10 Sights And Scenes From The 2017 RSA Conference

Live From The Show Floor

Conferences always bring out the weird and wacky in our favorite technology vendors (especially when it comes to security), and the RSA Conference last week was no exception. This year's conference brought out some fun and bizarre sights on the show floor, as well as some more serious signs of industry technology trends and conflict. And, of course, we weren't left without a few celebrity and musical guest appearances – including top comedians, technology executives and actors. As CRN attended the event and wandered the show floor, take a look at 10 sights and scenes from the 2017 RSA Conference this year.

Black Violin

RSA 2017 kicked off in style, bringing out hip hop violin duo Black Violin to rally up the crowd and lead into the first keynotes of the event. The performance continued a musical kick off tradition at RSA, following on the opening of a capella group Pentatonix at the 2016 RSA Conference.

So. Many. People.

The RSA Conference is growing every year – and this year the event's growth was hard to miss as you tried to squeeze onto the show floor between sessions and into keynote auditoriums. An estimated 40,000 people attended this year's event, up from around 30,000 the year before.

Michael Dell Guest Appearance

There was a surprise tech star at the RSA Conference this year: Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell. Dell took the stage during RSA CTO Zulfikar Ramzan's opening keynote, talking about how security was a key enabler of business transformation. Dell Technologies acquired RSA as part of its blockbuster acquisition of EMC last fall.

Endpoint Battles

The battle between legacy security players, as well as some of the hottest startups in the endpoint security market, was front and center at this year's RSA Conference. Symantec and McAfee continue to battle it out as some of the biggest security vendors in the space, both coming to RSA this year with new strategies and major business changes to position them for the future.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

The celebrity appearances at RSA kept coming, with a Thursday closing keynote by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson, a renowned astrophysicist, science commentator and science television host, spoke to attendees about common science myths and new advances in the area of astrophysics.

Super Hero Photo Booth

In addition to celebrity appearances, RSA tends to bring out the weird and wacky on the show floor. Key certificate and management company Venafi looked to draw in the crowds with a photo booth that turned attendees into a super hero cartoon.

John Lithgow

In yet another RSA celebrity appearance, John Lithgow took the stage with a monologue that both laid out the "fragile and vulnerable" digital world we live in today, with a population that is never offline but doesn't necessarily consider the security implications posed by criminals around the world. He said the security industry is "outspent, outgunned and outnumbered," but said that "without that hard work security fails," resulting in a "hacked planet" that takes down hospitals, banks, power grids, and more. He said the people at RSA, delivering and developing security solutions, are key to protecting and maintaining trust in that digital infrastructure.

Legos

Looking to build something at the RSA Conference? Security Compass, an application security company, had you covered, with a table of Legos for attendees to play with.

Race Car Battles

Security is a fast-paced industry, and that isn't just when it comes to technology. Kaspersky Lab had attendees racing to the finish, with multiple video game race cars set up at their booth.

Seth Meyers

RSA closed out the event with a little comedic relief from late night host Seth Meyers. Among other things, Meyers cracked jokes about getting hacked, saying the people in the audience were more important than ever, referencing HBO's "Game of Thrones" by saying "you guys are the Night's Watch and winter is here."