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.

History The first Black Hat was held July 7-10, 1997 in Las Vegas, immediately prior to DEF CON 5. 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'." 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. Black Hat started as a single annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is now held in multiple locations around the world.

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.

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.

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.

Black Hat Briefings was acquired by CMP Media, a subsidiary of U.K.-based United Business Media (UBM) in 2005 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.

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; and General Keith B. Alexander, former Director of the National Security Agency and former commander of the United States Cyber Command.

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, and others.

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. ToolsWatch maintains an archive of all Black Hat Briefings Arsenals.

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: +EventDatesLocationVenueBlack Hat Asia 2026April 21 - April 24SingaporeMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Asia 2025April 1 - April 4Black Hat Asia 2024April 16 - April 19Black Hat Spring Trainings 2024March 12 - March 15United States, Washington DCWalter E Washington Convention CenterBlack Hat Europe 2023December 4 - December 7United Kingdom, LondonExcel LondonBlack Hat USA 2023August 5 - August 10United States, Las Vegas, VirtualMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2023May 9 - May 12Singapore, VirtualMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Spring Trainings 2023March 13 - March 16VirtualN/ABlack Hat Europe 2022December 5 - December 8United Kingdom, LondonExcel LondonBlack Hat USA 2022August 6 - August 11United States, Las Vegas, VirtualMandalay BayBlack Hat Spring Trainings 2022June 13 - June 16VirtualN/ABlack Hat Asia 2022May 10 - May 13Singapore, VirtualMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Europe 2021November 8 - November 11United Kingdom, LondonExcel LondonBlack Hat USA 2021July 31 - August 5United States, Las Vegas, VirtualMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2021May 4 - May 7VirtualN/ABlack Hat Spring Trainings 2021March 15 - March 18Black Hat Europe 2020December 7 - December 10Black Hat Asia 2020September 29 - October 2Black Hat USA 2020August 1 - August 6Black Hat Europe 2019December 2 - December 5United Kingdom, LondonExcel LondonBlack Hat Trainings 2019October 17 - October 18United States, AlexandriaHilton AlexandriaBlack Hat USA 2019August 3 - August 8United States, Las VegasMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2019March 26 - March 29SingaporeMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Europe 2018December 3 - December 6 United Kingdom, LondonExcel LondonBlack Hat Trainings 2018October 22 - October 23United States, ChicagoSheraton Grand ChicagoBlack Hat USA 2018August 4 - August 9United States, Las VegasMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2018March 20 - March 23SingaporeMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Europe 2017December 4 - December 7United Kingdom, LondonExcel LondonBlack Hat USA 2017July 22 - July 27United States, Las VegasMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2017March 28 - March 31SingaporeMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Europe 2016November 1 - November 4United Kingdom, LondonBusiness Design CentreBlack Hat USA 2016July 30 - August 4United States, Las VegasMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2016March 29 - April 1SingaporeMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Europe 2015November 10 - November 13Netherlands, AmsterdamAmsterdam RAIBlack Hat USA 2015August 1 - August 6United States, Las VegasMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2015March 24 - March 27SingaporeMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat Trainings 2014December 8 - December 11United States, PotomacThe Bolger CenterBlack Hat Europe 2014October 14 - October 17Netherlands, AmsterdamAmsterdam RAIBlack Hat USA 2014August 2 - August 7United States, Las VegasMandalay BayBlack Hat Asia 2014March 25 - March 28SingaporeMarina Bay SandsBlack Hat USA 2013July 27 - August 1United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat Europe 2013March 12 - March 15Netherlands, AmsterdamGrand Hotel KrasnapolskyBlack Hat USA 2012July 21 - July 26United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat Europe 2012March 14 - March 16Netherlands, AmsterdamGrand Hotel KrasnapolskyBlack Hat USA 2011July 30 - August 4United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat DC 2011January 16 - January 19United States, Crystal CityHyatt RegencyBlack Hat USA 2010July 24 - July 29United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat DC 2010January 31 - February 3United States, Crystal CityHyatt RegencyBlack Hat USA 2009July 25 - July 30United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat DC 2009February 16 - February 17United States, Crystal CityHyatt RegencyBlack Hat USA 2008August 2 - August 7United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat DC 2008February 18 - February 21United States, Crystal CityWestin Washington DC City CenterBlack Hat USA 2007July 28 - August 2United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat USA 2006July 29 - August 3United States, Las VegasBlack Hat Federal 2006January 23 - January 26United States, Crystal CitySheraton Crystal CityBlack Hat USA 2005July 23 - July 28United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat USA 2004July 24 - July 29 United States, Las VegasBlack Hat Federal 2003September 29 - October 2United States, Tysons Corner, VirginiaSheraton PremiereBlack Hat USA 2003July 28 - July 31United States, Las VegasCaesars PalaceBlack Hat USA 2002July 29 - August 1The Black Hat Briefings '01July 11 - July 12 2001The Black Hat Briefings '00July 26 - July 27 2000The Black Hat Briefings '99July 7 - July 8 1999The VenetianThe Black Hat Briefings '98July 29 - July 30 1998Caesars PalaceThe Black Hat Briefings '97July 9 - July 10 1997Aladdin Hotel and Casino

See also DEF CON Hacker conference Chaos Communication Congress Summercon Positive Hack Days

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