Thousands converge in San Francisco for RSA cybersecurity conference

SAN FRANCISCO - Roughly 42,000 people from 142 countries are converging this week on the Moscone Center in San Francisco, as the center hosts the annual RSA Conference.

"The RSA conference is one of the world's most important meeting grounds for cybersecurity," said Vahid Betzadan, an engineering professor at the University of New Haven.

The conference is so widely regarded that in the West Coast's Monday morning twilight, the opening bell, signaling the start of the trading day for the financial sector's movers and shakers, was rung inside the convention site.

"I come every year just to know what's out there. The industry standard stuff," said Harry Wolford, Jr., who flew in from South Carolina. 

Added David Moulton from Palo Alto, "There's an undeniable energy when you put this many people together. And you get to see a lot of innovation and technology."

The focus of this four-day conference is to provide educational forums allowing attendees to learn the latest innovation's and challenges facing the rapidly changing world of tech.

"Malicious actors trying to exploit vulnerabilities within the software. Trying to maybe create a new bug to infiltrate the systems," said Ajitha Mohan, a cybersecurity officer for Charles Schwab financial services.

Discussions about AI were scheduled to dominate various sessions, as well as ways to protect supply chains from hacking.

"AI is everywhere and it's very prolific in our agenda this year, particularly on our keynote stage," said RSC Sr. VP Linda Gray Martin. "It's so important that we come together as a community because that is the only way that we're going to create a safer society." 

Added Betzandan: "That's the whole point of having conferences. Bringing together different stakeholders, different developers, to learn about new trends." 

And Mohan said, "Maybe we will be ahead of the game. Try to find out what they're thinking, and so we can be prepared for that and build our defenses even better."

This is also an opportunity for the region's most cosmopolitan city to woo travelers, 20% of whom are from outside the country.

"It really brings an important injection of tourism, of people and of spending for a lot of the hotels and the local restaurants that are nearby," said Ian Sherr, a freelance tech reporter.

This is the 34th year for this convention, which runs through Thursday. 

Be advised if you're in the city, there could be more vehicular and pedestrian traffic around the Moscone Center.