Black Hat Asia Briefings Tracks

AI, ML, & Data Science

The focus of the AI, ML, and Data Science track is to cover the subject in a way that provides value for security professionals. Topics for the track can range from attacking and defending systems implementing AI to applying AI for better attacks, defenses, or detections. Submissions for the track should have the AI/ML functionality playing a key role in the submission. Regardless of the topic, the content for the track should have a heavy focus on applied concepts that attendees can use after the conference is over.

Track Lead

Ryan Flores


Application Security: Defense

The Application Security: Defense track focuses on presentations that help security practitioners and development teams build more secure software. We are keen for objective, data-driven, outcome-based research or case studies around secure development practices, accompanied by actionable recommendations attendees can use to improve their software security programs.

This is where you'll hear fresh, practical perspectives on the Secure Development Lifecycle (SDLC), DevSecOps, software supply chain, automated security testing, and similar topics. Preference will be given to scalable, battle-tested ideas with empirical data to demonstrate outcomes. Tool releases should be broadly applicable and non-commercial.

Note: Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) submissions are welcome if they demonstrate techniques for securing IaC-related code as opposed to defending the platforms themselves; the latter falls under Cloud Security OR Platform Security.


Application Security: Offense

The Application Security: Offense track focuses on presentations that advance the state of the art in software vulnerabilities. Broad-based, novel attacks against web applications, web technologies, programming languages/ecosystems, and decentralized apps are welcome here. The focus should be on discovery and exploitation of application-layer attacks in custom software as opposed to discrete vulnerabilities in web servers, web browsers, etc. unless those vulnerabilities are implementation-dependent. This is where you'll learn about new attack surface or about more effective/creative techniques for attacking known vulnerability patterns. Tool releases should be broadly applicable and non-commercial.

Note: Firmware submissions fall under the Hardware/Embedded track. Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) submissions are welcome if they demonstrate attacks against IaC-related code as opposed to the platforms themselves; the latter falls under Cloud Security OR Platform Security.


Cloud Security

The Cloud Security track is seeking talk proposals on the most cutting-edge ways to attack and defend cloud environments. This includes previously unseen methods targeting cloud providers such as Azure, AWS, and GCP, as well as Cloud Native technologies like container and orchestration systems, microservices, and serverless architectures. We welcome proposals on novel approaches for cloud identity and access management, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, lateral movement and other unprecedented implementation of techniques for attacking and securing cloud infrastructures. Join our panel of experts and submit your talk proposal to share your knowledge and shape the future of Cloud security.


Community & Career

The Community & Career track aims to provide a forum for idea sharing and discussion on relevant issues impacting the cybersecurity community. Topics may include but are not limited to diversity, inclusion, careers, family, legal issues, attribution, substance abuse, mental health, burn out, security awareness, and work-life balance. Talks in this track should provide insights that help the cybersecurity community better understand challenges faced by current and prospective participants and bring forward constructive and creative ideas for solutions. These talks can also be designed to support and guide individuals new to cybersecurity or wishing to become more engaged. Session formats for this track can be more open and flexible (such as virtual sessions, fireside chats, etc.). Join us!

Track Lead

Vandana Verma


Cryptography

The Cryptography track aims to do for cryptography what Black Hat's Exploit Development track does for software security: to be the industry's premiere venue for practical, real-world advances in cryptography informed by an attacker's sensibility. A Black Hat Cryptography Track talk will almost always be backed up with running code. We prize offensive cryptography and cryptanalysis but will host defensive and research cryptography when rooted in a context of real-world attacks. We're an especially good place to send new vulnerabilities in cryptographic protocols like TLS, cryptographic hardware like HSMs and smart cards, and cryptographic primitives like SHA-1.

