Together is Power—Recapping FOCUS 16!

By McAfee Enterprise on Nov 17, 2016

The 9^th Annual McAfee FOCUS Conference kicked off the first week of November with incredible keynote speakers, inspiring breakout sessions and turbo talks, and a huge announcement! To the delight and surprise of attendees, SVP and GM Chris Young unveiled a new McAfee product brand. And keynote speakers Ashton Kutcher and Ted Koppel spoke about the future of cybersecurity and the defense needed to combat against threats. But that was only the beginning.

OpenDXL Launch

One of the most talked-about moments from FOCUS 16, was when Chris Young unveiled the OpenDXL Initiative. OpenDXL provides the industry with concrete means of disrupting cyberattackers’ advantage by allowing developers to replace multiple 1:1 integrations over proprietary APIs.

CTO, Steve Grobman used his keynote to walk the audience through an example of the new OpenDXL orchestration model. Later, attendees were able to experience OpenDXL themselves at the FOCUS demo station. Twitter overflowed with excitement! Missed the buzz? See what the Open DXL Initiative could mean to your security architecture by checking out the latest data sheet.

A Race for Trust in the Cybersecurity War

Need inspiration for your next book club choice? Consider, “The Second Economy,” a new book co-authored by McAfee’s own Steve Grobman and Allison Cerra.  While you may be thinking that a book focused on the ins and outs of cybersecurity is meant for technologists and cybersecurity executives, The Second Economy was written to start a dialogue between cybersecurity professionals and their non-technical peers, through education, insight and collaboration. FOCUS 16 attendees each received their own copy at the event and you can get one here <link>

It’s all about SIEM

One of the hottest topics at FOCUS was security information and event management (SIEM). McAfee is proud to be a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SIEM, and was excited to share our plans for strengthening threat detection, prioritization, and incident management.

We held several talks related to SIEM, focusing on how to better leverage the McAfee® SIEM solution for optimized threat intelligence and incidence response in today’s threat environment.

To detail strengthened SIEM, we shared use cases and best practices for improving security posture from customers who witnessed the benefits firsthand. We even shared a livestream of the Group Meeting on Product Management and Customer Council, so that followers at home could glean findings.

“If you don’t integrate and automate, you don’t have a SIEM, you have a log collector” @rwgresham at #Foundstone #FOCUS16 @Foundstone pic.twitter.com/CxOdmrIFcH

— Ismael Valenzuela (@aboutsecurity) October 31, 2016

Gaga for the Goo Goo Dolls

FOCUS isn’t just about strengthening security—it’s about fun too! It only felt right to close out the event with a BANG, Vegas style. During our raging final night event, we had none other than the Goo Goo Dolls perform at the Aria Hotel. The room was jumping when the famed band played hits like “Iris” and “Slide”.

Live with the Goo Goo Dolls-great way to end a great conference. Great job @McAfee #FOCUS16 pic.twitter.com/Y55EHsb4zZ

— Justin L. Powell (@justinleepowell) November 4, 2016

Week 3 on the road – sometimes the perks are sweet. Thanks to all who came to our sessions and @McAfee for hosting @Mobileiron at #Focus16 pic.twitter.com/ftjJl76AFy

— Sean Ginevan (@sginevan) November 4, 2016

The Goo Goo dolls have hit the #FOCUS16 stage! pic.twitter.com/1xZ8VcPnA1

— McAfee (@McAfee) November 4, 2016

Hanging out backstage with the Goo Goo dolls at finale McAfee FOCUS16 event! #Focus16

— Max K. (@KelloggMax) November 4, 2016

#FOCUS16 was one for the books! Thanks to all who came and made it the best yet. #TogetherIsPower pic.twitter.com/IQrqWmRMhm

— McAfee (@McAfee) November 4, 2016

See You Next Year!

A huge thank you to everyone who made this year’s FOCUS Conference a massive success. From amazing keynotes, a new brand unveiling, The Second Economy, and to some amazing product launches— we can truly say this year’s FOCUS Conference was the best one ever. Eager for more? Join us next year from October 17^th– October 19^th at the Venetian in Las Vegas, at a discounted rate. To keep up-to-date on all the latest FOCUS related information, make sure to follow our FOCUS Showcase page on LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter @McAfee and @McAfee_Business.