RSAC 2026 Opens Without CISA, FBI, or NSA; Federal Cybersecurity Collaboration Under Strain
RSA Conference 2026 opens March 23 in San Francisco without participation from CISA, FBI, or NSA, marking an unprecedented absence of federal cyber agencies from the industry's largest annual gathering. The withdrawal followed the conference's appointment of former CISA Director Jen Easterly as CEO in January. Cancelled sessions include 'Hunt for China's Typhoons,' a behind-the-scenes look at FBI/NSA joint operations disrupting Beijing's espionage campaigns against US critical infrastructure. CISA cited 'good stewardship of taxpayer dollars' but declined to address whether Easterly's appointment influenced the decision. The absence comes as Iranian cyber threats escalate and industry executives report a 'dangerous' slowdown in government-private sector threat intelligence sharing.
The INTSUM tracked CISA ordering federal agencies to patch a max-severity Cisco FMC flaw by Sunday — demonstrating CISA can still issue emergency directives but lacks the staff and conference presence to coordinate broader threat response. With 60+ Iranian-aligned threat groups active and CISA at ~38% staffing, the RSAC absence compounds an already degraded public-private threat intelligence pipeline.