Cybersecurity conferences 2022: A rundown of online, in person, and ‘hybrid’ events

With many events choosing to retain virtual elements forced on them by the pandemic, there’s now an abundance of online content to choose from

Last year saw a partial return to normality for infosec conferences amid the global rollout of Covid-19 vaccines as many events returned to an in-person format.

As with remote working, however, a complete return to the pre-pandemic status quo seems unlikely, with numerous events recognizing the merits of continuing to stream presentations online for those unable or unwilling to attend physically.

Barring dangerous new coronavirus variants, the number of in-person infosec events is set to swell further in 2022, and it looks to be another bumper year when it comes to hearing about the latest cutting-edge security research and insights without leaving your home or office.

Catch up with the latest information security events news and analysis

The hybrid model has been embraced by one of the most popular infosec events franchise.

“Little did we know that 2020 and our year of virtual events would be just a warm-up for 2021 and the future of events,” Steve Wylie, general manager for Black Hat events, told The Daily Swig for our 2021 end-of-year review.

“For Black Hat, we believe our future will be in-person and virtual. Nothing beats the experience of in-person interaction and engagement,” he added, but also said online access suits “conference goers who cannot travel”, with the added bonus of streaming recorded presentations, thus avoiding “the dilemma of choosing which sessions to miss out on”.

Wylie concluded: “I believe this past two years has forever changed the conference world – hopefully for the good.”

Check out the infosec conference calendar for 2022 below, which we’ll update as and when event organizers confirm dates for upcoming editions.

Cybersecurity conferences: 2022 schedule

Here’s a rundown of upcoming cybersecurity conferences, which we will update throughout the year as events are announced, rescheduled, or reconfigured:

SANS Institute live training courses | Various dates throughout year | Mix of online and in person

The SANS Institute continues to offer remote, on-demand training packages and live training sessions.

Visit the SANS Institute website for full details.

Conf42 tech conferences | Various dates throughout year | Online

Tech events taking place throughout 2022 will focus on subjects including python, mobile, chaos engineering, Golang, cloud native, machine learning, and DevSecOps, among numerous others.

Visit the Conf42 website for full details.

Linux Foundation events | Various dates throughout year | Mix of online and in person

The Linux Foundation, which advocates for the open source ecosystem and Linux operating systems, has scheduled numerous events throughout 2022, including Cephalocon, GitOpsCon Europe, and the Open Source Summit.

Visit the Linux Foundation events website for full details.

Open Security Summit | Various dates throughout year | Online

Monthly events focused on the collaboration between developers and application security professionals that brings together leading figures from OWASP, security, development, government agencies and vendors.

Visit the Open Security Summit website for full details.

Security Summits | January 26-December 6 | Online

At the time of writing SecurityWeek is hosting 10 virtual cybersecurity summits covering topics including ransomware, attack surface management, supply chain security, and threat intelligence.

Visit the Security Summits website for full details.

CactusCon | February 4-5 | Arizona, US and online

Talks and workshops on incident response, malware detection/analysis, cloud computing, covert communications, cryptography, framework vulnerabilities, mobile security, network reconnaissance, and social engineering.

Visit the CactusCon website for full details.

APNIC 53 | February 21-March 3 | online

The regional internet address registry for the Asia-Pacific region offers internet and networking experts, government officials, and other interested parties a forum for learning, networking, and develop policies related to internet operations.

Visit the APNIC website for full details.

Black Hat Spring Trainings 2022 | February 28-March 3 | Virginia, US and online

Hands-on, technical training in everything from infrastructure hacking to incident response, for individuals of all experience levels.

Visit the Black Hat website for full details.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) | February 28-March 3 | Barcelona, Spain

Dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry, this year’s MWC has one infosec-focused session at present: ‘Tenets of Good Cybersecurity Today’ by Gaurav Banga, founder and CEO of Balbix.

Visit the MWC Barcelona website for full details.

Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) 2022 | March 17-19 | Cleveland, US

The next annual event from WiCyS, whose membership includes female infosec experts from academia, government, and industry, will include workshops, CTF coaching, careers fairs, mentoring socials, and ‘birds of feather’ sessions.

Visit the WiCyS website for full details.

International Privacy Symposium | April 5-7 | Venice, Italy

Aimed at promoting international dialogue, cooperation, and knowledge sharing on data protection regulations, compliance, and emerging technologies.

Visit the International Privacy Symposium website for full details.

CYSAT 2022 | April 6-7 | Paris, France

Amid a proliferation of data-gathering space services, CYSEC and AP-Swiss are bringing together ethical hackers and space industry experts to discuss how to secure European space assets, and the 2022 edition will feature attempts to hack a satellite.

