Computer security conference

A computer security conference is a convention for individuals involved in computer security. They generally serve as meeting places for system and network administrators, hackers, and computer security experts.

Events

Michael Lynn, a keynote speaker at Black Hat Briefings 2005

Common activities at hacker conventions may include:

• Presentations from keynote speakers or panels. Common topics include social engineering, lockpicking, penetration testing, and hacking tools.^[1][2]
• Hands-on activities and competitions such as capture the flag (CTF).
• "Boot camps" offering training and certification in Information Technology.^[3]

List of general computer security conferences

General security conferences might be held by non-profit/not-for-profit/for-profit professional associations, individuals or informal group of individuals, or by security product vendor companies.

• ACM-CCS (Conferences on Computer and Communications Security),^[4] security conference held since 1993.
• ACSAC, Annual Computer Security Applications Conference^[5] - oldest information security conference held annually.^[6]
• ASIA or the Annual Symposium on Information Assurance^[7] that serves as the academic track for the New York State Cyber Security Conference,^[8] an annual information security conference held in Albany, NY usually for two days during June targeted at academic, government, and industry participants.
• Black Hat, a series of conferences held annually in different cities around the world. Black Hat USA, held in Las Vegas immediately before DEF CON, is one of the largest computer security event in the world.^[9]
• BlueHat Conference, a twice a year, invitation-only Microsoft security conference aimed at bringing Microsoft security professionals and external security researchers together.^[10][11][12]
• Brucon, yearly conference, previously held in Brussels, since 2012 it is held in Ghent. Lasting 2 days, and preceded by a training.^[13]
• CanSecWest, in Vancouver is held at the end of March and hosts the Pwn2Own hacking contest.^[14][15][16]
• CSS - International Conference on Cryptography and Security System^[17] in Poland.
• DeepSec, in Vienna covers many security aspects of computing and electronic communications as well as security management and social aspects. DeepSec is visited by a broad international audience, academics, researchers, vendors, finance, public administration etc. (2 days trainings, 2 days conference).^[18] Presentations are published on Vimeo and YouTube.
• Department of Defense Cyber Crime Conference, an annual conference that focuses on the computer security needs of the United States federal government, military, and defense contractors.
• FSec - Croatian annual security conference held at the Faculty of organization and informatics in Varaždin.^[19]
• GreHack.fr^[20] an annual conference held in Grenoble,. Speakers from academia, industry. Both offensive and defensive security.^[21]
• Hack.lu, an annual conference held in Luxembourg
• Hacker Halted, Presented by EC-Council, the objective of the global series of Hacker Halted conferences is to raise international awareness towards increased education and ethics in IT Security.^[22]
• Hackito Ergo Sum, Security conference pertaining to research topics, with attendees and speakers from both the industry, the offensive side and the academic circles, held in Paris every April.^[23]
• HITBSecConf / Hack In The Box, deep-knowledge security conference held in Malaysia and the Netherlands.^[24]
• ICISSP International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy,^[25]
• IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy,^[26] top-tier privacy & security conference.
• INFWARCON^[27] Beyond Information Warfare - Offensive Cyber Weapons and Technologies Training Congress.
• IP EXPO Europe, held annually at London's ExCeL Centre
• IP EXPO Nordic, held annually at Stockholm's Waterfront Congress Centre
• LeetCon, IT-Security-Convention in Hannover (Germany), frequently October or November every Year. Talks about IT-Security, IoT, Industry 4.0 and more.
• NDSS (Network & Distributed System Security Symposium),^[28] annual security conference from Internet Society.
• NSPW (New Security Paradigms Workshop),^[29] a workshop with new ideas in security.
• nullcon Security Conference held annually in Delhi and Goa.^[30][31]
• Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), Focuses on web application security.^[32]
• REcon REcon is a computer security conference with a focus on reverse engineering and advanced exploitation techniques.
• RSA Security Conference, Cryptography and information security-related conference held annually in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• RuhrSec, annual non-profit security conference at the Ruhr University Bochum.^[33]
• S4:SCADA Security Scientific Symposium, Security conference pertaining to SCADA held annually by Digital Bond, usually in Miami.^[34]
• SecurIT 2012, International Conference on Security of Internet of Things held in mid of August at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.^[35]
• SecureWorld Expo, A series of IT Security conferences offering education, CPE training opportunities, and networking of security leaders, experts, senior executives, and policy makers who shape the face of security.^[36]
• SIN ACM, or the International Conference on Security of Information and Networks.^[37]
• SOURCE Conference, SOURCE is a computer security conference in Boston, Dublin and Seattle that offers education in both the business and technical aspects of the security industry.^[38]
• SSTIC,^[39] Annual French Security Symposium held in Rennes.^[40]
• Swiss Cyber Storm, International IT Security Conference held in October at KKL Lucerne.^[41]
• TROOPERS IT Security Conference, Annual international IT Security event with workshops held in Heidelberg, Germany.^[42]
• USENIX Security,^[43] annual security conference associated with USENIX.
• Virus Bulletin conference, annual security conference held late September or early October since 1989.^[44]
• 0SecCon Zero Security Conference held in Kerala.^[45]

Hacker conferences

A team competing in the CTF competition at DEF CON 17

A hacker conference, also known as a hacker con, is a convention for hackers. These serve as meeting places for phreakers, hackers, and security professionals.

The actual events, time-spans, and details of various themes of these conventions not only depends on the specific convention attended but also its perceived reputation. Typically the actual details of any given convention are couched in mild secrecy due to the legality of certain panels, as well as the willingness of attendees to explain themselves to law enforcement and less computer-savvy individuals (see hacker definition controversy).

