This year’s RSA Conference proved to be a huge success. The Moscone Center in San Francisco hosted nearly 50,000 cybersecurity professionals over four days of presentations, speaking sessions, and booth demonstrations. ExtraHop experts who were on site noted a strong sense of curiosity and excitement as they spoke with attendees on the expo floor. The conference marked a return to relative normalcy and offered a much-needed break from the virtual office.

Here are a few highlights:

The Black Box Experience

This year, ExtraHop revealed a mysterious and exciting new experience at the booth. Along with a big announcement of new features and integrations, attendees had the opportunity to enter the Black Box—a giant cube with an immersive representation of what is happening in the network.

The response from the floor was very positive, with many praising the concept and visuals. Its size drew a high volume of customer and partner engagement.

Partnering with CrowdStrike

Aside from the Black Box, the ExtraHop booth was abuzz with people attending daily co-sponsored chats with our integration partner, CrowdStrike. Experts from both companies discussed the complementary role network detection and response (NDR) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) play in helping companies mitigate cyber risk. For some, these conversations were the entry point to learn more about how NDR fills gaps in security—from monitoring IoT devices to detecting suspicious network behavior.

We also co-hosted a threat hunting challenge, which allowed participants to get a hands-on experience of how ExtraHop Reveal(x) detects and stops threats in the network. It was a popular event that awarded top scores daily and a grand prize at the end of the week.

Jeff Costlow’s Speaking Session

Jeff Costlow, Deputy CISO at ExtraHop, presented his session Semi-Advanced Threats vs. The Semi-Critical Infrastructure. He discussed the rise of a new type of threat actor that’s emerging from the dismantling of state-sponsored groups. The targets of this new type of threat actor include local food suppliers, public transportation services, and other sectors of what Costlow calls “semi-critical infrastructure.” He explained why these actors are targeting this sector, the economic ramifications, and advice for combatting this threat.

NDR is Gaining Momentum

NDR may not yet have the recognition that EDR and SIEM have among security professionals, but awareness was clearly growing at this year’s RSA Conference, judging by the crowds coming to the ExtraHop booth. Attendees who stopped by to explore the Black Box, participate in a hunter challenge, or listen to a lightning talk from ExtraHop and CrowdStrike walked away with a much greater appreciation for the unique role that the network plays in threat detection and response.

If you weren’t able to attend RSA Conference, check out our demo to see for yourself—and we’ll see you at the next big event!