At RSA APJ Conference in Singapore on July 27 2017, RSA Conference director and general manager, Linda Gray Martin, spoke to Infosecurity about the event’s objectives and attendees
In its fifth year, RSA Conference 2017 Asia Pacific and Japan is the younger sibling of RSA USA, the brand’s flagship event that takes over San Francisco every spring. It’s difficult not to draw comparisons, and the differences are vast, but fundamentally, the two events are built on the same premise: connecting attendees to affect change in the information security industry.
The APJ event, says Gray Martin, “has really good momentum.” In its first year the show attracted 1800 attendees, and this year, they expect 5000. “The growth is testament to the visibility of cybersecurity around the world. It’s so high-profile. What I love about the industry is how passionate people are. They really want to change the world”, she says.
Despite the growth of the APJ conference, the USA conference remains – and will always remain –the brand’s flagship event. With 43,000 attendees, its size and scope is unrivalled.
So, why did RSA feel it important to launch in Asia Pacific five years ago? “It’s important to have regional events – to hear from the local people and give them a strong voice”, says Gray Martin. “There are concerted efforts in cybersecurity here in APAC. Four fifths of Asian organizations have 24/7 threat monitoring, for example. Platforms like RSA bring the community together, and that’s powerful. [RSA is] a great resource for exchanging ideas. One of our missions is that in doing this we can affect change.”
In spite of its APAC focus, Gray Martin admits that the event is densely populated with attendees who live and work in Singapore – in fact 77% of attendees (2016 data) are from Singapore. “We’re trying to make it as regionally focussed as we can, though”, she says. Despite the tile of the event serving Asia Pacific and Japan, only 1.6% of attendees were from Japan (see box-out for full attendee break-down by geography).
RSA also has a smaller event in Abu Dhabi taking place later this year.
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RSA APJ 2016 Breakdown by Country/Region |
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