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Black Hat (conference)

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Black Hat
StatusActive
GenreSecurity Conference
FrequencyAnnual
VenueVaries
LocationsUnited States, United Kingdom, Singapore
Years active28
InauguratedJuly 9, 1997 (1997-07-09)
FounderJeff Moss
Organised byInforma Festivals
Websiteblackhat.com

Black Hat is a computer security conference that provides security consulting, training, and briefings to security hackers, corporations, and government agencies around the world. Black Hat brings together a variety of people interested in information security ranging from non-technical individuals, executives, hackers, and security professionals. The conference takes place regularly in Las Vegas, Barcelona, London and Riyadh but has also been hosted in Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.[1][2]

History

The first Black Hat was held July 7-10, 1997 in Las Vegas, immediately prior to DEF CON 5.[3] The conference was aimed at the computer industry, promising to give them privileged insight into the minds and motivations of their hacker adversaries. Its organizers stated: "While many conferences focus on information and network security, only the Black Hat Briefings will put your engineers and software programmers face-to-face with today's cutting edge computer security experts and 'hackers'."[4] It was presented by DEF CON Communications and Cambridge Technology Partners. It was founded by Jeff Moss, who also founded DEF CON, and is currently the Conference Chair of the Black Hat Review Board.[5] Black Hat started as a single annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is now held in multiple locations around the world.[6]

At Black Hat USA in 2005, Cisco Systems tried to stop Michael Lynn from speaking about a vulnerability that he said could let hackers virtually shut down the Internet.[2]

In 2009, web sites belonging to a handful of security researchers and groups were hacked and passwords, private e-mails, instant messaging chats, and sensitive documents were exposed on the vandalized site of Dan Kaminsky, days before the conference. In 2008, three men were expelled for packet sniffing the press room local area network. During Black Hat USA in 2009, a USB thumb drive that was passed around among attendees was found to be infected with the Conficker virus.[7]

Conference attendees had been known to hijack wireless connections of the hotels, hack hotel television billing systems, and in one instance, deploy a fake automated teller machine in a hotel lobby.[8]

Black Hat Briefings was acquired by CMP Media, a subsidiary of U.K.-based United Business Media (UBM) in 2005[9][10] which was then acquired by Informa Tech in June 2018. After a corporate reorganization in 2025, Black Hat Briefings was moved to the Informa Festivals division.[11]

Conference components

The conference is composed of three major sections which include briefings, trainings, and arsenal.

Briefings

The Briefings are composed of tracks, covering various topics including reverse engineering, identity and privacy, and hacking. The briefings also contain keynote speeches from leading voices in the information security field, including Robert Lentz, Chief Security Officer, United States Department of Defense; Michael Lynn; Amit Yoran, former Director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security;[2][12] and General Keith B. Alexander, former Director of the National Security Agency and former commander of the United States Cyber Command.[13]

Trainings

Training is offered by various computer security vendors and individual security professionals. The conference has hosted the National Security Agency's information assurance manager course, and various courses by Cisco Systems, Offensive Security,[14] and others.[15][16]

Arsenal

Arsenal is a portion of the conference dedicated to giving researchers and the open source community a place to showcase their latest open-source information security tools. Arsenal primarily consists of live tool demonstrations in a setting where attendees can ask questions about the tools and sometimes use them. It was added in 2010.[17] ToolsWatch maintains an archive of all Black Hat Briefings Arsenals.[18]

List of events

Black Hat had initially started within the United States but expanded over the years across USA, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Washington DC, and Abu Dhabi:[19]

