Resources for the Community: USA Today’s Homeland Security Edition 2018

Already one-third of the way through 2018 (how did that happen?), many of us are still catching our breath from April in what was a packed month culminating in another great week out in San Francisco at RSA Conference 2018. With so many great discussions taking place last month, we hope all of you were able to take part in the event and come away inspired by our industry, and ready to engage and contribute in new and exciting ways. Many of the most important issues the Conference addressed this year can be seen throughout the new 2018 USA Today US Department of Homeland Security Special Edition.*

In addition to a Q&A with former acting DHS Secretary Elain Duke, this year’s edition tackles a number of topic areas relevant to our community that echo a lot of what you heard and saw coming out of RSA Conference 2018:

Data Security & Data Privacy:

For those who may not have heard, the importance of securing data has dominated the conversation this year as the countdown toward the enforcement of the new GDPR regulations continues to race toward the May 25 enforcement deadline. Breaches and data privacy issues continue to affect major companies around the globe with media headlines reflecting increased awareness and concern among both businesses and consumers. These and related topics created a constant buzz at RSAC 2018 last month with presentations and sessions including:

• Privacy Essentials for Security Professionals
• The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation – Beauty or Beast?
• Big Little Lies – Truth on the New EU Regulations for ID and Data Protection

Cyber Education & Tech Jobs:

Under the robust umbrella of the RSAC AdvancedU program, RSA Conference rolled out RSAC onDemand in 2018 to allow those unable to make it to San Francisco this year the opportunity to tune-in online. In addition to the educational components associated with AdvancedU, there were also valuable sessions discussing Managing Your Cybersecurity Workforce, Hiring Cybersecurity Talent and Meeting Business Needs by Filling the Cybersecurity Skills Gap at this year’s Conference.

Constant Vigilance:

In addition to welcoming the Honorable DHS Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen to the stage as a keynote speaker, there were several speakers, panels and sessions this year devoted to the Department of Homeland Security and the topic of vigilance – both domestic and abroad – that has captivated conversations and news cycles in recent months. Some of those sessions included:

• Breaking and Entering: How and why DHS Conducts Penetration Tests
• Blurred Lines: Hybrid Threats Posted by State-Sponsored Hackers
• Hello Moscow. Greetings, Beijing. Addressing Risk in Your IT Supply Chain

Rather than providing a full review of USA Today’s special edition report, we’ll pass it along to you to explore its full contents with the hope you find it as interesting as we did. We each have our own list of insightful takeaways to follow up on coming out of RSA Conference 2018, and we think this report will certainly provide some further food for thought as we head into the rest of the year and even begin looking toward 2019.

*Disclosure, USA Today is an official media partner of RSA Conference