This year's RSA conference kicks off this Monday, May 17, and unlike last year's conference, which was one of the last big tech shows in the US before COVID-19 was shut down, this one will be completely virtual

We will not be traveling to San Francisco to attend this year's RSA, but will instead be streaming the presentations from our home in New York CityRSA has 20 different "tracks" and nearly all of them will have simultaneous presentations

Most of RSA's recent talks have been on enterprise security, and all-access passes to the conference cost thousands of dollars (But we're not interested in cloud threat modeling, developing cybersecurity metrics, or defensible architectures Those are all worthwhile topics, but Tom's Guide focuses on consumer security

But even within these parameters, there is so much going on at RSA that we are struggling to fit what we want to see into the schedule We can listen to the talks online for a while after they are presented, so hopefully we will be able to stream the ones we missed

Below are some of the things we are looking forward to seeing, sorted into somewhat arbitrary categories

The security of electronic voting machines has long been a top priority for the Information Security Council, and after the 2016 presidential election, the issue of political disinformation became a major concern

Fortalice CEO Teresa Payton, author of Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth CEO, will deliver a keynote address on political disinformation and countermeasures on Monday On Tuesday, three experts will present "Responding to Disinformation and Influence Campaigns"

On Thursday, a panel of four experts on election security will be followed by a panel discussion on political disinformation

To tie all of this together, President Biden's cybersecurity advisor, Ann Neuberger, will deliver a keynote address on Tuesday morning titled "Cybersecurity as a National Imperative"

Neuberger will no doubt have something to say about ransomware, as Colonial Pipeline Company was attacked last week, causing fuel shortages in the Southeast

But the topic of ransomware was already high on the agenda for RSA 2021 This is because over the past year there has been a significant increase in the number of ransomware attacks against US companies and other businesses

We will see a talk on Tuesday afternoon that will review the "threat landscape" of ransomware Then there will be another talk on Thursday to further expand the threat map

In this era of massive data collection by Google, Facebook, and other online companies, a University of Texas law professor on Wednesday asks the simple question, "Who owns your data?" No doubt the simple answer will not be forthcoming

The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with technological advances, has "created the perfect storm for the erosion of global privacy," two researchers argue Wednesday They plan to examine the rise of global surveillance in 2020 and its implications in the United States and China

We think this talk will make us feel better Later on Wednesday, a panel discussion will examine what we call "The Lasting Impact of the COVID Pandemic on Privacy"

Also on Wednesday, several panelists, including our opinion contributor Melanie Ensign, will discuss the rise of "privacy tech" and how it relates to cybersecurity

"Privacy tech" broadly refers to any kind of technology that enhances rather than devalues personal privacy, such as encrypted messaging apps and the Tor web protocol Frankly, I had sort of given up hope of having any privacy in this ridiculously wired world

There is no privacy at all if you are recognized wherever you go That's why "adversarial technology" has emerged to defeat facial recognition systems Tuesday's "New Face, Who Dis" talk will showcase the latest ways to fool security cameras and promises to introduce new tools to defeat facial recognition

On a similar note, ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko will give a talk on Android stalkerware, which comes in many varieties and can be used to spy on spouses, partners, and employees

If you are concerned about your privacy and security while traveling, two Kaspersky researchers will present a "Protection Guide for Travelers" on Wednesday morning

Finally, there are a few talks that don't fit into any grand theme We have reviewed (and used) several password managers and look forward to a talk that asks whether password managers are making people smarter about password use [Meanwhile, our friends at Bitdefender will be discussing security flaws and security fixes from the past few years in Internet of Things and smart home devices

There will also be a talk on how quantum computing breaks the RSA encryption standard, from which the RSA conference gets its name, and another talk (unfortunately at the same time) explaining how credit card thieves infect retail sites

Another presentation examines how Discord has become the default communication medium for "Generation Z" hackers His presentation, irresistibly titled "His Power Level is Over 9000", will examine the security flaws in solar panel controllers

There is also a talk entitled "Can Cryptocurrency Conquer the World" which already appears to be fully booked Use Bitcoin and bribe the techies to let you in

Instead, let's go across the virtual hall and check out a concurrent talk called "WarezTheRemote And Listening to Couch, and Listening to You" It's a talk about spying on people through their TV remotes Cool