Black Hat USA 2026 Keynotes to Address AI's Impact on Cyber Operations, Defense Strategy, and Vulnerability Research

U.S. government officials, industry security leaders, and academic researchers will examine offensive coordination, AI-powered exploit generation, and the scientific foundations of vulnerability discovery

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Black Hat, the cybersecurity industry’s most established and in-depth security event series, today announced the Keynote lineup for Black Hat USA 2026 (August 1–6, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas). These will include the Opening Session fireside chat with White House National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, followed by a panel discussion with Nick Andersen, Acting Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA); Brett Leatherman, Assistant Director, Cyber Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Katherine (Katie) E. Sutton, Assistant Secretary of War for Cyber Policy and Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of War, Department of War (DoW). Additional Keynotes will feature David Weston, Agentic Security, Microsoft; and Yan Shoshitaishvili, Associate Professor, Arizona State University.

Keynotes will address U.S. cyber policy for an AI-driven era, the evolution of offensive and defensive security coordination, and the scientific foundations of vulnerability research. These presentations will take place August 4–6.

Black Hat USA Keynote Lineup:

• Tuesday, August 4 at 4:15 PM Opening Session: Cyber Power in the Age of AI
  • Speakers:
    • Sean Cairncross, National Cyber Director, The White House
    • Nick Andersen, Acting Director, CISA
    • Brett Leatherman, Assistant Director, Cyber Division, FBI
    • Katherine (Katie) E. Sutton, Assistant Secretary of War for Cyber Policy; Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of War, DoW
  • Topic: Director Cairncross will open the session with a fireside conversation on how the Administration is shaping U.S. cyber policy for an AI-driven era. Cairncross will discuss the Administration's focus on strengthening government-industry coordination, the evolving role of offensive cyber operations, and the intersection of AI and cyber policy. Following his fireside conversation, senior U.S. government officials will examine how agencies are translating these priorities into operational action, from disrupting cybercriminal networks and defending critical infrastructure, to coordinating offensive and defensive operations across government.

• Wednesday, August 5 at 9:15 AM: The End of Rare: Defending When Offense Is Cheap
  • Speaker: David Weston, Agentic Security, Microsoft
  • Topic: Weston will examine how AI-powered vulnerability discovery and exploit generation are forcing defenders at cloud providers, platform vendors, and enterprise security teams to shift from reactive patching and detection toward proactive strategies, including memory-safe languages, formal verification, and automated remediation.

• Thursday, August 6 at 9:15 AM: Vulnerability Research in the Agentic Age
  • Speaker: Yan Shoshitaishvili, Associate Professor, Arizona State University
  • Topic: Shoshitaishvili will explore the scientific underpinnings of what the cyber community has long treated as an art form: vulnerability research. He will discuss his journey in the industry and how his research has uncovered thousands of vulnerabilities in targets ranging from IoT devices to web browsers, kernels, and bootloaders by using dozens of different tools, techniques, and paradigms.

Registration:

Complete program details and registration for Black Hat USA 2026 are available at https://blackhat.com/us-26/.

Top Sponsors and Partners of Black Hat USA 2026 include:

• Titanium Sponsors: Cisco, Qualys, ReliaQuest, Safe Security, SentinelOne, ServiceNow, and ThreatLocker.
• Diamond Sponsors: 7AI, Cymulate, Exaforce, Fortra, KnowBe4, MIND, Oak, Primary, Prophet Security, Sophos, Tenable, TrendAI, and Vectra AI.
• Apex Partners: ThreatLocker.
• Strategic Partners: Cisco, Cyera, Google, ManageEngine, Qualys, ReliaQuest, SentinelOne, ServiceNow, TrendAI, Varonis, and Wiz.
• Global Partners: Broadcom, Cellebrite, Censys, Concentric AI, Corellium, Fortra, HackerOne, Semgrep, Tines, Tracebit, VulnCheck, wolfSSL, XBOW, and Zenity.

About Black Hat

Black Hat is the cybersecurity industry’s most established and in-depth security event series. Founded in 1997, these annual, multi-day events provide attendees with the latest in cybersecurity research, development, and trends. Driven by the needs of the community, Black Hat events showcase content directly from the community through Briefings presentations, Trainings courses, Summits, and more. As the event series where all career levels and academic disciplines convene to collaborate, network, and discuss the cybersecurity topics that matter most to them, attendees can find Black Hat events in the United States, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia. For more information, please visit blackhat.com.