Cybersecurity conferences to look out for in 2020

The digitization of our culture has created the need for cybersecurity at all levels of society - from the individual to businesses, to the state. It’s a dynamic field that never stands still: new devices and platforms are introduced every day, each coming with their fixes and vulnerabilities.

This dynamic nature of the cybersecurity field means that the central issues differ from year to year. As such, conferences are massively important for industry professionals and tech journalists alike.

There’s just one issue, though: there are so many of them. What’s more, the attendance fees are usually quite expensive, to say nothing of travel costs. It’s a big decision, and we’re here to help you make it.

Below, we’ve listed ten cybersecurity conferences that should be high on your priority list for the 2019. We’ve sorted the list chronologically, and we’ve evaluated each conference based on past reputation, location, and price. Happy hunting!

CanSecWest

Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Price list: January early bird, CA$2,200; February, CA$2,300; March 1–17, CA$2,400; after March 17, CA$2,700
Date: March 18-20, 2020

The Canadian CanSecWest cybersecurity conference is one of the biggest in the world and is set to continue this trend in 2019. It’s a single-track conference, meaning all attendants see the same presentations. As everyone who’s attended a conference knows - it’s all about networking, and this is a lot easier when everyone’s on the same page.

This year’s keynote is to be delivered by Scott Jones, the Head-designate of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security; he’ll be talking about innovations in Canadian cybersecurity. In other words, it’s your chance to hear about the nation’s future straight from the horse’s mouth!

Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS)

Location: Aurora, CO
Price list: $40–$700
Date: March 12-14, 2020

The Women in Cybersecurity conference in Pittsburgh is definitely one to look forward to. As you can imagine, it’s an event dedicated to highlighting and uniting women who work in cybersecurity and can be a ridiculously great networking event for young women new to the field. Furthermore, if you’re a student, you can get a ticket for a measly $40!

CSO50

Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Price list: single ticket, $495; team ticket, $400 (per ticket)
Date: April 27-29, 2020

Hosted by the prestigious CSO Magazine, this annual conference is part–awards show, part–lecture series that highlights some of the brightest CSOs and CISOs in the business. This conference is not as academic as most others on this list, but this unique quality works to its benefit. CSO Magazine can be trusted to put on a weekend of ground-breaking content that rounds up all of the latest trends in cybersecurity for 2019.

CypherCon

Location: Milwaukee, WI
Price list: $150-$220
Date: April 2-3, 2020

CypherCon’s lower price doesn’t indicate lower quality. Rather, this conference simply tries to strike the balance between experts and newbies alike.

A unique aspect of CypherCon is that speaker submissions are given with names blanked out. As a result, speakers are selected on the merit of their work, rather than the authority of their name or social media reach. Not only does this allow a range of younger newcomers and veterans of the cybersecurity industry, it also means you’re likely to get the most interesting range of lectures possible.

Securi-Tay

Location: Dundee, UK
Price list: standard, £20; student, £25
Date: May 18–19, 2020

Most British events are held in London, so why not make a change and head up north to lovely Scotland? For the price of several cappuccinos, Security-Tay at Abertay University (hosted by the Ethical Hacking Society) is sure to fill lots of gaps in your cybersecurity knowledge.

The conference was a roaring success in its first year, and this year only promises to be even bigger and better than before.

CircleCityCon

Location: Indianapolis, IN
Price list: free for kids; $100 for students; $125 for first-round attendees (until March 1)
Date: June 12-14, 2020

The official cybersecurity conference of the Circle City itself, Indianapolis’ standout event of the year is a great split between child-friendly activities, training sessions, and keynotes.

Alongside this, there’s usually a great deal of entertainment in between talks, making CircleCityCon a truly community-based conference and certainly one of the events to beat in the Midwest in 2019.

Infosecurity Europe

Location: London, UK
Price list: TBA
Date: June 4–6, 2020

One of the largest gatherings of cybersecurity experts in Europe, London’s Infosecurity is essential for anyone in the field, especially in the age of Brexit and GDPR. With almost twenty thousand attendees every year, it’s the perfect place to expand your business network exponentially.

RightsCon

Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
Price list: $350–$1,150
Date: June 9-12, 2020

RightsCon is one of the jewels of the cybersecurity conference field, even despite cybersecurity not being its main focus.

Those living near the Americas will be happy to learn that this digital rights conference is taking place in Costa Rica this year - a short trip away for most in the region.

With a starting price of US$350 for academics catching the early bird, RightsCon is certainly not the cheapest conference around, but it’s well worth it.

ISACA Cyber Security Nexus

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Price list: US$1,900–2,100
Date: October 16–18, 2020

Taking place in the Swiss data haven, ISACA’s Cyber Security Nexus conference is absolutely one of the best cybersecurity conferences to attend in 2019. This is among the most respected cybersecurity gatherings, so the networking potential is quite big.

Not only does it include industry veterans giving unmissable talks about the state of cybersecurity, there are also many workshops at the event too, which offers a more practical demonstration than you tend to get from events such as this.

Information Security Forum

Location: Warsaw, Poland
Price list: US$1,900–2,100
Date: November 14-17, 2020

The ISF is hosting the 30th Annual World Congress in Poland this year, which is great news for anyone in Eastern or Central Europe. For three days, over a thousand industry leaders will be cobbled together in the city, delivering keynotes and hunting down some exciting new contacts. With any luck, you could be one of them!

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