Track Lead

Seungjoo Kim


Cyber-Physical Systems & IOT

A cyber-physical system (CPS) is any system where one, or more, computing elements monitor, manage and control a physical process. Subjects for the track may include industrial control systems, smart homes/buildings/cities applications, industrial/enterprise/commercial and wearable IoT devices, various types of self-driving vehicles, satellite applications, and more. These systems share threat models relating to the underlying physical process and similarly linked attacker goals. Attacks and defense recommendations need to encompass both physical and digital sides of the CPS. Talks in this track are directed at specific types/classes of cyber-physical systems or at the concept as a whole, focusing on systemic offensive and defensive security issues. Note that the CPS topics with a prominent research component focused on, e.g., hardware/firmware or data, may fit better in other primary tracks such as Hardware/Embedded or AI.


Data Forensics and Incident Response

The DFIR track will consist of topics and techniques used to assist defenders in responding to a variety of security incidents in on-premise, hybrid, and cloud environments. These topics may include, but aren't limited to, identification of compromised systems, digital evidence collection, network, host, malware analysis, threat intelligence, and threat hunting. Focus should be on techniques and procedures that can help defenders understand how an attack unfolded, if and when a breach occurred, and how it can be prevented in the future.


Defense

For every successful attack that hits the news, there's a defender out there, lurking in the dark, having just stopped another fifty. As cyber permeates everything in our daily lives, the stakes have never been higher, especially in the new world of a remote workforce sharing systems with their young distance learners, across perimeter-less and zero trust networks. How can we tip the balance to favor the blue team in their daily battle against chaos, data loss, or even lives lost? What new technologies should we look at, before attackers do? What are new approaches to consider, while keeping up with this ever-changing perimeter and the rapid introduction of new attack surfaces?

This track welcomes talks on practical, effective, and scalable security isolation technologies and exploit mitigations, at the compiler or platform level, as well as tools and techniques offering enhanced visibility, management, visualization, and data processing of any part of the kill chain, with the goal of disrupting and diminishing attacker capabilities and toolsets. Attendees, passionate about defense, are expected to rapidly take away practical new skills in the trade and join in the conversation on creatively addressing the future.

Track Lead

Vandana Verma


Enterprise Security

Enterprise Security is a track that covers research into the security of IT infrastructure and endpoint fleets. Enterprise Security includes device management and MDMs, directory and SSO identity services, orchestration and patch management, email, and storage networks. If it's new research targeting systems companies run to support team members, rather than the applications they provide or the operating systems themselves, the Enterprise Security track is probably a natural home for it.

Track Lead

Shubham Mittal


Exploit Development

Exploit Development submissions are welcome across a wide array of technologies and targets from cloud to mobile devices. We are particularly interested in innovative and novel approaches that cover new exploit delivery mechanisms, code execution techniques, focus on new targets, or defeat existing exploit mitigations. Submissions shouldn't be constrained to memory safety issues, but these often resonate with our audience. Bypasses for next generation hardware architectures or virtualization-based security mechanisms are highly regarded.

Track Lead

Ty Miller


Hardware / Embedded

The Hardware / Embedded track is centered around attacks on hardware, firmware, and embedded devices. We're also interested in the security (and insecurity) of things like exotic hardware, autonomous vehicles, IoT, robotics, medical devices, voting machines, and other unique hardware-centric targets. Purpose-built, modded, or otherwise hacked hardware that solves (or creates) new security problems is pretty cool, too.

Track Lead

Marina Krotofil


Human Factors

The Human Factors track focuses on people in security: how their decisions can affect the security of the organization, and how engineering and technology can help. This includes the way people make decisions and how to influence those decisions as an attacker or defender. It also includes how to reduce their decision load and the organizational (and potentially economic) factors that surround those decisions. This track welcomes submissions on how to get individuals or groups to act against their interest, including the use of disinformation or misinformation. It also includes new ways to strengthen technology and other solutions to decrease harm. This track is not about career development, BOFH stories, simple ploys like buying a UPS outfit, or sploits to make the browser draw a fake UI.

