Five Luminaries Worth Following During #RSAC and Beyond

NOTE: Since I'll be at RSAC next week and OT.SEC.CON the week after, I will be taking a break from FollowFriday, resuming it on April 10, 2026.

Tomorrow I head to my 20th RSAC. I've only missed two over the years: 2008 (family vacation) and 2021 (pandemic). These events have been of huge importance over the course of my career. Some led me to jobs along the way, and all have given me too many great friends to count.

Looking forward to seeing everyone this time around. Before we all board our planes, allow me to draw your attention to five people I am especially looking forward to seeing and/or hearing from:

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Jen Easterly

Jen Easterly is someone I immensely respect and admire. Hope to finally meet her in person. Her focus on community and the human side of cybersecurity have especially resonated with me. Her stamp on how we approach cybersecurity today goes back long before her CISA tenure: She started her career as a U.S. Army intelligence officer after graduating from West Point, eventually serving more than two decades in military intelligence and cyber operations. She has worked at the NSA, helped stand up U.S. Cyber Command, and served at the White House in national security roles. After leaving the Army she moved into the private sector, running cybersecurity resilience efforts at Morgan Stanley. She later returned to government to oversee CISA and is now CEO of RSAC. Looking forward to seeing how her background and personality shapes this year's proceedings.

Where to follow:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-easterly/

Main site: https://www.rsaconference.com/

RSAC appearances: https://path.rsaconference.com/flow/rsac/us26/FullAgenda/page/catalog?search=%22Jen%20Easterly%22&tab.sessioncatalogdisplay=1731537628897001a5i1

Nicole Perlroth

Nicole Perlroth built her career as a cybersecurity reporter covering hacking, digital espionage and cyberwar. She spent about a decade at The New York Times reporting on major state-sponsored attacks, surveillance operations and the global cyber arms race. Her reporting exposed Chinese military hacking campaigns and investigated attacks from Russia, Iran, and North Korea. After years covering the beat, she wrote the book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends, which traces the rise of the global cyberweapons market and how governments weaponize software vulnerabilities. Hope to finally meet her in person as well.

Where to follow:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoleperlroth/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleperlroth/

Main site, book: https://thisishowtheytellmetheworldends.com/

Youtube preview, "To Catch a Thief": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpqXurk0bNM

RSAC appearances: https://path.rsaconference.com/flow/rsac/us26/FullAgenda/page/catalog/session/1755303032310001LqF7

Jennifer Minella

Jennifer Minella, a close friend of many years, built her career in enterprise security architecture and network security before becoming a well-known advisor and educator in the cybersecurity community. She spent years working in security engineering and architecture roles, focusing on network defense, identity, and zero-trust approaches. Over time she moved into leadership, consulting, and public speaking roles while also teaching and mentoring. Today she leads cybersecurity strategy work through her firm Viszen Security and is widely involved in industry education and advisory work. For me, no RSAC week is complete without getting to spend some time with her. A favorite memory: Introducing her to my then-boss at CSOonline, Derek Slater. and her responding with, "You have a boss?"

Where to follow:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferminella/

Main site: https://viszensecurity.com/

Security Uncorked: https://securityuncorked.com/

RSAC appearances: https://path.rsaconference.com/flow/rsac/us26/FullAgenda/page/catalog/session/1755799844856001jER0

Mark Weatherford

Mark Weatherford is a man who has taught me many crucial lessons over the years. His career spans military service, state government, federal leadership, and the private sector. He began as a U.S. Navy cryptologic officer working on early computer network defense operations. After leaving the Navy he became one of the first state chief information security officers in the U.S., serving in both Colorado and California. He later moved to Washington as the first Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security. Since then he has held strategy and policy roles across the cybersecurity industry, advising companies and helping shape infrastructure security policy. He has been a major influence on my career, giving me a lot of guidance over the years. Running into him is something I always look forward to at RSAC.

Where to follow:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maweatherford/

Company site: https://www.nvidia.com/

Chris Wysopal

Chris Wysopal is a cybersecurity legend who started in the hacker research community in the 1990s as part of L0pht Heavy Industries, a group known for early vulnerability research and its famous Senate testimony warning the internet could be taken down in 30 minutes. After L0pht was acquired by @stake, he led security research and development work there and later at Symantec. In 2006 he co-founded Veracode to focus on securing software during development rather than after deployment. He has spent much of his career advocating for responsible vulnerability disclosure and improving application security practices across the industry. He has always been helpful when I've reached out with questions on a long list of topics.