Over time the conference grew more business-oriented with an older demographic and more vendors,[5] which led to competitive issues for a time in the 1990s; European competitors to RSA Security sometimes could not get a booth, so they hired people to pass out flyers at the RSA conference encouraging attendees to visit them at hotels nearby.

[2] According to Bidzos, the purpose of the conference became "for all kinds of things: drive standards, organize some opposition to government policies, promote the RSA name, [and] give all of our customers an opportunity".

[3] At the 2010 RSA conference, the Obama administration publicly revealed the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), which was created in 2008 and formerly kept a secret.

[7][10] In 2011, a California-based IT security company, HBGary, withdrew from speaking and exhibiting at the RSA conference, citing safety concerns.

The company announced plans to reveal the identities of some members of the hacktivist group Anonymous and received retaliatory threats and hacks.

[12] Discussion at that year's conference was focused heavily on leaks by Edward Snowden and NSA involvement with American technology companies.

[7][17] The policy was implemented in response to feedback that booth babes made the conference feel unprofessional.

Fortune Magazine called the widespread practice of having booth babes at professional conferences "outdated" and unwelcoming to female attendees.

[17] The following year, the RSA conference was focused on the FBI–Apple encryption dispute, regarding attempts by the government to gain access to iPhones containing evidence in criminal investigations.

[24] For example, one award is the Innovation Sandbox contest, which involves ten startups that present their technology to a panel of judges.