Striking Security Gold

RSA Conference’s slogan of “Where the World Talks Security” provides a unique window into the technical and cultural evolution of our industry. This report plumbs a decade’s worth of session abstracts—nearly 15,000 in total—using natural language processing and machine learning. By analyzing the “ore” of Call for Paper (CFP) submissions rather than just marketing titles, we can unearth what practitioners are actually interested in and how those priorities have shifted.

The data reveals that the nomenclature of the field changed definitively in 2015, when “Cybersecurity” finally overtook traditional labels like “Information Security” in frequency. We also see the rise and fall of specific eras; the “APT-is-all-that-matters” theme peaked in 2014-2015 before making way for current fixations like Internet of Things, Ransomware, and GDPR. This report rewards the click by mapping these trends across 100+ tags, showing which technologies have moved from “Run for the hills” panic to “We got this” adoption.

Notably, the study identifies a growing emphasis on security leadership, with “Senior Management,” “CISO,” and “Board of Directors” climbing the ranks of common session themes. While the industry remains tactical and often negative in sentiment—particularly regarding vulnerabilities and tactics—there is a clear consensus that “Intelligence” is a consistently positive thing to talk about.

Key Findings

• The 2015 Nomenclature Flip: 2015 was the year “Cybersecurity” definitively won the linguistic war over “Information Security” among industry peers.
• APT Era Decline: The obsession with “Advanced Persistent Threats” (APT) peaked in 2015 and has been in a steady decline since.
• Ascending Leadership: Sessions tagged with “Senior Management” and “CISO” are steadily climbing the ladder, signaling a breakdown in the barrier between security and business.
• Ransomware Peak: Ransomware, Extortion, and Availability (loss of) reached “peak threat” levels in RSA abstracts heading into 2018.
• Negative Tactical Bias: Tactical topics show significantly stronger negative sentiment than strategic topics, with the notable exception of Intelligence.
• Vendor-Practitioner Consensus: There is a remarkably high correlation between the topics practitioners submit for sessions and the descriptions vendors use in the exhibition hall.