc., Cisco, DarkMatter, Qualys Inc., RSA and Spire Solutions.

“As the world transforms digitally and people and things become more interconnected -- cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities -- business and security leaders need to align technology and security with the needs of the business, in order to put security incidents into business context so they can take command of their evolving security posture,” Jonathan Gill, vice president of EMEA, RSA, said. “The RSA Conference Abu Dhabi provided us with an opportunity to share best practices, continue the conversation about technology trends, and discuss how to help solve security issues that affect the region the most.”

Events that pulled the biggest crowds included a live cyber-crisis exercise scenario that demonstrated how governments and businesses work together in the event of a threat to public safety. Other hits were the opening speech from Mohammed Al Zarooni, acting deputy director general at Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, ensuring online safety for children, and closing remarks from Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen and industry executive Mark Gallagher.

“We’re extremely pleased with the positive response we received for the Conference this year,” Linda Martin, general manager at RSA Conferences, said. “The success of the conference is a strong testament to cybersecurity being given high priority in the Middle East, and we look forward to building on this momentum for conferences in the future.”