COMMENTARY

Cloud security is rapidly evolving, driven by new technologies like agentic AI and other advancements pushing the boundaries of how we defend against emerging threats. As attackers become more sophisticated, it's important for us as defenders to join forces and share ideas and best practices. The cybersecurity community has long thrived on collaboration, and RSA Conference 2025's theme, "Many Voices. One Community," reminds us of this core value. It's great to see so many thought leaders sharing their perspectives on cloud security at this year's conference. With so many sessions to choose from packed into a few busy days, I put together a shortlist of the must-see-security sessions.  

7 Must-See Sessions

Honey, I Shrunk the Accounts: Using Small AWS Accounts for Segmentation

Monday, April 28

If you want to hear from a large enterprise in a highly targeted industry that's likely seen it all when it comes to cloud security, this one's for you. Mapping out an environment of this scale, with complex deployments and all the moving parts, is no easy job. And making sure it's secure? A massive endeavor. It's important to learn from those who have been there, done that, and take note of all the best practices they can offer. 

Related:AI Agents 'Swarm,' Security Complexity Follows Suit

DevSecOps Revolution: Unleashing Generative AI for Automated Excellence

Monday, April 28

Advancements in generative AI (GenAI) have resulted in widespread adoption in cybersecurity, increasing efficiency and automating manual tasks. And now with agentic AI, we're taking things a step further by tackling even more complex security challenges autonomously. One important application of AI is for DevOps use cases, such as identifying problematic code and automatically generating new replacement code to eliminate potential risk. Learning how AI can uplevel your DevOps team to build, deploy, and manage infrastructure securely from AWS is definitely worth checking out. 

Beyond Speculation: Data-Driven Insights Into AI and Cybersecurity

Tuesday, April 29

This session focuses on three of the most critical elements in cybersecurity today: artificial intelligence (AI), threat intelligence, and the cloud. The ongoing debate between "AI doomers" and "AI opportunists" is fascinating, but what stands out the most is the focus on how attackers are leveraging AI platforms like Gemini to weaponize vulnerabilities and launch sophisticated attacks. We'll also hear how data intelligence from cloud service provider (CSP) Google can force multiple defense capabilities, leveling the playing field with attackers.

Related:TeamPCP Turns Cloud Infrastructure Into Crime Bots

GCP Organizational Policies to Live By (And Their Implementation Pitfalls)

Wednesday, April 30

It's great to see content specifically focusing on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), especially following the surge in adoption and the fact that multicloud environments are now the norm. Navigating cloud policies can be challenging, and many default settings leave organizations vulnerable. Implementing the right CSP guardrails, defining the organization and organizational unit policies, and ensuring things are configured correctly are key to preventing risks and reducing the severity of existing issues. However, it's also important to understand how all the different configurations and policies work together and what the best overall strategy is. This session dives into that complexity. 

AWS Gone Wild: How Attackers Exploit Your Cloud and How to Outsmart Them 

Tuesday, April 29

Examining real world examples of how threat actors are abusing cloud-native services is always a great way to validate your own readiness and security posture. This session in particular analyzes an end-to-end multistage attack and touches many of the most common cloud-native services we all use today. Learning about new actionable detection methods and remediation strategies is key to equip cloud engineers and incident responders with the skills to harden AWS environments against evolving threats. 

Related:'Encrypt It Already' Campaign Pushes Big Tech to Prioritize E2E Encryption

CIO Insights: Addressing the Toxic Cloud Trilogy

Wednesday, April 30

It's always insightful to hear what's top of mind for C-level execs, especially when it comes to tackling misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. The chief information officer's (CIO's) perspective on what makes a healthy cloud security posture is invaluable for identifying gaps that attackers could exploit. Plus, it's a great opportunity to learn how to better communicate the state of your cloud security program to upper management and align your security strategy with what matters to the business. 

From CISO to VC: Bridge Cyber Expertise With Investment Innovation

Thursday, May 1

The security ecosystem is constantly evolving beyond just the technology, with former security leaders and practitioners now investing in the future of cyber. This combination of security expertise and venture capture capabilities raises an interesting conversation around how it will benefit the industry. This particular session will resonate with a lot of the exhibitors on the floor who have experience in both entrepreneurship and as a security practitioner. 

Why It Matters 

While I do enjoy the atmosphere of the expo floors and seeing the latest technologies that the brightest minds bring to RSAC, I also appreciate the chance to step back and focus on the bigger picture. Every year brings new challenges to the floor that force us to rethink our strategies and adapt. Cloud security has been a pillar of the cybersecurity community; it's important to freshen our minds by hearing from some of the brightest minds on how to strengthen the cloud security posture.

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