This blog is coauthored by John Spiegel, CTO, Security and HPE Distinguished Technologist and Jaye Tillson, Field CTO and HPE Distinguished Technologist.
As people who have attended RSA as both customers and representing vendors, it’s essential to maximize your experience. How? You must engage in the full matrix of educational sessions, the interactive activities available, create community and check out the after-hours events. This blog explores the top activities at RSAC 2025 from our perspective, provides tips on making the most of the conference, and highlights top sessions on Zero Trust and beyond!
Engaging activities at RSAC 2025
Beyond the traditional sessions and keynotes, RSAC 2025 offers a variety of interactive and enjoyable activities. Pro tip: don’t spend your entire conference standing in line or moving from one session to the next. There is so much more!
Top recommendation include:
RSAC Sandbox: Engage your inner hacker!! This interactive space allows attendees to show their skills in hands-on activities such as hacking labs, lockpicking exercises, and software vulnerability exploitation. It's an excellent opportunity to learn by doing and to network with peers in a collaborative environment.
- Innovation Sandbox: A favorite of ours. What will be the hottest cybersecurity startup of the next year and beyond? Come by and see cybersecurity's boldest innovators compete by pitching their groundbreaking ideas to a panel of experts and venture capitalists.
- Launch Pad: Can’t get enough of the future? Go deeper and watch early stage startups present their bold ideas, seeking valuable strategy advice from industry veterans and gaining exposure within the cybersecurity community. As folks who enjoy understanding product market fit, this is aways on ours schedule!
- The Expo: Yes, it’s crowded, yes it’s loud and yes, everyone is trying to draw you into their booth. My advice, go with the flow! If your area is GRC, visit booths on data security. If you are a networking security person, visit with the compliance vendors. This is your opportunity to get uncomfortable and learn. Make sure to visit the HPE booth (#1261) to learn about Zero Trust, cyber resilience and secure supply chain.
Top Zero Trust sessions and events at RSAC 2025
Zero Trust remains a focus in cybersecurity strategies. RSAC 2025 features several options dedicated to this strategy framework:
- Session - Zero Trust at 15: John Kindervag, who introduced Zero Trust, provides an update on the framework and a look into today and the future of his model.
- Learning Lab Session – Understanding CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model: Presented by Sean Connelly from CISA, this session shares the agency’s latest publication on Zero Trust, providing a roadmap for agencies transitioning towards a Zero Trust Architecture.
- Conference within a Conference – Cloud Security Alliance Summit 2025: The CSA is holding a daylong event on April 28 covering AI security, Zero Trust, DevSecOps and GRC to mention a few.
- Book Signings – HPE Aruba Networking will be hosting two Zero Trust authors for a book discussion and signing event during the conference. Hear from and meet both Chase Cunningham and George Finney. Both are pioneers in the Zero Trust movement and compelling speakers and authors. Swing by the HPE booth for the schedule.
- Bonus Session – Wireless Security Beyond Wi-Fi – New Threat Making Waves in the Enterprise: On Tuesday at 1:15pm, learn about the current and future threat landscape and what is lurking in your WLAN environment from top experts including Luiz Eduardo, CTO, Security, for HPE Aruba Networking.
- Double Bonus – Take a meeting with Jaye Tillson and John Spiegel from HPE Aruba Networking. Curious about the state of Zero Trust, SASE, SSE or ZTNA? Engage with the two people in the know. Reach out to your HPE or Aruba account rep!
Conclusion
Make your RSAC eventful and valuable. Find your tribe, learn and experience. Make sure to participate in educational sessions, interactive activities, reach out and make new friends, and with a bit of planning and mostly serendipity maximize your conference experience. Also a pro tip: wear solid walking shoes and drink lots of water. The days are long and your body will reward you for it!!
See you there!
John_Spiegel
John Spiegel is Director of Strategy and Field CTO for the Axis Atmos SSE platform, powered by HPE Aruba Networking. He has 25 years of experience running global networks and managing infrastructure. He is an industry pioneer in software defined networking (SDN) and software defined WANs (SD-WAN). When not helping companies on their journey to modernize and secure their networks, John can be found cycling on the backroads of Oregon.
