Conferences & Events#
Reference of major cybersecurity, hacker, intelligence, and infosec community gatherings the operator follows for training, talks, networking, and CTF practice. Sorted by focus and by month.
For training certifications, the conference circuit overlaps with SANS / OffSec / GIAC content. For CTI sharing venues, see CTI Sources.
Hacker / offensive security#
Event |
Location |
Cadence |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
DEF CON |
Las Vegas, US |
Aug |
The original; Villages (ICS, Car Hacking, Voting, Aerospace, AppSec, Crypto, Privacy, Recon, Bio); CTF Finals; ~30k attendees. |
Black Hat USA |
Las Vegas, US |
Aug |
Co-located with DEF CON; corporate side; Trainings + Briefings. |
Black Hat EU |
London, UK |
Dec |
EU edition. |
Black Hat Asia |
Singapore |
Apr / May |
Asia edition. |
Black Hat MEA |
Riyadh, KSA |
Nov |
Middle East edition. |
RSA Conference |
San Francisco |
Apr / May |
~50k; vendor-heavy; policy + business; Innovation Sandbox. |
Pwn2Own |
Rotating |
Mar/Nov/Oct |
ZDI-run exploit competition (Vancouver / Tokyo / Toronto); vendor-rewarded bug bounty in real time. |
Real World Crypto |
Rotating |
Jan |
IACR; applied cryptography. |
IACR Crypto/Eurocrypt/Asiacrypt |
Various |
Aug/May/Dec |
IACR; theoretical cryptography. |
USENIX Security |
Rotating |
Aug |
Top-tier academic security. |
USENIX Enigma |
Rotating |
Jan |
Practitioner-academic crossover. |
NDSS |
San Diego |
Feb |
Network and Distributed System Security. |
IEEE S&P (Oakland) |
Oakland |
May |
Top academic. |
ACM CCS |
Rotating |
Oct / Nov |
Top academic. |
SecTor |
Toronto |
Oct |
Canadian flagship. |
NorthSec |
Montreal |
May |
Canadian; CTF-heavy. |
PoC |
Seoul |
Nov |
Korean; offensive. |
HITCON |
Taipei |
Aug |
Taiwanese; CTF. |
Hack.lu |
Luxembourg |
Oct |
EU offensive. |
Defence / blue team / IR#
Event |
Location |
Cadence |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
SANS Summits |
Various |
Year-round |
DFIR, ICS, CTI, Cloud, Pen Test, Security Awareness, etc. |
FIRSTCON |
Rotating |
Jun |
FIRST.org annual; CSIRT community. |
Cyber Triage |
Various |
Year-round |
Various IR-focused. |
DFRWS USA |
Rotating |
Aug |
Digital Forensics Research Workshop. |
DFRWS EU |
Rotating |
Mar / Apr |
EU edition. |
Volexity / Volexsion |
Various |
n/a |
Vendor-led IR + memory forensics. |
Mandiant Cust. Conf. |
Various |
n/a |
Vendor. |
CrowdStrike Fal.Con |
Las Vegas |
Sep |
Vendor. |
Splunk .conf |
Various |
Jun |
Vendor. |
SentinelOne LABScon |
Scottsdale, US |
Sep |
Threat research summit. |
LABScon |
Scottsdale, US |
Sep |
Vendor-curated threat research. |
Threat intel / strategic#
Event |
Location |
Cadence |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
CYBERWARCON |
Arlington, US |
Nov |
Threat actor research focused. |
CYBERUK |
Various, UK |
Apr / May |
NCSC flagship. |
ICS Cyber Security |
Atlanta, US |
Oct |
SANS ICS / OT. |
S4xEvents |
Miami, US |
Jan |
ICS / OT cybersecurity conf. |
RSA APJ |
Singapore |
Jul |
Asia-Pacific RSA. |
SOCAP |
Various |
n/a |
SOC operations / CTI. |
ICCWS |
Various |
n/a |
Intl Conf on Cyber Warfare and Security. |
NATO CyCon |
Tallinn |
May |
CCDCOE flagship. |
RSA Public Sector |
Washington DC |
n/a |
Gov-specific. |
DHS / CISA Summit |
Various |
Year-round |
Federal cyber ops. |
Hacker community / hacker camps#
Event |
Location |
Cadence |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
CCC Congress |
Hamburg, DE |
Dec |
~17k; the largest European hacker conference; streamed free online. |
CCC Camp |
Various, DE |
~4 yr |
Outdoor camp; ~5k. |
HOPE |
NYC |
Biennial |
Hackers On Planet Earth; 2600. |
ShmooCon |
Washington DC |
Jan |
Small / community; sells out fast. |
SaintCon |
Provo, UT |
Oct |
Community; Utah. |
DerbyCon (defunct) |
Louisville, KY |
Closed 2019. |
|
ToorCon |
San Diego |
Sep |
Long-running. |
HushCon |
Various |
Year-round |
Invite-only. |
LayerOne |
LA |
May |
SoCal community. |
NotPinkCon |
Buenos Aires |
n/a |
Latin American. |
Ekoparty |
Buenos Aires |
Nov |
Latin America’s flagship. |
8.8 Computer Sec |
Santiago |
n/a |
Chilean / LatAm. |
LeHACK |
Paris |
Jul |
French community. |
SHA / OHM / WHY / MCH |
Netherlands |
~4 yr |
Dutch hacker camp series. |
BornHack |
Denmark |
Aug |
Open camp. |
POC2024 / SCON |
Seoul |
n/a |
KR community. |
BSides (community-run)#
BSides events run in 100+ cities globally; the model is free / cheap, lightning talks, community-organized. Major ones: BSides Las Vegas (Aug; co-located with DEF CON / Black Hat), BSides San Francisco (Apr; co-RSA), BSides London, BSides Berlin, BSides Tel Aviv, BSides DC, BSides Charm (Baltimore), BSides Tampa, BSides Cape Town, BSides Singapore, BSides Lisbon, BSides Krakow, BSides Tokyo. See securitybsides.com.
