Cybersecurity PR at RSA and Black Hat: The 90-Day Sprint That Actually Moves the Needle

RSA Conference and Black Hat are the two moments per year when every security journalist, analyst, and enterprise buyer is paying attention simultaneously. RSA 2025 drew a record 44,000 attendees, with media content generating over 618 million social impressions and reaching a potential readership of 1.8 billion. Black Hat fills Mandalay Bay every August with security researchers, CISOs, and the reporters who cover them.

Most cybersecurity startups show up to both events with a booth or a badge and no coordinated PR plan. They leave with a stack of business cards and zero coverage. This post is for founders who are attending but have not built the PR sequencing that turns conference presence into earned media. I'll cover the full 90 days: six weeks out, on-site, and the 30 days after you get home.

Why RSA and Black Hat Are Not the Same Event

They look similar from the outside. They are not.

RSA is executive-facing. The audience skews toward CISOs, enterprise buyers, VCs, and government officials. Where RSA leans into policy, industry collaborations, and vendor showcases, Black Hat is where the real technical deep-dives happen, and where zero-day exploits often make their public debut.