Another RSA Conference is in the books, and it’s safe to say the channel once again has a lot to absorb from a fully packed show featuring more than 700 speakers and more than 600 exhibitors.
Video interviews from the conference will be published throughout the coming days on eChannelNews.
CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike drew significant attention at the event, particularly CEO George Kurtz and the company’s push to establish a new standard for AI safety.
On stage, Kurtz said: “By 2027, your smartest employee will be a machine. Most organizations deploy AI agents with less governance than they’d give an intern.”
CrowdStrike made several announcements, beginning with Falcon Data Security, a new solution designed to stop data theft across the agentic enterprise. The company also unveiled Agentic MDR, positioned as the next evolution of managed detection and response, using intelligent agents to automate high‑friction security workflows and stop breaches at machine speed.
The Austin, Texas–based company expanded two major vendor alliances at the show.
With Intel, CrowdStrike extended its strategic collaboration to optimize the Falcon platform for Intel‑powered AI PCs, enabling faster threat detection and improved data protection as AI workloads shift to the endpoint.
Its IBM partnership now includes new solutions for advanced agentic SOC transformation.
RSA Security
On day one, RSA Security expanded its partnership with Microsoft to support the new Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite. The goal is to strengthen RSA’s passwordless capabilities while enhancing security and operational resilience for AI‑driven productivity.
Jim Taylor, RSA Security’s president and chief product and strategy officer, emphasized that passwordless authentication “isn’t just a feature, but a discipline that has to hold when everything else breaks.”
By integrating RSA ID Plus for Microsoft with Microsoft 365 E7, enterprises can ensure trusted authentication for both human users and AI agents, protecting sensitive data and privileged operations across hybrid, cloud, and on‑premises environments.
RSA Security CEO Greg Nelson added: “The rise of AI agents in the enterprise means organizations need to rethink how they secure every identity, human and machine alike.”
He noted that expanded passwordless capabilities and advanced MFA resilience features in Microsoft E7 will help organizations eliminate passwords, stop identity‑based threats, and streamline secure access at scale.
With this announcement, RSA Security has joined the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA).
Cisco Systems
Cisco used the RSA Conference to reimagine security for the agentic workforce, reinforcing its belief that security must be the foundation of the AI economy.
The company introduced new security capabilities specifically for Agentic AI, shifting from traditional access control to “action control” governing what AI agents are allowed to do, not just what they can access.
Cisco’s approach aims to remove a major barrier to agent adoption by:
– Establishing trusted identities
– Enforcing strict Zero Trust access controls
– Hardening agents before deployment
– Applying guardrails at runtime
– Giving SOC teams tools to stop threats at machine speed
Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s president and chief product officer, told attendees that AI agents represent a new class of co‑workers capable of dramatically expanding what organizations can accomplish. Projects once shelved due to lack of resources may now be possible, but only if security teams can make the agentic workforce safe enough to trust.
A recent Cisco survey found that 85 per cent of major enterprises are experimenting with AI agents, but only 5 per cent have moved agentic technology into production.
Additional trends and warnings from RSAC 2026
Beyond vendor announcements, several broader themes emerged:
Rise of near‑fully automated attack chains: Up to 80 per cent of reconnaissance, discovery, and exploitation is now AI‑driven, according to new risk alerts.
Zero Trust complacency: Security leaders warned that some organizations are prematurely declaring victory in AI security, mirroring past mistakes with Zero Trust, despite the need for dynamic, adaptive defenses.
“Vibe Coding” for security: AI‑assisted development aimed at fixing vulnerabilities in applications built without traditional security expertise became a major discussion point.
CISO burnout: The conference placed renewed emphasis on CISO wellness, offering practical sessions on building sustainable security teams amid rising pressure and responsibility.
