Startup Banned from RSA After Offering CISOs Rides in Branded Tank

SAN FRANCISCO — Early-stage threat detection startup BreachForce has been permanently banned from the RSA Conference after parking a decommissioned tank outside of Moscone and offering CISOs rides in exchange for a 15-minute product demo.

The tank, wrapped in BreachForce branding with the tagline "Armor for Your Attack Surface," arrived at 6:45 a.m. on Monday and was operational for approximately 90 minutes before San Francisco police, RSA Conference security, and two representatives from the Moscone Center's insurance provider intervened simultaneously.

In that 90 minutes, BreachForce reportedly gave rides to eleven attendees, three of whom were actual CISOs. The remaining eight were described in the company's internal messages, obtained by the Exploit, as "probably security, hard to tell, they had lanyards."

"You have to be creative. Last year we did a branded ice cream truck and nobody cared. This year, everyone knows our name. The tank worked."

RSA Conference organizers issued a statement calling the stunt "a fundamental violation of exhibitor conduct guidelines" and noting that BreachForce was not, in fact, a registered exhibitor. Palumbo countered that the company had applied for a booth in the Early Stage Expo but was waitlisted, and that the tank was technically parked on a public street, making it "more of a pop-up activation than a conference violation."

One CISO who completed the full ride and demo told the Exploit she had "no idea what BreachForce does." She asked not to be named because her company's travel policy explicitly prohibits accepting rides in military vehicles from vendors.

Subscribe before we're patched

Like a vitamin you ingest with your eyes. The best cybersecurity parody, delivered.

The San Francisco Police Department confirmed that no laws were broken, as the tank was decommissioned, street-legal with a valid oversize vehicle permit, and driven by a licensed operator. An SFPD spokesperson said it was "the third-strangest thing we've dealt with during a conference at Moscone this year" but declined to elaborate on the first two.

BreachForce's LinkedIn post about the incident, which featured a photo of Palumbo standing on the tank in handcuffs, received 4,200 likes and one inbound demo request. Palumbo called the ROI "extremely strong."

At press time, two other startups had contacted BreachForce's events team asking where they sourced the tank. BreachForce declined to share, citing "competitive advantage."