Black Hat USA Continues to Break Records with Blockbuster 2018 Event

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Black Hat, the world’s leading producer of information security events, today highlights the 2018 programming and new initiatives that helped make Black Hat USA 2018 its most successful show to date. The event welcomed nearly 19,000 of the most security-savvy professionals across the InfoSec spectrum – spanning academia, world-class researchers, and leaders in the public and private sectors. The event’s robust lineup featured groundbreaking content led by security experts who showcased the latest and greatest research currently impacting the industry.

The Black Hat Review Board, comprised of 24 of the world's foremost security experts, evaluated more submissions this year than ever before – producing the largest program to date. This year's conference welcomed more than 300 speakers and Trainers across more than 80 deeply technical Trainings and nearly 120 innovative research-based Briefings on stage. For more information about the event and to download available whitepapers and presentations, visit: blackhat.com/us-18/.

Show Highlights

• Keynote Parisa Tabriz, Director of Engineering and Project Zero for Google, presented “Optimistic Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo: Steps we Must Take to Improve Security in Complex Landscapes” to a bustling Mandalay Bay Events Center, which housed more than 6,000 attendees.
• CISO Summit welcomed 200 executives from top public and private organizations for an exclusive, program intended to give CISOs and other InfoSec executives more practical insight into the latest security trends and technologies and enterprise best practices.
• Arsenal returned for its ninth year, offering researchers and the open source community the ability to demonstrate tools they develop and use in their daily professions – live. This year's program featured more than 90 tools, including 11 Arsenal Theater Demos and a new space for open-source enthusiasts to work with researchers in a hands-on environment.
• Business Hall buzzed with more than 300 leading companies. Attendees were given the opportunity to experience hands on learning, demonstrations and education on the latest products and technologies impacting the industry, as well as deep dive sessions presented by vendors in the Business Hall Theaters.

Community Focus
Black Hat is driven by the needs of the InfoSec community - giving back and helping to foster the next generation of security professionals is a priority and Black Hat is proud to highlight some of its most recent initiatives: 

• New Community Track: Developed to provide a focus on relevant issues currently impacting the InfoSec community, presented Briefings spanned careers, diversity, security awareness, health, and more. Insights and solutions from industry experts were provided to help individuals both new to InfoSec as well as seasoned professionals.
• New Community Programs: Over the years, Black Hat has expanded its community programming to shine light on topics specific to the InfoSec community, as well as welcome a wider range of professionals to the event. This year’s offerings spanned scholarship opportunities, workshops, networking, activities promoting health and wellness, partnerships with non-profit organizations and more.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation Support: For the fifth year, Black Hat is proudly donating $50,000 to the EFF to continue supporting their important work in protecting civil liberties within the digital world. Black Hat has a strong partnership with the 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.
• Scholarships: Black Hat awarded more than 200 Academic Briefings Scholarships to deserving students from around the world. Black Hat and EWF again offered the Female Leaders Scholarship Program to minimize the gender gap among the InfoSec community and give students the opportunity to learn, network and collaborate with the world’s brightest minds. Event speakers were also given two complimentary Briefings passes per talk to be given to students of their choice.
• HERO Corps: Black Hat will be donating all proceeds from its specialized 2018 event t-shirt to the Human Exploitation Rescue Operative (HERO) Corps, a joint project of the National Association to Protect Children.

Top sponsors of Black Hat USA 2018 include: Diamond Sponsors: Cisco, Cylance, Forcepoint, LogRhythm, McAfee, Qualys, Rapid7, RSA, Tenable; Platinum Plus Sponsors: AlienVault, Bromium, Carbon Black, Cofense, CrowdStrike, Cybereason, DarkMatter, Darktrace, DigitalGuardian, ESET, FireEye, Fortinet, NETSCOUT, Palo Alto Networks, Recorded Future, SentinelOne, Symantec, Webroot; Platinum Sponsors: Bomgar, CyberVista, Cyxtera Technologies, ExtraHop Networks, F5 Networks, iboss, Lastline, Mimecast, Optiv Security, Proofpoint, Inc., ReliaQuest, SecurityScorecard, Spirent Communications, Synack, Synopsys, Trend Micro, Vectra, ZeroFOX. For all sponsorship opportunities, visit: blackhat.com/us-18/sponsors.html

What's Next: Black Hat Europe 2018
Following a successful USA event, Black Hat is preparing for Black Hat Europe 2018, a four-day event taking place December 3-6, 2018 at the ExCeL in London, England. The event will bring together an international security audience for two days of intense classroom-style Trainings followed by two days of the infamous Black Hat Briefings presented by some of the most renowned experts in the industry. For more information and to register, please visit: blackhat.com/eu-18/

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FUTURE DATES/EVENTS

• Black Hat Trainings 2018, Chicago, Illinois, October 22-23, 2018
• Black Hat Europe 2018, London, England, December 3-6, 2018
• Black Hat Asia 2019, Singapore, March 26-29, 2019
• Black Hat USA 2019, Las Vegas, Nevada, August 3-8, 2019

About Black Hat
For more than 20 years, Black Hat has provided attendees with the very latest in information security research, development, and trends. 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. Black Hat Briefings and Trainings are held annually in the United States, Europe and Asia. More information is available at: blackhat.com. Black Hat is organized by UBM, which in June 2018 combined with Informa PLC to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organizer in the world.

To learn more and for the latest news and information, visit www.ubm.com and www.informa.com.

Media Contact:
Kimberly Samra
Black Hat PR
BlackHatPR@ubm.com