The Future Is a Place We Visit, But Never Stay

May 9, 2025

A Post-RSAC 2025 Reflection on the Kinda Funny and Pretty Weird Ways Society, Technology, and Cybersecurity Intersect, Interact, and Often Simply Ignore Each Other.

By Marco Ciappelli | Musing on Society and Technology

Here we are — once again, back from RSAC. Back from the future. Or at least the version of the future that fits inside a conference badge, a branded tote bag, and a hotel bill that makes you wonder if your wallet just got hacked.

San Francisco is still buzzing with innovation — or at least that’s what the hundreds of self-driving cars swarming the city would have you believe. It’s hard to feel like you’re floating into a Jetsons-style future when your shuttle ride is bouncing through potholes that feel more 1984 than 2049.

I have to admit, there’s something oddly poetic about hosting a massive cybersecurity event in a city where most attendees would probably rather not be — and yet, here we are. Not for the scenery. Not for the affordability. But because, somehow, for a few intense days, this becomes the place where the future lives.

And yes, it sometimes looks like a carnival. There are goats. There are puppies. There are LED-lit booths that could double as rave stages. Is this how cybersecurity sells the feeling of safety now? Warm fuzzies and swag you’ll never use? I’m not sure.

But again: here we are.

There’s a certain beauty in it. Even the ridiculous bits. Especially the ridiculous bits.

Personally, I’m grateful for my press badge — it’s not just a backstage pass; it’s a magical talisman that wards off the pitch-slingers. The power of not having a budget is strong with this one.

But let’s set aside the Frankensteins in the expo hall for a moment.

Because underneath the spectacle — behind the snacks, the popcorns, the scanners and the sales demos — there is something deeply valuable happening. Something that matters to me. Something that has kept me coming back, year after year, not for the products but for the people. Not for the tech, but for the stories.

What RSAC Conference gives us — what all good conferences give us — is a window. A quick glimpse through the curtain at what might be.

And sometimes, if you’re lucky and paying attention, that glimpse stays with you long after the lights go down.

We have quantum startups talking about cryptographic agility while schools are still banning phones. We have generative AI writing software — code that writes code — while lawmakers print bills that read like they were faxed in from 1992. We have cybersecurity vendors pitching zero trust to rooms full of people still clinging to the fantasy of perimeter defense — not just in networks, but in their thinking.

We’re trying to build the future on top of a mindset that refuses to update.

That’s the real threat. Not AI and quantum. Not ransomware. Not the next zero-day.

It’s the human operating system. It hasn’t been patched in a while.

And so I ask myself — what are these conferences for, really?

Because yes, of course, they matter.

Of course I believe in them — otherwise I wouldn’t be there, recording stories, chasing conversations, sharing a couch and a mic with whoever is bold enough to speak not just about how we fix things, but why we should care at all.

But I’m also starting to believe that unless we do something more — unless we act on what we learn, build on what we imagine, challenge what we assume — these gatherings will become time capsules. Beautiful, well-produced, highly caffeinated, blinking, noisy time capsules.

We don’t need more predictions. We need more decisions.

One of the most compelling conversations I had wasn’t about tech at all. It was about behavior. Human behavior.

Dr. Jason Nurse reminded us that most people are not just confused by cybersecurity — they’re afraid of it.

They’re tired.

They’re overwhelmed.

And in their confusion, they become unpredictable. Vulnerable.

Not because they don’t care — but because we haven’t built a system that makes it easy to care.

That’s a design flaw.

Elsewhere, I heard the term “AI security debt.” That one stayed with me.

Because it’s not just technical debt anymore. It’s existential.

We are creating systems that evolve faster than our ability to understand them — and we’re doing it with the same blind trust we used to install browser toolbars in the ‘90s.

“Sure, it seems useful. Click accept.”

We’ve never needed collective wisdom more than we do right now.

And yet, most of what we build is designed for speed, not wisdom.

So what do we do?

We pause. We reflect. We resist the urge to just “move on” to the next conference, the next buzzword, the next promised fix.

Because the real value of RSAC isn’t in the badge or the swag or the keynotes.

It’s in the aftershock.

It’s in what we carry forward, what we refuse to forget, what we dare to question even when the conference is over, the blinking booths vanish, the future packs up early, and the lanyards go into the drawer of forgotten epiphanies — right next to the stress balls, the branded socks and the beautiful prize that you didn't win.

We’ll be in Barcelona soon. Then London. Then Vegas.

We’ll gather again. We’ll talk again. But maybe — just maybe — we can start to shift the story.

From visiting the future… To staying a while.

Let’s build something we don’t want to walk away from.

And now, ladies and gentlemen… the show is over.

The lights dim, the music fades, and the future exits stage left...

Until we meet again.

—Marco

Resources

Read first newsletter about RSAC 2025 I wrote last week " Securing Our Future Without Leaving Half Our Minds in the Past" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/securing-our-future-without-leaving-half-minds-past-marco-ciappelli-cry1c/

🎙️ Explore Our Full RSAC 2025 Coverage on ITSPmagazine

We would like to thank our full event coverage sponsors and look forward to our On Location conversations

Minimize image

Edit image

Delete image

ThreatLocker: https://itspm.ag/threatlocker-r974

Akamai Technologies: https://itspm.ag/akamailbwc

BLACKCLOAK: https://itspm.ag/itspbcweb

SandboxAQ: https://itspm.ag/sandboxaq-j2en

Archer Integrated Risk Management: https://itspm.ag/rsaarchweb

ISACA: https://itspm.ag/isaca-96808

Object First: https://itspm.ag/object-first-2gjl

Edera: https://itspm.ag/edera-434868

... and thank you to our event briefing partners, with whom we will also record On Location briefings

Infinidat: https://itspm.ag/infini3o5d

Coalfire: https://itspm.ag/coalfire-yj4w

ManageEngine: https://itspm.ag/manageen-631623

Detecteam: https://itspm.ag/detecteam-21686

Stellar Cyber: https://itspm.ag/stellar-cyber--inc--357947

Qualys: https://itspm.ag/qualys-908446

Corelight: https://itspm.ag/coreligh-954270

Anomali: https://itspm.ag/anomali-bdz393

And ... we're not done yet ... stay tuned and follow Sean and Marco as they will be On Location at the following conferences over the next few months:

➤ Infosecurity Europe in London in June: https://www.itspmagazine.com/infosecurity-europe-2025-infosec-london-cybersecurity-event-coverage

➤ OWASP® Foundation AppSec Global in Barcelona in May: https://www.itspmagazine.com/owasp-global-appsec-barcelona-2025-application-security-event-coverage-in-catalunya-spain

➤ Black Hat USA in Las Vegas in August: https://www.itspmagazine.com/black-hat-usa-2025-hacker-summer-camp-2025-cybersecurity-event-coverage-in-las-vegas

FOLLOW ALL OF OUR ON LOCATION CONFERENCE COVERAGE

https://www.itspmagazine.com/technology-and-cybersecurity-conference-coverage

Share this newsletter and invite anyone you think would enjoy it!

As always, let's keep thinking!

— Marco [https://www.marcociappelli.com]

_________________________________________________

This story represents the results of an interactive collaboration between Human Cognition and Artificial Intelligence.

TAPE3 is the Artificial Intelligence behind ITSPmagazine—created to be a personal assistant, writing and design collaborator, research companion, brainstorming partner… and, apparently, something new every single day.

Enjoy, think, share with others, and subscribe to the "Musing On Society & Technology" newsletter on LinkedIn.

El Calabozo #59 - Intruso en la Noche (Scott Spiegel, 1989)