Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

RSA and DC Dispatches: Agentic AI Security Is the Story, Government Policy Needs to Catch Up

Fresh off two weeks of back-to-back meetings in Washington, DC, and on the floor/in the wings of the RSA Conference, one theme echoed through nearly every conversation I had with senior government officials and public policy leaders from global technology companies: agentic AI security is the defining emerging security challenge of this moment — and policy is not keeping pace.

My First RSA: Agents, Challenges, and Community

I am no stranger to conferences, and certainly no stranger to security conferences. Over the years, BlackHat and DEFCON have both become staples of my calendar. But this year brought a new one to the list: RSA, and it truly lived up to the hype. The show floor was full of bright lights, fancy booths, and yes, tattoos, if you knew where to find them.

AI Takes Over RSAC Conference (Now What?) with Dave Bittner

In this RSAC 2026 Conference recap, Dave Bittner, Host of the CyberWire Daily podcast, joins Data Security Decoded host Caleb Tolin from the guest seat to discuss the biggest theme dominating the conference: artificial intelligence, and, more specifically, agentic AI. From wall-to-wall AI messaging across San Francisco to in-depth conversations with security leaders and analysts, one thing became clear: the industry has moved past debating whether AI will take hold. It already has. Now, the focus has shifted to making it safe.

What RSAC 2026 Told Me About the Future of Cybersecurity

RSAC remains the cybersecurity event. It is where the industry gathers to compare notes, pressure-test assumptions, spot the next wave of market change and, just as importantly, build the partnerships that will shape what comes next. This year in San Francisco, that energy was unmistakable. There was real buzz across the city, from the show floor and executive meetings to the side events and industry gatherings that increasingly define RSAC week.

RSA 2026: Leading the way to secure agentic AI

Every year, security and tech leaders come to the RSA conference in San Francisco to take the industry’s pulse, and every RSAC tends to be dominated by a single, overarching theme. Last year, the theme was: “AI agents are coming, and governance isn’t ready.” And sure enough, the theme of RSAC 2026 was: “AI agents are here, and governance needs to catch up.”