Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, will host, in mid-November, the international Black Hat event, the largest cybersecurity event in the Middle East and North Africa region, which brings together the most important cybersecurity experts in the world.
This event is being organized in cooperation between the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP) and Informa Tech, in partnership with the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), as part of the Riyadh Season 2022 activities. The event starts on November 15 and continues for 3 days at Riyadh Front Center.
The Black Hat event brings together a group of the most prominent experts and speakers in the field of cybersecurity, with the attendance of more than 200 officials of the most important authorities in the world. There will also be specialized training courses in the field with accredited certificates, in addition to a number of sessions, workshops, as well as many competitions with prizes amounting to more than SAR1,000,000. The event targets experts, amateurs and those interested in the field of cybersecurity.
The Black Hat event includes many areas, including the executive summit area dedicated to the heads of the cybersecurity sector to discuss the latest developments, exchange expertise and experiences, the technical workshops area, the business hall that brings together major and emerging local and international companies specialized in the field, in addition to the Arsenal area, in which developers share the latest open-source hacking means, as well as courses provided by 50 professional trainers.
Black Hat also includes an activity area that is strategically sponsored by NEOM and includes “Capture the Flag” competition, where competitors take on many challenges, such as exploiting the loopholes of websites, digital forensic analysis, reverse engineering, encryption, and others, to get the largest number of flags and points. 1000 contestants representing 200 teams from 35 countries will participate in “Capture the Flag”, competing over 3 days for the competition prizes, amounting to SAR700,000, The activity area also contains “Gap Rewards Platform” competition, which motivates participants to discover security holes in real companies, and the total prizes for the competition amount to SAR300,000.
The activity area also includes the “Cyber Village”, which contains 6 different challenges. The first is the car hacking challenge, which aims to educate security researchers about the functions of vehicle systems and provide them with practical experience. The second is the unlocking challenge, which is a physical security experience where visitors can identify weaknesses in different locks. The room escape challenge is based on team cooperation where the contestants solve a series of puzzles within a limited time frame. The smart city challenge presents simulations of various sectors of infrastructure where security researchers can exploit security holes in infrastructure facilities. The area also includes the challenge of penetrating drones, which is based on a competition between two teams, where the first team seeks to deliver the largest number of shipments using drones, while the other team seeks to carry out various cyber-attacks on the first team’s drones. Finally, the challenge of penetrating electronic chips allows visitors to learn how to penetrate mobile phones and the Internet of Things and control stored data. The Cyber Seed competition takes place in the business hall area, where the participating startups present their business ideas in front of technology experts and investors to win prizes exceeding SAR90,000.
It is worth noting that Black Hat is a global event specializing in cybersecurity that was launched in 1997. it is one of the most important international forums for the information security sector and a destination for those interested in it. It began as an annual event held in Las Vegas before moving to many countries around the world. The event comes for the first time in the region this year to Riyadh to exchange experiences, review the latest technology in facing challenges, and enhance cyber skills.