Common topics include wardriving, lockpicking, corporate and network security, personal rights and freedoms, new technologies, as well as general 'geek' motifs. Some may also have contests and general collaborative events such as hackathons.

List of hacker conferences

• AthCon, the largest hacker conference in South Eastern Europe taking place annually in Athens, Greece.^[46]
• BSides, community conference that initially started in the US is now global.^[47]
• CarolinaCon, in North Carolina, is a regional technology and network security conference usually held during Spring.
• Chaos Communication Congress, the oldest and Europe's largest hacker conference, held by Chaos Computer Club.
• CircleCityCon is a security and technology conference held annually in June in Indianapolis.^[48]
• Cop CON, is a unique Cyber Policing Conference held across India every year by Indian Cyber Army.^[49]
• CypherCon, a Milwaukee based hacker conference held late winter each year.^[50]
• DEF CON, in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the biggest hacker convention in the United States held during summer (June–August).
• DerbyCon, an annual hacker conference based in Louisville, KY.^[51]
• Ekoparty, a hacker convention in Argentina and one of the most important in South America, held annually around September in Buenos Aires.^[52]
• GrrCon, an annual hacker conference hosted each September in Grand Rapids, Michigan.^[53]
• GroundZero Summit ,an annual hacker conference hosted each November in Hotel Ashoka,New Delhi.^[54]
• Hack in the Box, an annual hacker conference.^[55][56]
• Hackers Day which was previously known as DEFCON Lucknow based in Lucknow, is one of the best hacking conferences in India held frequently in January–February every year.^[57]
• Hackers 2 Hackers Conference (H2HC) is the oldest security research (hacking) conference in Latin America and one of the oldest ones still active in the world.^[58]
• Hackers Idol, is a unique Hackers & Cyber Enthusiast Talent Hunt held across India every year by Indian Cyber Army.^[59]
• Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE), in New York City is held by 2600: The Hacker Quarterly in mid-summer (July/August) every other year.
• Hackfest.ca, in Quebec, Canada, bilingual conferences and hacking games.^[60]
• HackMiami Conference, a hacker conference in Miami, Florida organized by the HackMiami hackerspace.^[61]
• Hacktivity,^[62] in Budapest, Hungary, run every September, the largest hacker conference in the Central and Eastern Europe.
• INFILTRATE,^[63] hosted by Immunity, Inc, is a deep technical security conference that focuses on offensive technical issues. The conference has been held annually in Miami Beach, Florida since 2011.
• Kiwicon, is a Wellington, New Zealand hacker convention.
• LayerOne, held every spring in Los Angeles, California.^[64]
• Malcon, the world's first International Malware Conference, hosted in India.^[65]
• NorthSec, in Montreal, Quebec, is an applied security event held yearly mid-May, featuring two days of conference followed by a 48h on-site CTF.^[66]
• Notacon, in Cleveland, Ohio, is an art and technology conference held frequently in mid-April.
• Nuit Du Hack, in Paris, France, is the oldest and largest hacker conference held frequently in late-June.^[67]
• PhreakNIC, in Nashville, Tennessee, is held by Nashville 2600.^[68] around October.
• Quahogcon, In Providence, Rhode Island is held at the end of April.^[69]
• ROOTCON,^[70] Premier Annual Hacker Conference in the Philippines held annually during summer (September - October).
• RootedCON, in Madrid, Spain, is one of the biggest hacker conference in Europe. This convention started in 2010. (March)
• ShmooCon, a Washington DC convention started in 2005 by The Shmoo Group, and held annually in late winter (usually February).
• SkyDogCon, A technology conference in Nashville, TN for the individual with the Renaissance Mind. SkyDogCon exists to facilitate learning, information sharing, and mingling with like-minded people in a relaxed atmosphere.^[71]
• Summercon, one of the oldest hacker conventions, held during Summer (frequently in June). It helped set a precedent for more modern "cons" such as H.O.P.E. and DEF CON.
• T2 infosec conference, focuses on newly emerging information security research with a balance of topics on auditing and pen-testing, and security and defensive strategies. In general, presentations will address different aspects of information security—all presentations will include demos and be technically oriented and practical.^[72]
• The Hackers Conference, is India's biggest Cyber Security Conference held in New Delhi, India every Year.^[73]
• THOTCON, a Chicago based hacker conference held in the Spring each year.^[74]
• ToorCon, San Diego hacker convention that emerged from the 2600 user group frequently in late September.^[75]
• WildWestHackinFest, a conference focused on training and development held in Deadwood, South Dakota in October. Explore the Black Hills and learn how to hack all the things, including the IoT. ^[76]

• ZeroAccess, is a unique International Cyber Security Conference held in India, India in the Month of April by Indian Cyber Army^[77]
• Sthack is an annual security conference in Bordeaux, followed by the traditional Capture The Flag.

Non-annual hacker conventions

• Stichting HAL2001, a not-for-profit organization, holds a quadrennial Dutch hacker convention. They have, so far, held HAL2001 (Hackers at Large) and What the Hack (2005, originally called HEX (referring to the 16th anniversary of the event, as well as an acronym for Hacking Extreme)). The Dutch conferences held prior Stichting HAL2001's existence were Galactic Hacker Party (1989), Hacking at the End of the Universe (1993) and Hacking In Progress (1997), notable for being held simultaneously and in conjunction with Beyond HOPE. The not-for-profit organization 'Stichting Hxx'^[78] was organizing the 2009 incarnation of this con; HAR (Hacking at Random).^[79] During the summer of 2013 the most recent installment of the series, called OHM (Observe Hack Make), was held.^[80]

References

External links

• Hacker Convention Comparison based on internet connectivity and attendees