RSAC 2026 Spotlights AI Shift, Vendor Hype and Supply Chain Risks

RSAC 2026 was dominated by discussions about artificial intelligence, with CISOs and industry leaders weighing its role from automated threat intelligence to agentic AI that could augment or replace traditional security operations. Alexander Culafi observed an unusually aggressive push by vendors to market AI, noting that the show is full of AI claims and billboards even before the floor opens.

A key moment came when Vodafone’s global CISO Emma Smith argued for a shift from “human in the loop” to “human on the loop,” suggesting AI lead with human intervention only when necessary, a stance that raises both opportunities and concerns for scalable security.

The conversations also touched on threat landscape developments, including sophisticated supply chain attacks on open‑source ecosystems, ongoing data theft alongside ransomware, and a move by attackers to use living‑off‑the‑land techniques to evade increasingly capable defences. Additionally, the absence of government personnel at RSAC 2026 was highlighted as notable by Culafi, underscoring the limited public‑sector presence this year. Source: Informa TechTarget. April 7, 2026.