SAN FRANCISCO— Organizers of the RSA® Conference, the world’s leading e-security event, have announced that pre-registration exposition numbers for RSA Conference 2003, the 12th annual e-security conference scheduled for April 13-17 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, are up approximately thirty percent, as compared to this time last year.

With an attendance of more than 10,000 people in 2002, the conference is recognized as the industry’s premier e-security and cryptography gathering. “The buzz around this year’s roster of featured speakers, including former national security advisor Samuel “Sandy” Berger and famed hacker Kevin Mitnick, have given 2003 pre-registration numbers a boost,” said Jim Bidzos, RSA Conference chairman.

Of significant note are the media and analyst pre-registration numbers, which are up 34 percent, as compared to this time last year. Global technology and business media including BusinessWeek, The New York Times, Computerworld, eWeek, Federal Computer Week, Government Computer News, Information Security Magazine, TechTarget and TechTV are among those slated to attend.

“The growing concern regarding national security, business security, cryptography, identity theft and other e-security issues has prompted both media and analysts to seek out industry events like RSA Conference 2003,” said Bidzos. “For members of the media, this is really a one-stop shop for access to the largest collection of e-security intelligence, best practices and solutions under one roof.”

The Conference has drawn pre-registrants from across the world including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, among others. With more than 200 class sessions available, many attendees are hoping to get expert insight on topics such as the development of secure applications, hacks and threats to the same or security evaluations.

One panel with international appeal this year is the hacker panel, “Foxes in the Hen House.” In what promises to be a lively debate, reformed hacker Kevin Mitnick will discuss the ethical and professional aspects of hiring hackers with his former prosecutor, Christopher Painter, from the Department of Justice. Joining the two are Ira Winkler of Hewlett Packard and Jennifer Granick of Stanford Law. Moderated by Jim Kerstetter of BusinessWeek, this panel will address the legal, ethical and professional aspects of hiring hackers to evaluate and improve an organization’s enterprise security.

Many of the annual events are also back this year, such as the Cryptographers’ Panel, which is always an attendee favorite. Bruce Schneier, author and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, Inc., will moderate this year’s Cryptographers’ Panel, which will explore national security, security products and cryptographic developments from the academic world. Other panel participants include: Dr. Whitfield Diffie, Sun Microsystems Inc.; Paul Kocher, Cryptography Research; Verbati Professor Ronald Rivest, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science; and Professor Adi Shamir, Weizmann Institute of Science.

About the RSA Conference
Now in its 12th year, the RSA Conference brings together decision-makers and influencers from all major markets, including consumer, education, financial, government, computer networking, telecommunications, Wall Street and the media for one of the industry’s premier e-security and cryptography events. RSA Conference 2003 continues in Japan in June and Amsterdam in November. For more information, visit www.rsaconference.com.