My 2010 RSA Conference & Kaminsky Interview

I hung out at the 2010 RSA Conference last week and wanted to  share some observations from the show.  Rain early in the week reminded me of why the organizers moved it later in the Spring the past couple years but the sky’s cleared and the remainder of the week, we got the nice, crisp, sunny Bay Area weather.  F5 decided not to exhibit this year but we did attend in full force, meeting with analysts and customers along with focusing our video camera on partners and doing a Partner Spotlight Week at RSA.  It was kinda fun to attend as a typical participant. 

I got there around 11am on Tuesday, just as the Expo floor was opening.  I easily got my badge without any delay.  I remember the long lines a few years ago when we all gathered in the main entrance.  They’ve improved the check-in process over the years but I’m also guessing most attendees got their badges on Monday.  Met with some F5’ers between analyst meetings, saw a very cool demo of our BIG-IP Edge Gateway Client solution and made my way to the Expo floor.  All the usual companies were displaying their wares but I’m always amazed by all the company names I’ve never heard of along with lots of color companies – Blue that, Red this, Black the other thing.  There were many ‘systems management’ companies and a whole ton of ‘token’ companies.  I even overheard another attendee mention how many token companies there were.  And of course, Cloud.  Everyone’s got some ‘cloud’ solution, even those who really do nothing in the cloud, except maybe store your info, added ‘cloud’ to their signage.  I don’t have any official attendance numbers but it did seem a bit fuller this year verses last. 

Since we didn’t have a booth, I decided to do a ‘Partner Spotlight Week at RSA’ shooting video segments of the various F5 partners at the show.   Something I’ve been thinking about for a while and with many all in one place, it made the task easy.  Every partner was very accommodating and excited to participate.  The basic premise would be, introduce the company – talk about the integration both technically and business wise – then show a quick demo if one was available.  Even with short notice (most I just walked up to and asked on the spot) they were very engaging and all were done in a single take.  I want to thank Splunk, Layer 7 Technologies, OPSWAT and Secure Passage.  Great job guys!

The highlight of my week came on Thursday.  F5 and Infoblox will be offering a Webinar on March 10th called DNSSEC: Compliance is Easier than You Think.  I was lucky to get one of the webinar speakers, Dan Kaminsky, Director of Penetration Testing at IOActive (and the guy who exposed the serious DNS vulnerability, DNS Cache Poisoning) who was gracious to participate in an interview with me – and boy what an experience!  We talked all about the DNS infrastructure including how DNS works, his discovery, DNSSEC and many other interesting topics.  What I thought would be a quick 5 minute chat turned into a full blown half hour conversation about many things Internet related.  Great stories about the discovery and some of the challenges he faced along the way.  It was awesome – thanks so much Dan – good times!!

The Videos

• Dan Kaminsky Interview Part I
• Dan Kaminsky Interview Part II
• Dan Kaminsky Interview Part III 
• F5 Networks Partner Spotlight – OPSWAT
• F5 Networks Partner Spotlight – Splunk
• F5 Networks Partner Spotlight - Layer 7 Technologies
• F5 Networks Partner Spotlight - Secure Passage

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