What We’re Expecting at RSAC 2023

In late 2022, I reached out to cybersecurity specialists at various private firms and US government agencies to learn about the security concerns we’d need to prepare for in 2023. According to the experts, protecting consumers’ private data, mitigating data breach damage, practicing social media safety, foiling online scammers, addressing ransomware, and dealing with the introduction of adversarial AI were the most pressing concerns. Those worries span a broad swathe of cybersecurity industry specializations, most of which are reflected in the highly varied keynote presentations and event sessions at this year’s RSA Conference(Opens in a new window).

Stronger Together

RSAC organizers say there are many threats moving through the cybersecurity space. On the RSA Conference’s website(Opens in a new window), the group emphasizes that teamwork is essential to “shape policy, establish new best practices, and ensure our defenses become more diverse, more resolute, and far more effective.” Diversity of thought and collaborative efforts are championed by RSAC’s 2023 theme, “Stronger Together.”

PCMag’s security team reflects this theme pretty well. Our group of analysts consists of myself, Max Eddy, and Neil J. Rubenking. We’re a team with a considerable amount of diversity in the form of age, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic background, and, most importantly to you, our thoughts on cybersecurity. We all plan to focus on different but important subjects at RSAC’s event this year.

What We’re Looking for at RSAC 2023

We know scams and scammers are a hot topic for consumers every year, but the recent barrage of email and SMS phishing scams, robocalls, and romance scams are tough for anyone to fend off. We look forward to learning how experts from around the world are tackling the global scamming industry and passing along ways to protect yourself from online criminals.

Another hot topic is the US government’s response to online threats and the creation of federal consumer privacy protections. In the past, I’ve spoken at length with experts who say you shouldn’t wait for your government to protect you from corporate data miners. At RSAC, there will be several representatives from US government agencies who may tell us about their federal-level plans for keeping your data safe.

The social media landscape is a bit bleak at the moment, as Twitter’s verification system has been reduced to a cynical cash grab, Facebook plans to shell out $725 million for a privacy settlement, and there’s legislation in the works to ban TikTok in the United States. Despite all of the above, people still can’t stop posting, and those public pictures and words often leave them vulnerable to malicious activities. We plan to check out sessions and panels that address ways criminals can use your social posts against you and how to mitigate the risks associated with posting personal information online.

Star Power

Finally, it wouldn’t be an RSA Conference without a few flashy celebrities in attendance. This year, eight-time Grammy award winner Chris Stapleton plans to discuss the role of AI in the music industry with a panel of experts, veteran actor Christopher Lloyd joins a panel to talk about quantum science and cryptography, and Monty Python’s Eric Idle will bolster the conference theme of “Stronger Together” with a presentation about the value of teamwork in the entertainment industry.

The conference kicks off on Monday, April 24, in San Francisco, and it concludes on April 27. The PCMag security team will post articles throughout the event relaying the most compelling information. As in years past, we will be covering the conference remotely. The easiest way to stay up to date is to bookmark PCMag’s RSAC event hub for the latest news from the conference.