What this conference is for

Black Hat USA is the largest vendor-neutral offensive-security research conference in North America, drawing over 20,000 practitioners to Las Vegas each August for a program built around original vulnerability research, red-team methodology, and hands-on training rather than product pitches. It runs alongside DEF CON the same week and functions as the year's biggest venue for disclosing new attack techniques, including the ones that target authentication, passkeys, and non-human identity.

Who should attend

Security researchers and red teamers who want deep technical briefings, and identity and security leaders tracking which attack techniques are moving from research to real-world exploitation. The Business Hall also concentrates a year's worth of identity and access management product launches into two days.

What we cover

Black Hat's program spans the entire security stack, most of it outside identity. Our coverage is narrow and deliberate: the briefings, research disclosures, and vendor launches that are specifically about authentication, identity infrastructure, machine and non-human identity, and access control. See our Black Hat USA 2026 recap for what stood out this year.

Coverage

This is independent community coverage of identity-relevant themes, not an official summary of the conference. Always confirm specific research and product claims with the original researchers, vendors, or the official site.