Black Hat Continues to Break Records with Largest USA Show in 19-Year History

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Hat, the world's leading family of information security events, today highlights some of the special events and initiatives that helped make Black Hat USA 2016 the most robust show – both in size and content – in its 19-year history. The event welcomed more than 15,000 of the most security-savvy professionals across the InfoSec spectrum – spanning academia, world-class researchers, and leaders in the public and private sectors. This increase in attendance is a reflection of the booming information security sector as well as the community's appetite for boundary-pushing research to further 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 – resulting in the most intensive schedule in Black Hat history. This year's conference welcomed 175 speakers and researchers across more than 70 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-16/.

Show Highlights

• Keynote Dan Kaminsky, Chief Scientist, WhiteOps and one of seven "key shareholders" able to restore the Internet's DNS if necessary, presented "The Hidden Architecture of our Time: Why This Internet Worked, How We Could Lose It, and the Role Hackers Play" to a room of nearly 6,500 attendees.
• Black Hat CISO Summit welcomed 150 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.
• Black Hat Arsenal returned for its seventh 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 event featured 80 tools – a 22% increase from 2015 – the largest lineup to-date.
• Removing Roadblocks to Diversity - Panel + Luncheon featured some of the top women in the security field sharing their paths to success, as well as the 'why' and ways to fix the dramatic underrepresentation of women and minorities in the security industry, even as the talent gap deepens.
• Black Hat Business Hall was action-packed, with nearly 270 of the industry's top companies showcasing their latest technologies and solutions. Attendees also enjoyed the bustling Career Zone, as well as the Innovation City for impressive startups.

Giving Back

Black Hat is driven by the needs of the security community. Giving back and helping to foster the next generation of security professionals is a top priority and we are proud to highlight some of our most recent initiatives: 

• Electronic Frontier Foundation Support: for the third year in a row, 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.
• Academic Scholarships: From a combination of speaker nominations and direct applications, Black Hat USA 2016 provided 194 students with complimentary full Briefings passes.
• Future Female Leaders Scholarship Program: brand new this year, Black Hat and the Executive Women's Forum (EWF) teamed up to award 37 full scholarships to female students in the Information Security, IT Risk Management and Privacy industries.
• Youth for Technology Foundation Support: in support of the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF), this year Black Hat developed an exclusive Black Hat USA 2016 t-shirt for the show with all proceeds being directly donated to help bring technology and education to low-income communities in the U.S. and rural communities in developing nations.

Top sponsors of Black Hat USA 2016 included: Diamond Sponsors: FireEye, Forcepoint, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, LogRhythm, Qualys, RSA and Tenable Network Security; Platinum Plus Sponsors: AlienVault, Carbon Black, Cisco, Citrix Systems, CrowdStrike, Cylance, Digital Guardian, Fidelis Cybersecurity, Fortinet, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, and Webroot; and Platinum Sponsors: CloudPassage, Code42 Software, Core Security, Dark Matter, F5 Networks, IBM, iboss Cybersecurity, Optiv Security, Proofpoint, Inc., Raytheon Foreground Security, SentinelOne and Tripwire.

What's Next: Black Hat Europe 2016
Following a blockbuster week in Las Vegas, Black Hat is busy preparing for Black Hat Europe 2016, a four-day event taking place November 1-4, 2016 at the Business Design Centre 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: http://blackhat.com/eu-16/.

Future Black Hat Dates and Events

• Black Hat Europe 2016, Business Design Centre, London, England, November 1-4, 2016
• Black Hat Asia 2017, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, March 28-31, 2017
• Black Hat USA 2017, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV, July 22-27, 2017

About Black Hat
For more than 18 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 Americas, a part of UBM plc (UBM.L), an Events First marketing and communications services business. For more information, visit ubmamericas.com.

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SOURCE Black Hat