Growing number of security experts boycott RSA conference for NSA ties — RT USA

Growing number of security experts boycott RSA conference for NSA ties — RT USA:

Eight prominent security tech researchers have announced they will not attend an upcoming industry conference because it is sponsored by the RSA, the company that was revealed last month to have a $10 million contract with the US National Security Agency.

The RSA Conference has traditionally been a major security event, with 24,000 people attending in 2013. Speaking slots at the conference, which is scheduled at the end of February in San Francisco, are especially prized, with program committee chairman Hugh Thompson telling the Washington Post they are “highly competitive,” often with 2,000 submissions vying for 300 to 400 positions.

This year, however, Edward Snowden’s disclosures about invasive NSA surveillance programs have already cast a shadow over this year’s event. Reuters reported in December that RSA, one of the most influential encryption companies among customers seeking to hide their internet activity, accepted $10 million from the NSA to make an agency-authored algorithm the primary technique used to generate random numbers in an RSA encryption product.