Black Hat Briefings

Black Hat Briefings (commonly referred to as Black Hat) is a computer security conference that provides security consulting, training, and briefings to 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 industry leading security professionals. The conference takes place regularly in Las Vegas, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi. The conference has also been hosted in Tokyo and Washington, D.C. in the past.

Black Hat was founded in 1997 by Jeff Moss, who also founded DEF CON. Today, Moss is the Conference Chair of the Black Hat Review Board. These are considered the premier information security conferences in the world. Black Hat started as a single annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada and is now held in multiple locations around the world. Black Hat was acquired by CMP Media, a subsidiary of U.K.-based United Business Media (UBM) in 2005.

Black Hat is typically scheduled prior to DEF CON with many attendees going to both conferences. Black Hat has been perceived by the security industry as a more corporate security conference whereas DEF CON is more informal.

The conference is composed of two major sections, the Black Hat Briefings, and Black Hat 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.

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.

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