RSAC 2026: The AI Security Land Grab
Our Offleash team was boots on the ground at RSA Conference 2026 in San Francisco, where 44,000 cybersecurity professionals and 600 exhibitors were in attendance. Representing 10 cybersecurity clients, our team secured press and analyst briefings, attended sessions, and connected with industry partners.
Amid all the activity, we observed one clear theme and perhaps the biggest marketing challenge facing the industry this year: AI security.
Startups are Architecting Around AI
One of the clearest signals about where the market is heading came from the RSA Conference 2026 Innovation Sandbox Contest, which has long been a bellwether for category-defining companies. This year’s cohort made it clear that AI is foundational. Nearly every startup claimed to be AI-native. From securing agents to stopping natural language-based attacks, they’re architecting security for a world where AI is both the attack surface and operator. The rise of deepfakes, voice cloning, and AI-powered social engineering has pushed identity and authentication to a breaking point.
Unlike incumbents that are layering AI onto legacy approaches, there was an emphasis on solving the problems created by agentic systems. Contest winner Geordie AI has taken a deep, inside-out approach to create a security and governance platform that understands, maps, and remediates agentic AI.
Innovation that Cut Through the Noise
Our team helped our clients make their mark at RSAC this year by supporting a wave of product announcements, including:
• Apiiro Redefines Design-Phase Security with AI Threat Modeling Built for the AI Coding Agent Era–Preventing Risks Before Code Exists
• Cato Networks Introduces the Industry’s First GPU-Powered SASE Platform with Native AI Security
• Commvault Connects AI Threat Detection, Investigation, and Trusted Recovery with Microsoft Security
• Commvault Expands Threat Scan with Layered Threat Detection to Advance Verified Clean Recoveries
• Commvault Extends Enterprise Resilience to Structured and AI Data with Real-Time Governance Controls
• ConductorOne Announces Integration with CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen Identity Security
• Huntress Agentic Security Platform Expands with New Posture Management Products that Proactively Reduce Attack Surface and Improve Cyber Resilience
• New Background Detection for Cribl Guard Proactively Uncovers Hidden Sensitive Data
• Operant AI Launches Agent ScopeGuard to Stop Rogue AI Agents Before They Cause Real-World Damage
• Operant AI Launches AI Infrastructure Ecosystem Partnership Program, Bringing Real-Time Security to the Inference Layer
• Introducing Tenable Hexa AI: The Agentic Engine That Supercharges Security Productivity and Accelerates Risk Reduction
• Zero Networks Launches Kubernetes Access Matrix to Reduce Blast Radius at Scale
Memorable Moments at RSAC this Week
A surge in M&A among AI-native security startups dominated the RSAC show floor, signaling a fundamental reshaping of the industry.
At a women in cybersecurity breakfast panel sponsored by SecurityScorecard, senior women leaders discussed how cyber risk is being shaped and scrutinized at the board level.
Meanwhile, four former directors for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) offered a headline-dominating warning: the public has become “numb” to the flurry of data breaches and security hacks.
This was underscored by researchers from the SANS Institute who outlined the top, most dangerous cyber attacks during an RSAC keynote: AI-generated zero-day exploits, software supply chain attacks, operational technology (OT) visibility gaps, misuse of AI in digital forensics and incident response (DFIR), and AI-driven autonomous attacks. For security teams, SANS warns that defenses need to move at the same speed as the attacks themselves, while recommending that human-in-the-loop defenses are still needed to ensure accuracy and control.
One thing is clear: The urgency for cybersecurity is not cooling down.
Through it all, our Offleash team supported our clients to break through the AI noise and connect with the media and influencers shaping stories from the week.
If you’re ready to go Offleash, contact us today!