Black Hat

Black Hat is the most technical and relevant information security event series in the world. For more than 20 years, Black Hat Briefings have provided attendees with the very latest in information security research, development, and trends in a strictly vendor-neutral environment. These high-profile global events and Trainings are driven by the needs of the security community, striving to bring together the best minds in the industry. Black Hat inspires professionals at all career levels, encouraging growth and collaboration among academia, world-class researchers, and leaders in the public and private sectors. From its inception in 1997, Black Hat has grown from a single annual conference in Las Vegas to the most respected information security event series internationally. Today, Black Hat Briefings and Trainings are held annually in the United States, Europe and Asia, providing a premier venue for elite security researchers and trainers to find their audience. Black Hat Briefings were created more than 20 years ago to provide security professionals a place to learn the very latest in information security risks, research and trends. Each year, internationally leading security researchers take the stage to share their latest work and exploits in a friendly, vendor-neutral environment. Vulnerabilities are often exposed that impact everything from popular consumer devices to critical international infrastructure and everything in between. Black Hat seeks groundbreaking research to fill both 25 and 50-minute speaking slots for each annual show. Black Hat Trainings offer attendees individual technical courses on topics ranging from the latest in penetration testing to exploiting web applications and even defending and building SCADA systems. Often designed exclusively for Black Hat, these hands-on attack and defense courses are taught by industry and subject matter experts from all over the world with the goal of defining and defending tomorrow's information security landscape. The Black Hat Review Board is comprised of over 24 of the industry's most credible and distinguished security professionals and thought leaders throughout various areas of the information security community. The Review Board advises Black Hat on its strategic direction, reviewing and programming conference content and providing unparalleled insight into the research community. Black Hat strives to deliver one of the most empirical content selection processes in the industry. All submissions are vetted thoroughly by the Black Hat Review Board. Each submission is reviewed for uniqueness, overall content expertise and accuracy before any selections are made. Through the course of this dynamic review process, the Black Hat Review Board members will frequently ask researchers for clarity on any areas of question in their submissions – whether it be about the uniqueness or audacity of claims made. The best submissions come with academic-grade papers, proof-of-concept code and/or video demonstrations of the work done. Of note, Black Hat does not support pay-for-play Briefings. The Black Hat Briefings are and always have been independently selected based on quality of content and area of expertise rather than sponsorship. Black Hat is proud of the level of research and vulnerability disclosures that happen onsite each year. We also strongly support and encourage responsible disclosure. To this end, Black Hat has a strong partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to provide pro-bono legal consultations to security researchers on the legality of any research or data they plan to present at the annual shows. Black Hat and EFF are dedicated to defending free speech and privacy rights to facilitate the boundary–pushing research and vulnerability disclosure that attendees have come to know and love at each annual show.