CTF circuits#
CTF |
Format |
Cadence |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
DEF CON CTF Quals |
Online jeopardy |
May / Jun |
OOO-organized; world’s most prestigious. |
DEF CON CTF Finals |
On-site A/D |
Aug |
Top 12-15 teams; on-stage at DEF CON. |
PlaidCTF |
Jeopardy |
Apr |
CMU PPP-organized. |
HITCON CTF |
Online |
Spring/Quals |
Taiwanese; prestigious. |
Real World CTF |
A/D / Mixed |
Various |
Chivalry-Bug-organized. |
Google CTF |
Online jeopardy |
Jun |
Google-run. |
PicoCTF |
Online; teen / beg |
Mar |
CMU; the entry-level for students. |
SECCON |
JP |
n/a |
Japanese national. |
0CTF / TCTF |
Online |
Various |
Tencent + 0ops. |
CSAW |
Online |
Sep |
NYU; student-led. |
TyphoonCon CTF |
Seoul |
Jun |
Asia-Pacific. |
CCDC / NCCDC |
A/D + governance |
Spring |
Collegiate; defense-only style. |
CyberPatriot |
US national |
Various |
US high school; AFA-led. |
ECSC (Cyber Sec Challe |
nge) ENISA |
Annual |
National-team competition. |
Industry / business#
Event |
Location |
Cadence |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Gartner Sec & Risk |
Various |
Jun |
Vendor analyst. |
Forrester Sec & Risk |
Various |
Nov |
Same. |
ISC2 Security Congres |
Various |
Oct |
ISC2 community. |
ISACA Conferences |
Various |
Year-round |
Audit / governance focus. |
(ISC)² Secure Series |
Various |
Year-round |
Regional ISC2. |
GovWare |
Singapore |
Oct |
Asia gov-cyber expo. |
Intersec |
Dubai |
Jan |
Physical + cyber security expo. |
Infosecurity Europe |
London |
Jun |
UK trade show. |
it-sa |
Nuremberg, DE |
Oct |
EU IT security trade show. |
FIC |
Lille, FR |
Apr |
French cyber forum. |
Privacy / civil liberties#
Event |
Location |
Cadence |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
PETS / PoPETs |
Rotating |
Jul |
Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium. |
RightsCon |
Rotating |
Jun |
Access Now; digital rights global. |
MozFest |
Various |
Year-round |
Mozilla. |
Internet Freedom Fest. |
Valencia |
Mar |
Activists + tools. |
HOPE (above) |
NYC |
Biennial |
Civil liberties heavy. |
Operator notes#
Travel + LE attention, bringing offensive hardware through customs (esp. into / out of US, UK, FR, CN, RU) is risky. Carry equipment list + statement of purpose.
Public Wi-Fi at hacker cons is hostile, assume MITM, rogue AP, malicious DHCP. Use cellular hotspot + wireguard.
Recordings, Black Hat, RSA, USENIX, IEEE record; CCC publishes within days; DEF CON publishes months later.
CFP timelines, DEF CON Apr-May; Black Hat USA Feb-Apr; CCC Aug-Sep; RSA Aug-Sep prior year.
Travel deals, many cons provide group hotel rates expiring 2-3 months prior.
Conference burnout, 1-2 cons / year is a sustainable cadence for working operators; the rest stream online.
References#
InfoSec Conferences, comprehensive calendar.
CTFtime, CTF calendar + team rankings.
media.ccc.de, CCC video archive.
IACR ePrint Archive, preprints from crypto cons.