Tuesday, 5 February, 2019 UTC
Summary
There is nothing quite like a decent technology conference that leaves even the most jaded cyber security professional excited about this industry all over again. Cyber Security conferences come in different flavors — some are highly technical and target only a specific subsection of cyber security, while others are open to all and welcome everyone, including beginners.
There are so many options to choose from that it becomes a difficult task to pick the "right" ones to attend. To solve your dilemma, here are some of the top Cyber Security conferences in 2019 (ordered by date) that you must absolutely attend in order to grow as a professional.
RSA Conference
RSA 2019 is going to be an enormous conference which will focus on defense against cyber security threats. It will easily draw more than 40,000 attendees who gather for networking and training sessions, and one-on-one product demos. This year's theme will focus on better ideas and solutions to promote a safer world.
- Twitter: @RSAConference | Web: rsaconference.com
- Location: San Francisco, CA | Date: March 4-8, 2019
Cloud & Cyber Security Expo, the highest attended technology event in the UK, is coming back to ExCeL London this March. It is the go-to place to absorb the state of the art of digital transformation, regardless of where you are in your digital journey. It is one of the leading events for the digital-age guardianship.
- Twitter: @CSE_Global | Web: cloudsecurityexpo.com
- Location: London, UK | Date: March 12-13, 2019
Hosted by the MIS Training Institute, this conference will mainly focus on the business of security. The sessions will focus on detection, prevention, and response to cyber security threats, and also provide directions on how to evolve as an employee or business partner. The conference will be preceded by training workshops at an additional fee.
- Twitter: @InfoSec_World | Web: infosecworld.misti.com
- Location: Lake Buena Vista, FL | Date: April 1-3, 2019
SANS 2019, the hottest cyber security event in the month of April, provides a wonderful opportunity for tech enthusiasts, as they get to choose from over 45 cutting-edge cyber security courses. This exciting event will give you an opportunity to learn something new about information security from industry experts while it will also help you improve your organization's security posture, as you will learn practical skills that can be implemented immediately.
- Twitter: @SANSInstitute | Web: sans.org
- Location: Orlando, FL | Date: April 1-8, 2019
This security conference is hosted by Immunity and focuses the attention towards offensive security issues like computer network exploitation, Trojan covert protocols, rootkit, vulnerability discovery, and more. The conference will be preceded by four days of training that will center on topics like Java Exploitation, Web Hacking, Linux Kernel Exploitation, and applied cryptanalysis, at an extra fee.
- Twitter: @InfiltrateCon | Web: infiltratecon.com
- Location: Miami Beach, FL | Date: May 2-3, 2019
Thotcon is a non-commercial, low-budget conference where the focus lies in talks covering data visualization, medical devices, IoT, computer/human interfaces, intelligence gathering, wearable computing, and more. If you value security certificates, then note that attending THOTCON will count towards SSCP, CAP, CPE, and CISSP credits.
- Twitter: @thotcon | Web: thotcon.org
- Location: Chicago, IL (event venue disclosed a week before the event) | Date: May 3-4, 2019
The HITB (or "Hack in the Box") Security Conference positions itself as a deep-knowledge event where attendees get advanced technical training, keynotes by leading researchers and professionals, and a thriving culture of knowledge exchange. The event takes place three times a year, in The Netherlands, China, Dubai, and Malaysia. Past attendees have highlighted the exceptional organization and the quality of the presentations.
- Twitter: @HITBSecConf | Web: conference.hitb.org
- Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Date: May 6-10, 2019
RiskSec, a conference organized by SC Media, is going to be a one-day event that will feature a fair share of security talks, networking, training, and demos that are geared specifically towards CISOs and senior IT security leaders. Participation in this conference will earn you nine CPE/CISSP credits to maintain your certification.
- Twitter: @SCMagazine | Web: risksecconference.com
- Location: Philadelphia, PA | Date: May 8, 2019
This widely known two-day conference provides a highly productive stage for security practitioners, executives, vendors, and researchers. It will be preceded by 4 days of technical training which will have hands-on courses on subjects like penetration testing and web exploits. Want a first-hand look? See our recap of the 2018 edition.
- Twitter: @blackhatevents | Web: blackhat.com
- Location: Las Vegas, NV | Date: August 3-8, 2019
BSides is very well-known as a series of volunteer-organized community InfoSec conferences that take place across the world, from Algiers to Ottawa. The Las Vegas event of this series will be a treat, as it integrates the Vegas conference trifecta. This conference will be free, small, and participatory. It is going to be beginner-friendly and will have multiple tracks, including a few on nontechnical issues.
- Twitter: @BSidesLV | Web: bsideslv.org
- Location: Las Vegas, NV | Date: August 6-7, 2019
Def Con is easily one of the biggest upcoming hacking conferences of 2019. This four-day event is going to be jam-packed with contests, talks, cyber security challenges, musical events, informal meetups, and parties. The main conference will spread out over a number of Las Vegas hotels, with related events hosted in nearby locations. The conference will also feature villages that will focus on topics like lock picking, soldering, hardware hacking, car hacking, vote hacking, cryptography, privacy, and more.
- Twitter: @defcon | Web: defcon.org
- Location: Las Vegas, NV | Date: August 8-11, 2019
The Chaos Communication Congress is an annual four-day conference of technology, utopia, and society that is organized by the Chaos Computer Club and its volunteers.
This conference will offer workshops, lectures, and various other events on a number of topics related to information technology.
- Twitter: @chaosupdates | Web: events.ccc.de
- Location: Leipzig, Germany | Date: December 27-30, 2019
Honorable Mention — OWASP AppSec Conferences
OWASP, the Open Web Application Security Project, is an open community that actively helps organizations develop and maintain trustworthy applications. As part of this effort, OWASP organizes a series of conferences as a meeting place of industry, government, security researchers, and practitioners to discuss the state of the art in application security.
Be sure to stay up to date with the upcoming OWASP events, where you'll be able to attend talks by application security thought leaders such as Jscrambler CTO Pedro Fortuna, whose talk you can watch below:
Closing Thoughts
The cyber security industry is now bigger and more active than ever before.
We have been seeing an alarming increase across the board in cyber security threats, including Magecart and other Supply Chain Attacks. By keeping up with the latest prevention and mitigation strategies, professionals can ensure that they keep their businesses protected and compliant.
Lastly, if you're interested in securing the client-side of your applications, be sure to contact us!