Visit the CYSAT website for full details.

Collision 2022 | April 20-23 | Toronto, Canada

The tech conference, which has yet to confirm its 2022 schedule, featured talks from DEF CON and Black Hat founder Jeff Moss, Luta Security founder and CEO Katie Moussouris, and Cloudflare co-founder and COO Michelle Zatlyn in 2021.

Visit the Collision website for full details.

IBM Think 2022 | May 9-13 | Online

A virtual summit covering risk assessments, ROI, cost reduction, and maintaining customer relationships through new, innovative technologies.

Visit the IBM website for full details.

DockerCon 2022 | May 10 | Online

Docker, the containerized development platform, offers dozens of technical sessions and product demos from Docker experts, ‘captains’, and partners.

Visit the DockerCon website for full details.

Black Hat Asia 2022 | May 10-13 | Singapore and online

Hacking tools, techniques, and trends from preeminent hackers and infosec professionals, to be delivered in an all-virtual format.

Visit the Black Hat website for full details.

AusCERT2022 | May 10-13 | Queensland, Australia and online

Organized by Australia’s Cyber Emergency Response Team, AusCERT2021 is the event’s 21st edition and will be in hybrid mode, being live-streamed from the Star Hotel in Gold Coast.

Visit the AusCERT website for full details.

IFSEC International 2022 | May 17-19 | London, UK

IoT security and the convergence of physical and information security have become increasingly prominent topics at IFSEC, which also showcases CCTV and access control systems.

Visit the IFSEC Global website for full details.

IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy 2022 | May 22-26 | San Francisco, US

The 43rd edition, like previous editions, focuses on developments in computer security and digital privacy.

Visit the IEEE website for full details.

Hardwear.io Hardware Security Trainings | June 6-10 | California, US

Security researchers showcase and discuss their findings related to attacking and defending various hardware.

Visit the Hardware.io website for full details.

Cisco Live | In person and online | June 12-16, Las Vegas; Melbourne, TBC; February 6-10, 2023, Amsterdam

Featuring keynote talks, training sessions, and contests, Cisco Live has separate events for the Americas, APJC, and EMEAR regions, and a suite of on-demand sessions.

Visit the Cisco Live website for full details.

FIRST Conference 2022 | June 26-July 1 | Dublin, Ireland with “limited virtual components”

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) brings together security and computer security and incident response teams (CSIRTs) from around the world to share ideas and information on how to tackle cybersecurity challenges.

Visit the FIRST website for full details.

Black Hat USA 2022 | August 6-11 | Las Vegas and online

Black Hat’s flagship event, which again will be an in-person/virtual hybrid, will feature the usual presentations on the latest cutting-edge security research, plus hacking tools demonstrated in the Arsenal sessions.

Visit the Black Hat website for full details.

DEF CON 30 | August 11-14 | Las Vegas and online

Black Hat’s less corporate sister event is not cancelled for 2022, as the famous in-joke meme would have it, and will kick off just as Black Hat USA concludes.

Visit the DEF CON website for full details.

VMworld 2022 | August 29-September 1, US; November 7-10, Europe | online

Hosted by VMware, the multi-cloud conference features a security track and last year’s keynotes came from Michael J Fox and Dr Nicole Forsgren from Microsoft Research.

Visit the VMware website for full details.

CyberSec&AI Connected 2022 | Autumn | Prague, Czech Republic

Conference focused on AI, machine learning and how they intersect with security and privacy covers topics such as privacy-preserving AI, AI for cyberthreat intelligence, and election security, privacy, and trust.

Visit the CyberSec&AI Connected website for full details.

(ISC)² Security Congress 2022 | October 10-12 | Las Vegas and online

Dozens of sessions around professional development, with topics potentially including cloud security; DevSecOps; governance, risk, and compliance (GRC); and career development.

Visit the (ISC)² website for full details.

Authenticate 2022 | October 17-20 | Seattle, US

Hosted by the FIDO Alliance, the event is dedicated to the who, what, why and how of user authentication – with a focus on the FIDO standards-based approach.

Visit the Authenticate website for full details.

Black Hat Europe 2022 | December 5-8 | London, UK and online

Black Hat’s final major event of the year will as usual feature a stellar range of speakers speaking about hacking tools and techniques, security vulnerabilities, and cybercrime trends.

Visit the Black Hat website for full details.

RELATED Black Hat Europe: Laws and regulations need to change to secure world’s digital infrastructure