Show reaffirms it’s Europe’s No 1 Information Security Event
London (UK): Infosecurity Europe welcomed over 12,959 unique visitors a 24% increase on 2011 (subject to ABC Audit). 5,655 attended on day one, 7,020 on day two, and 3,406 on the final day. Visitors left excited and optimistic by what they’d seen and heard all contributing to making the 2012 event the best yet.
Claire Sellick, Event Director for Infosecurity Europe, said: “The numbers speak for themselves. Every year the subject matter increases in significance as the threats we all face continue to intensify but also diversify. For example, APT’s (advanced persistent threats), AET’s (advanced evasive threats), BYOD (bring your own devices) and cloud computing continue to dominate the thoughts of those involved in IT security. Everyone realises the importance of information security and the need to invest more, balanced with the ideal of finding the perfect solution. From those I’ve spoken to it is apparent that we’ve managed to successfully marry all the right factions together with a good mix of exhibitors, speakers and visitors. Now the work starts to make next year’s show which takes place at Earls Court, London from 23rd -25th April 2013 just as informative and successful.”
Visiting Infosecurity Europe
Despite a strike by London tube workers that threatened disruption, visitors came flooding into the venue out of the stormy weather – ready to meet the high quality standard of vendors and attend the diverse educational opportunity to discover new technologies.
Head of Information Risk for Iron Mountain Europe explained why he came back again this year: “One of the reasons why I’ve come here today, for the fourth consecutive year, is because it’s a great place to meet new people and learn tips and tricks in the keynote addresses and some of the technical theatres. It’s also good to see the vendors and their technologies for the next big technology for 2012.”
Business Information Security Officer for Citigroup adds his experience: “I’ve been to Infosec before and the reason I’ve come back today is because I want to see what developments are happening in the information security space. Particularly what is on offer from the different vendors and how we can use these solutions and apply them within our organisation.”
Education at Infosecurity Europe
The quality of the seminars taking place across the Keynote, Business and Technical theatres meant that all sessions were all exceptionally well attended with some having standing room only.
The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, was present on the second day to participate as a speaker in the Keynote Theatre, commenting: “This was my first visit to Infosecurity Europe at Earls Court and I was immediately impressed at the scale of the event. My own keynote address was extremely well attended. A very alert, vibrant and professional audience eager to get the perspective of the regulator with lots of lively questions. The whole event was an extremely good use of my time. I'm convinced that the Information Commissioner, or one of the Deputy Commissioners, needs to be at Infosecurity because it's a really good occasion. Well done Infosecurity."
A regular presence on the Infosecurity Europe timetable is the launch of PWC’s Cyber Security Breach survey and this year, again, it was presented to a packed auditorium. Chris Potter, PwC Information Security Partner, who released the results of the 2012 Information Security Breaches Survey on the first day of the show said: “Infosecurity Europe was really well attended and there was a real buzz on the exhibition floor. The keynote theatre was packed out and people had lots of interesting questions raised about our survey findings."
Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister of State for Universities & Science was on hand to deliver his seminar examining how to protect and promote the UK in a digital world. AET’s and APT’s came under the microscope on a number of occasions, including a seminar that asked is it really the next generation of attack? As you’d expect with the current climate mobile security and the trend for BYOD (bring your own device) were also hotly discussed with smartphone security of particular interest.
Exhibiting at Infosecurity Europe
Of the 300 plus exhibitors at this year’s event – of which over a quarter were new in 2012 - vendors confirmed significant benefit from showcasing their products and services at Infosecurity Europe, generating valuable face time with existing and prospective customers and doing real business.
Comparing this show against previous years, Marketing Assistant for Secunia - Anders Hofman Laursen said: “We've had loads of traffic and it is a real step up from previous years.”
Andrew Foxcroft is EMEA Sales Director for Blackridge Technologies, a new exhibitor at the show, and he said: “As a new vendor, with a revolutionary new technology, we have to be very careful about our marketing expenditure. We have been delighted with the number of visitors to our stand and the vast majority of visitors had genuine requirements that we could meet, an excellent event.”
Show veteran, Raj Samani, is VP and Chief Technical Officer EMEA for McAfee and he added: “It’s been a great show, the best we have been at for 5 years and we’ve had a great time. Yet again the Infosecurity Europe team at Reed ~Exhibitions have done a fantastic job. I’m really excited and honoured to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and also for McAfee to be recognised as the global security vendor by the SC Awards. Thank you.”
Exhibiting as part of the New Exhibitor Zone, David Gibson, VP of Marketing for Varonis enthused, “we invested in our own stand this year in the new exhibitor area which was packed with people who wanted to better manage and protect their unstructured data. We have over 750 leads to follow up with from people who visited our stand or attended our seminar on Understanding & Addressing Data Governance in Large Scale Enterprises which was packed with standing room only. Our investment in Infosecurity Europe surely paid off and we have already booked a bigger stand for next year.”