RSA Conference 2024 is just around the corner, and the organization recently published the common threads they noticed across more than 2,700 CFP submissions. All relate back to the event’s theme of “The Art of Possible,” as it pertains to cybersecurity.
But many also tie back to machine identity management, and what we at Venafi strive to do daily: protect the identity-first foundation of our increasingly machine-driven world. Keep reading to explore those submission trends, as well as what to expect from Venafi at this year’s RSA Conference.
A quick refresh: what is machine identity management?
Machine identity management is the discovery, orchestration and protection of the machine identities—like TLS/SSL certificates, SSH keys, code signing credentials, SPIFFE and so many others—that govern confidentiality and integrity of information and communication exchanged between machines.
It’s an important component of any robust security strategy, yet most organizations do relatively little to protect their machine identities. This imbalance is a cause for concern, considering the world’s machines outnumber humans by 45 to 1.
How does this relate to RSAC’s submission trends?
RSA Conference brought up ten different submission trends in their recent post, and five of them stood out to us amongst the rest:
- Security’s Identity Shield
- Humans and Technology
- AI and Everything
- Ransomware Rises Again
- Community Matters
Security’s Identity Shield
“Security teams are acknowledging that identity is the most important thing to secure.” – RSA Conference
This quote from RSAC underlines the importance of identity, but it doesn’t mention what kind of identity protection to prioritize. It is important to safeguard human credentials with MFA and other authentication mechanisms, but machine identity management is how you ensure trust with all your machines. And that doesn’t just include the tangible devices, but also any code, APIs, applications and services.
Identity is the foundation, and the future, of cybersecurity, and we at Venafi have been leading this charge for years with holistic, centralized machine identity management for the world’s most security-conscious companies.
Humans and Technology
Remember that imbalance between humans and machines from earlier? The number of humans has remained relatively flat, but machine inventories are spiking off the charts. And as technology continues to advance, especially in AI, quantum and cloud native spaces, those inventories are becoming more difficult to manage and secure.
Businesses need a simplified way to know what machines are running in their systems, so they can quickly and easily authenticate and authorize access, as well as rotate and renew machine identities to avoid outages and breaches.
But that’s only one part of the picture here. Technology alone isn’t enough to secure enterprises. There must also be tight alignment between people and processes.
Want to find out how Venafi is addressing this alignment issue? Come explore the future of cybersecurity at RSAC South Hall Booth #654!
AI and Everything
No matter where you look, AI is everywhere. Cybersecurity professionals are looking for ways to effectively protect it—while also capitalizing on it themselves.
We’ve already seen how AI can be a huge boon to security, as well as a major bane if not handled carefully. There are regulatory considerations, ethical conundrums, as well as open source quagmires all leaving questions in the collective mind of the security community.
What RSAC didn’t note, however, was a looming fear that AI would be this apocalyptic, Decepticon-like, future-rending doomsday device. Rather, the submissions focused more on thoughtful, practical applications.
But to realize this vision, companies must implement centralized, automated machine identity management. It acts as the “kill switch” for any AI that may misbehave or act outside of its guardrails, and it allows for rapid revocation of authentication should any corrupted data or outputs be discovered.
Ransomware Rises Again
Every 15 seconds, a business becomes a victim of a ransomware attack. And according to RSAC, 2023 was a year rife with them, what with Vegas juggernauts MGM and Caesar’s both being hit by high-profile attacks.
While not every ransomware attack that happens hits the headlines, those that do underscore the pressing need to prevent the execution of unauthorized code across all runtime environments.
After all, organizations run mountains of code in a multitude of forms daily—but how do you know you can trust all of it? Macros, PowerShell scripts, applications and containers could be concealing malware, zero-day exploits or even ransomware from your intrusion detection systems. This is a different type of risk, but it again hinges on machine identity management. In this case, a robust code signing trust chain.
Community Matters
Security can’t, and shouldn’t, be done alone. RSA Conference’s overarching theme makes this apparent, and Venafi’s own booth theme, “Transform Your Machine Identity Management: The Future of Cybersecurity,” further drives this point home.
Like the Autobots, we can all achieve so much more when we mindfully band together and fight as one.
And this is how we roll, each and every day.
There’s so much more than meets the eye with Venafi. Come see for yourself!
Identity is the future of cybersecurity. It’s how we ensure trust with our machines, and how we protect all our digital communications.
So, if you’re looking to crank your cybersecurity into overdrive, drop by our RSAC booth.
With prizes and swag galore, there’s so much in store at Booth #654
The Venafi booth will be filled with exciting activities and contests, including:
- How much do you know about our machine-driven world? Test your mettle with Transformers Trivia!
- Meet everyone’s favorite Autobots! Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will be live, so come snap a selfie and share using #TransformWithVenafi.
When you play our trivia game or get involved on social, you’ll be entered to win an Optimus Prime Lego kit. What do you say? Feeling optimistic?
Meet Venafi’s Innovators Prime
Discover how modern machine identity management helps your business thrive in a machine-driven age where identity underpins all things cybersecurity. Meet with our expert team, May 6-9th!
Interested in a 1:1 meeting? Head over here for instructions on how to claim your spot.
Get your CLM automation blueprint: USPTO on the importance of automation
Machine identities can significantly impact your organization’s security—make sure it’s in a good way!
Don’t miss the USPTO’s Monday May 6th session (2:10-3:10PM PT), where they will discuss how they reduce risk and meet security requirements by automating the entire certificate lifecycle. You’ll learn the critical steps your team must take to do the same.
The Venafi team can’t wait to see you at RSAC 2024!
Unable to make it to RSAC but still looking to conquer Megatron-sized levels of machine identity complexity?
Learn more about Venafi’s modern approach to machine identity management—including how you can roll out CLM automation in your enterprise—at the link below.
Why Do You Need a Control Plane for Machine Identities?
Machine Identity Security Summit 2024
Help us forge a new era of cybersecurity
☕ We're spilling all the machine identiTEA Oct. 1-3, but these insights are too valuable to just toss in the harbor! Browse the agenda and register now.