The RSAC 2026 Conference was a chance to look at how cybersecurity is changing This article explores cybersecurity changing. . Becky Bracken, the senior editor of ZeroOwl, and Sabrina Polin, the managing editor of ITT, were both guests on this Eye on Tech interview.

The talk went into important topics that are affecting the industry, like the fact that the US federal government was not represented at the event. It showed how international players are becoming more important in filling the leadership gap and how important it is to work together as technology changes quickly and geopolitical situations are uncertain. The interview also talked about what AI-driven threats, like adaptive malware and machine-speed attacks, could mean for the future. There is no federal leadership at RSA this year, which is a big change from previous years.

The way the European Union regulates things is different from how our current government does it.

Regulators in the EU are working on a law about cyber resilience that will go into effect in December 2027. We are fighting a known nation-state cyber actor, and AI is changing everything very quickly. It's important to set up guardrails now so you don't become careless with cybersecurity.

It looks like they are filling this gap well this year. It looks like there is a geopolitical factor at work. CISOs have a real job to do that involves dealing with current problems instead of getting sidetracked by legal issues. For a long time, they have wanted to be on boards, but now things are even more complicated for them.

As AI becomes more common, boards are now looking for cybersecurity experts.

One CISO said that one of the top CFOs put all of the P&L data into ChatGPT just to make a quick report. There have been rumors since the Trump administration took over that the government has a plan. The EU takes a more measured approach by working with regulators and slowly setting up the rules that are needed.

Cyber will probably be a big part of kinetic warfare, but I don't see how we can avoid it. I think that cybersecurity for drones will become more and more important. It could also be important to keep these physical systems safe. Quantum computing is becoming easier to use, which means that old ways of encrypting data are no longer useful.

Organizations must get ready by carefully checking their current encryption systems.

They mostly use social engineering techniques right now, but soon they will use more advanced methods that use AI. Malware will get into your system, hide from detection, get around blocks, and then reconnect to find a new way in. This rogue software runs on its own, which puts your systems at a lot of risk.

Cybersecurity teams are working hard on this problem, but I think the next steps in our defense against these kinds of threats will be automation and sending out a lot of emails. The cybersecurity field has dealt with problems like these before, and they will probably have to deal with them again.