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Events and Conferences#

Security conferences are where practitioners share cutting-edge research, tools, and techniques. Many archive their talks publicly, making them accessible year-round. The events below span red teaming, OT/ICS security, physical security, and general offensive research.

Major Security Conferences#

DEF CON#

  • DEF CON — One of the world's largest hacker conferences, held annually in Las Vegas. Covers an enormous range of topics including red teaming, ICS, physical security, RF research, and social engineering. Free talk archives available at DEF CON Media Server.
  • DEF CON YouTube Channel — Full recordings of DEF CON talks going back several years. Searching for ICS, OT, or physical security yields highly relevant content.

Black Hat#

  • Black Hat — Practitioner-focused conference with presentations on vulnerability research, offensive tooling, and emerging attack techniques. Some briefing materials and select talks are archived at Black Hat Archives 2024.
  • Black Hat YouTube Channel — Recordings of select briefings and keynotes. Black Hat sessions tend to be more technically dense than DEF CON.

RSA Conference#

  • RSA Conference — Large enterprise security conference with a mix of vendor content and practitioner talks. Less offensive-focused than DEF CON or Black Hat, but useful for understanding the defensive and governance landscape. Session recordings available on their YouTube channel.

ICS and OT Security Conferences#

S4 Events#

  • S4 Conference — The premier ICS-specific security conference. Founded by Dale Peterson, S4 focuses exclusively on critical infrastructure security. Selected talks are archived publicly.

SANS ICS Summit#

  • SANS ICS Security Summit — Annual event co-hosted by SANS and Idaho National Laboratory. Focused on practitioner skills, incident response, and ICS defense. Some session recordings are made available post-event.

DistribuTECH#

  • DistribuTECH — Utility industry conference with a growing cybersecurity track focused on energy sector OT environments. Useful for understanding how the energy sector approaches control system security.

Physical Security Villages and Tracks#

DEF CON Villages#

  • Physical Security Village — DEF CON village focused on locks, access control, RFID, and physical penetration testing. Hosts hands-on competitions and archived talks.
  • Social Engineering Community Village — DEF CON village specializing in Social Engineering. They host CTF competitions and distribute post-event reports that are educational resources for understanding human-layer security.

Local and Regional Conferences#

  • BSides Events — Community-organized security conferences held worldwide. Typically free or low-cost with talks from local practitioners. A good place to find regionally focused ICS and red team content.

YouTube Channels and Talk Archives#

  • SANS Cyber Defense YouTube — Recorded webinars, summit talks, and instructional content from SANS instructors.
  • Seytonic (YouTube) — Covers hardware hacking, RFID, and physical security topics in an accessible format. Good supplemental viewing for hardware and physical security beginners.
  • LiveOverflow (YouTube) — Practitioner channel covering CTF challenges, exploit development, and security research methodology. Explains complex topics clearly.