Track Lead

Lidia Giuliano


Malware

The Malware track focuses on both the defensive and offensive aspects of malware development. The defensive malware talks are centered around current malware; analysis, detection, remediation, and technical discussions on decent or broken functionality within anti-malware tools. The offensive malware talks are centered around; malware development, novel execution techniques, and obfuscation. We are most interested in talks that detail prevailing malicious attacks, recent attacks with high impact, or new techniques on both the offensive and defensive side of malware development without a product pitch.

Track Lead

Monnappa K A


Mobile

The mobile track encompasses everything related to mobile devices (largely phones). The main aim for talks in this track should be to cover a feature, technique, concept or research result that first and foremost applies to mobile devices. Submissions where mobile devices/OSes are only one of the many use cases or affected targets are generally not suitable for this track.

Track Lead

Fyodor Yarochkin


Network Security

Talks in this track should tackle network defense issues related to protecting users or assets. Traditionally, this includes the vast array of NIDS, HIDS, IPS, SEIM, Firewalls, VPNs, etc., as well as the hardware components, like routers, switches, Wi-Fi and so on. Cloud computing networks and more exotic networks, like CAN Bus, ad-hoc networking and so on are included. We are looking specifically for novel means of deployment, detection, correlation, or protection of attacks that is both unique and ideally practical for use in protecting networks. Attendees of Network Defense track talks should walk away with ideas on how to defend themselves and a better understanding of the threat landscape with ideas on areas to research.

Track Lead

Fyodor Yarochkin


Platform Security

The Platform Security track focuses on new and novel security issues affecting the full system platform stack (hardware, firmware, hypervisor, and operating system) of general-purpose computing platforms powering modern client and server environments. Topics well-suited to this track include innovative research on: software attacks against modern client and server operating systems; hypervisor and firmware vulnerabilities; security coprocessor and secure enclave weaknesses in modern CPU and System-on-Chip architectures; microarchitectural and hardware-enabled attacks against CPU, memory, or other subsystems; weaknesses in platform roots of trust; and supply chain security issues with platform-level impact, such as build system compromises or exploitation of pervasive open source vulnerabilities. This track also encourages presentations on novel defenses that feasibly mitigate presently known or unknown instances of these classes of attacks to protect the platform at scale.


Policy

The Policy track features aspects of information security that span across organizations and generally aren't a fix you code or plug in: everything from political, technology, or economic policies to technical standards, laws, and norms of behavior. We welcome your research and risk-based findings about security impacts of policy or legislation on attackers and defenders; unintended consequences of policy or technical choices; metrics for assessing whether attacker or defenders have the upper hand; and proposed public policies against new or stubborn security threats or those requiring coordination at scale. Successful submissions will include novel insights, backed by actual research, not just soap-box opinions or complaints. This track is not about success for a single organization, such as with corporate policies or compliance, which typically belong in the Enterprise track, or human-centered talks, which belong in Human Factors.

Track Lead

Marina Krotofil


Privacy

The Privacy track is intended to highlight new research into privacy vulnerabilities and ideas that help build products & solutions with privacy in mind. Examples of technical topics particularly suited to the Privacy track might include privacy-by-design, new attacks on privacy-preserving technology systems, subversion of privacy compliance management systems to benefit attackers, new de-masking/deanonymization methods, or the exploitation of unique vulnerabilities arising from privacy considerations. Attorneys who submit may benefit from having a technical co-author. The Privacy track is not intended to be a substitute for the Cryptography, Policy, or any other track, but rather to complement them.

Track Lead

Lidia Giuliano


Reverse Engineering

"Reverse engineering is the process of extracting the knowledge or design blueprints from anything man-made and reproducing it or reproducing anything based on the extracted information." — Eldad Eilam

Talks in the Reverse Engineering Track may include subjects such as vulnerability discovery, data visualization, advanced exploitation techniques, bypassing security and software protections, and reverse engineering of hardware, software, and protocols.

Track Lead

Asuka Nakajima

Sustaining Partners