I’m off to San Francisco again next month for the RSA Conference 2011, one of the world’s biggest information security conferences. On Microsoft’s tab.
Microsoft is obviously keen for me to hear their guy Scott Charney, who’s giving a keynote entitled “Collective Defense: Collaborating to Create a Safer Internet”. This follows on from his presentations last year about treating internet security like a public health problem. Word is he’s starting to get a few converts.
But I’m also interested in hearing the US Deputy Secretary of Defense, William Lynn III, outlining the Pentagon’s Cyber Strategy, and a panel discussion on cyberwar that includes the redoubtable Bruce Schneier.
Once more I’m staying on for a couple of days to explore the city some more. Last time I asked for suggestions of places to visit and things to do, but as it happens I ended up doing none of them. Well, except taking a photograph of a seagull. I just prefer random exploration of a city over museums and packaged tourist experiences. And I did find some great little places to eat and drink. I’ll give them a plug over the next couple of weeks.
As for the conference, by all means have a squizz at the agenda and let me know if anything strikes your interest. I’ll be collecting material for the Patch Monday podcast, and filing stories for ZDNet.com.au and anyone else who’ll have me.
RSA Conference 2011 runs from Monday 14 to Friday 18 February at the Moscone Center. I’ll be staying in San Francisco until Sunday 20 February.
I’ll remind you of my suggestions for your last trip:
https://stilgherrian.com/internet/san-francisco-salesforce-dreamforce/#comments
and add:
My favourite bar in SF, Zeitgeist – cnr of Valencia and Duboce in The Mission.
There’s a cool shop further up Valencia St called Paxton Gate that’s definitely worth a peek.
Try and have Mexican breakfast at San Jalisco on South Van Ness.
Ice Cream at Humphrey Slocombe on Harrison at 24th St (Bourbon and Corn Flake Ice Cream!)
big
I’m concerned they only allocated 1 & 1/2 hours for the pub crawl on Tuesday night.
@Iain: Thanks for those suggestions, Big. I’ve edited your comment to link to their websites so I can find them more easily later on. You’re not the first to mention Zeitgeist .
@wjpepperel: WTF? I hadn’t seen that! That’s the lamest pub crawl I’ve ever heard of! Still, if that pans out I’m sure that Microsoft have arranged their usual generous hospitality…
One more suggestion for you at RSA… there is a great book being launched by the American Bar Association, looking at encryption best practices with a critical legal eye… case studies of breaches and why they did NOT provide safe harbor under U.S. data protection laws.
Interesting topic… how many who implement encryption, stop to ask their legal counsel whether the deployment will hold up in court?
I’ll send an invitation to the book signing, which takes place at a lunch & learn event. Press releases on the book launch were issued today by the ABA and several of the author’s companies. (search for ABA data encryption handbook).
Watch for an invite by email. Given the pub crawl is short, lunch at a local brewery might be a good addition to your schedule. 🙂
book signing (at lunch & learn on encryption).
@Mike Oh Mike, you missed the opportunity to give your full name and link to the PR firm you’re from. That’d look a lot better, no?
I’m mapping out my times at the RSA Conference later this week. But if I accepted every invitation for a booze-equipped launch I’d never get any work done. 😉 We shall see. I have your email, and will ponder it later.