Securing Coverage for Inaugural Cybersecurity Conference
Creative Pitch Angles Drive Coverage About Conference in Top Tier Cybersecurity Outlets
Raising Awareness for a New Security Conference
SpecterOps is a cybersecurity solutions and services provider specializing in deep knowledge of adversary tradecraft. In 2024, they launched their inaugural one-day user conference called SO-CON. The event was tied heavily to identity security, which was a major initiative for the company and a trending topic for the overall security community more broadly.
SpecterOps asked Voxus to secure media coverage of SO-CON to help drive registration and establish their team as a leader in identity security. This was difficult since the conference was new; media had no guarantee it would be worth their time.
Voxus identified two potential news hooks: (1) SpecterOps had just secured FedRAMP certification for their flagship product, and (2) several speaker at the event were presenting new, never-before-released cybersecurity research.
Pulling Out All the Stops
To secure coverage, Voxus used three highly targeted PR tactics. First, the team pitched SO-CON to cybersecurity newsletters and asked publications to add it to their events pages or calendars. Second, we pitched an exclusive about SpecterOps’ FedRAMP certification to a short list of key security reporters at government publications (which were timed to publish shortly before the event). Finally, we dug into the conference speaker sessions to identify interesting and relevant news topics and set up interviews to uncover original research they planned to present at the show.
Buried Treasure for Media Outreach
Through the internal interview process, we found a hidden gem – two speakers were presenting a project called “Misconfiguration Manager.” It was a database of misconfigurations and vulnerabilities discovered in a major piece of Microsoft software. It was new, detailed, and the consequences if an attacker abused it were high – all things that piqued security reporters interest. Voxus made pitching this research a major piece of our outreach.
A Triple Threat of Coverage
All three outreach angles were successful and helped promote the event in different ways. SO-CON was listed in several security publication’s calendars and newsletters including The CSO Guide to Top Security Conferences. SpecterOps’ FedRAMP certification was included in Politico’s Morning Cybersecurity newsletter on March 6. Misconfiguration Manager received seven pieces of coverage in publications like Bleeping Computer, Paul’s Security Weekly and CSO. Several of these mentioned the conference as well – mission accomplished.
SpecterOps is a cybersecurity solutions and services provider specializing in deep knowledge of adversary tradecraft to help clients detect and defend against sophisticated attackers. The company releases numerous widely used free and open-source security toolsets, including BloodHound, a penetration testing solution which maps attack paths in Active Directory and Azure environments.