Event: Black Hat Europe 2026
Dates: December 7-10, 2026
Location: Excel London, London
Host: Black Hat, part of Informa
Black Hat Europe is the European edition of the security research conference that started in Las Vegas. Training days come first, then two days of briefings, the Business Hall and the keynotes. It’s a researcher’s show more than a buyer’s show, though the sponsor list has grown to look like the RSAC floor.
Both keynotes are now confirmed, and between them they cover the two problems that dominated security in 2026: AI agents shipped faster than anyone can secure them, and English-speaking teenage crime crews that broke into retailers and casinos with phone calls.
The keynotes
Wednesday, December 9, 09:00, Main Stage. Heidy Khlaaf, Chief AI Scientist at the AI Now Institute, opens with “AI Security is Not AI Safety: The Co-option and Conflation of Security and Safety Methodology in AI.” Her argument is that AI labs borrow the language of safety testing while skipping the assurance work that security engineering has always asked for. She’ll look at how fast agents are going into production compared with how well they can be secured, and what proof should exist before AI runs anything critical.
Thursday, December 10. Journalist Kim Zetter, author of Countdown to Zero Day, in conversation with Allison Nixon, Chief Research Officer at Unit 221B, on “Tracking Cybercriminals in ‘The Com'”. The Com is the loose network behind Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters, groups linked to the breaches at M&S, Co-op, Harrods, MGM and NVIDIA. Nixon has spent years unmasking its members. Expect the session most UK attendees came for, since three of those five victims are British retailers.
Who’s on the floor
Titanium sponsors are Broadcom, Concentric AI, Dimension, Frame Security, ThreatLocker and ThreatSpike. Diamond sponsors include Huntress, OX Security, Push Security and runZero. The strategic partner list reads like the industry’s top tier: Cisco, Cyera, Google Security, Microsoft, Qualys, SentinelOne, ServiceNow, Tenable, Varonis and Wiz, among others. Global partners include HackerOne, Semgrep, Tines, XBOW and Zenity, the last two worth a visit for anyone tracking AI-driven offensive testing and agent security.
Why go
If you defend a European organization, the Thursday keynote alone is the reason. The Com’s methods, help desk social engineering and SIM swaps, work against any company with a phone line and an outsourced IT desk, and most of the playbook comes out of the UK. The Wednesday keynote is for anyone being asked to sign off on an AI agent deployment this quarter.
Program details and registration are at blackhat.com/europe.