Event Dates Location Venue
Black Hat Asia 2026 April 21 - April 24 Singapore Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Asia 2025 April 1 - April 4
Black Hat Asia 2024[20] April 16 - April 19
Black Hat Spring Trainings 2024[21] March 12 - March 15 United States, Washington DC Walter E Washington Convention Center
Black Hat Europe 2023[22] December 4 - December 7 United Kingdom, London Excel London
Black Hat USA 2023[23] August 5 - August 10 United States, Las Vegas, Virtual Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2023[24] May 9 - May 12 Singapore, Virtual Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Spring Trainings 2023[25] March 13 - March 16 Virtual N/A
Black Hat Europe 2022[26] December 5 - December 8 United Kingdom, London Excel London
Black Hat USA 2022[27] August 6 - August 11 United States, Las Vegas, Virtual Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Spring Trainings 2022[28] June 13 - June 16 Virtual N/A
Black Hat Asia 2022[29] May 10 - May 13 Singapore, Virtual Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Europe 2021[30] November 8 - November 11 United Kingdom, London Excel London
Black Hat USA 2021[31] July 31 - August 5 United States, Las Vegas, Virtual Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2021[32] May 4 - May 7 Virtual N/A
Black Hat Spring Trainings 2021[33] March 15 - March 18
Black Hat Europe 2020[34] December 7 - December 10
Black Hat Asia 2020[35] September 29 - October 2
Black Hat USA 2020[36] August 1 - August 6
Black Hat Europe 2019[37] December 2 - December 5 United Kingdom, London Excel London
Black Hat Trainings 2019[38] October 17 - October 18 United States, Alexandria Hilton Alexandria
Black Hat USA 2019[39] August 3 - August 8 United States, Las Vegas Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2019[40] March 26 - March 29 Singapore Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Europe 2018[41] December 3 - December 6 United Kingdom, London Excel London
Black Hat Trainings 2018[42] October 22 - October 23 United States, Chicago Sheraton Grand Chicago
Black Hat USA 2018[43] August 4 - August 9 United States, Las Vegas Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2018[44] March 20 - March 23 Singapore Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Europe 2017[45] December 4 - December 7 United Kingdom, London Excel London
Black Hat USA 2017[46] July 22 - July 27 United States, Las Vegas Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2017[47] March 28 - March 31 Singapore Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Europe 2016[48] November 1 - November 4 United Kingdom, London Business Design Centre
Black Hat USA 2016[49] July 3 - August 4 United States, Las Vegas Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2016[50] March 29 - April 1 Singapore Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Europe 2015[51] November 10 - November 13 Netherlands, Amsterdam Amsterdam RAI
Black Hat USA 2015[52] August 1 - August 6 United States, Las Vegas Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2015[53] March 24 - March 27 Singapore Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat Trainings 2014[54] December 8 - December 11 United States, Potomoc The Bolger Center
Black Hat Europe 2014[55] October 14 - October 17 Netherlands, Amsterdam Amsterdam RAI
Black Hat USA 2014[56] August 2 - August 7 United States, Las Vegas Mandalay Bay
Black Hat Asia 2014[57] March 25 - March 28 Singapore Marina Bay Sands
Black Hat USA 2013[58] July 27 - August 1 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat Europe 2013[59] March 12 - March 15 Netherlands, Amsterdam Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
Black Hat USA 2012[60] July 21 - July 26 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat Europe 2012[61] March 14 - March 16 Netherlands, Amsterdam Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
Black Hat USA 2011[62] July 30 - August 2 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat DC 2011[63] January 16 - January 19 United States, Crystal City Hyatt Regency
Black Hat USA 2010[64] July 24 - July 29 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat DC 2010[65] January 31 - February 3 United States, Crystal City Hyatt Regency
Black Hat USA 2009[66] July 25 - July 30 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat DC 2009[67] February 16 - February 17 United States, Crystal City Hyatt Regency
Black Hat USA 2008[68] August 2 - August 7 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat DC 2008[69] February 18 - February 21 United States, Crystal City Westin Washington DC City Center
Black Hat USA 2007[70] July 28 - August 2 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat USA 2006[71] July 29 - August 3 United States, Las Vegas
Black Hat Federal 2006[72] January 23 - January 26 United States, Crystal City Sheraton Crystal City
Black Hat USA 2005[73] July 23 - July 28 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat USA 2004[74] July 24 - July 29 United States, Las Vegas
Black Hat Federal 2003[75] September 29 - October 2 United States, Tysons Corner, Virginia Sheraton Premiere
Black Hat USA 2003[76] July 28 - July 31 United States, Las Vegas Caesars Palace
Black Hat USA 2002[77] July 29 - August 1
The Black Hat Briefings '01[78] July 11 - July 12 2001
The Black Hat Briefings '00[79] July 26 - July 27 2000
The Black Hat Briefings '99[80] July 7 - July 8 1999 The Venetian
The Black Hat Briefings '98[81] July 29 - July 30 1998 Caesars Palace
The Black Hat Briefings '97[82] July 9 - July 10 1997 Unknown

See also

References

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