Black Hat Roundup 2024: What to Expect From This Week’s Security Events

Black Hat and DEF CON are two of the major security conferences in the U.S., drawing large crowds of cyber and AI decision-makers to Las Vegas. Black Hat USA 2024 runs from August 3-8, with most of the briefings occurring on August 7 and 8; DEF CON 32 runs from August 8-11.

We’re rounding up the enterprise business tech news from Black Hat and DEF CON that is most relevant for IT and tech decision-makers.

How to hold generative AI accountable

A major topic of conversation and research at Black Hat this week will be how to hold generative AI accountable in the case of hallucinations, misinformation, or follow-on effects from generated content.

At the one-day AI Summit (ticketed separately from the rest of Black Hat), experts will discuss how to secure AI models and applications for enterprise use, as well as the use of AI in cyberattacks.

AI Village at DEF CON will task a team of hackers with exploring how to detect and report AI flaws. This event is notable because both the vulnerabilities and the methods of reporting those vulnerabilities will be under scrutiny. Ideally, this event will help AI vendors build frameworks for more thorough and accurate reporting.

DARPA and other government organizations will work on securing generative AI at DEF CON as well. The AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC) Semifinal Competition will test hackers skills in securing critical infrastructure in a hypothetical, futuristic city.

Patches and vulnerabilities identified

Many organizations at Black Hat and DEF CON will announce patches and remarkable vulnerabilities. We will cover those as they arise. For people attending the conference, there are many briefings to choose from.

Keynotes bring national and corporate players

Keynote speakers for Black Hat 2024 include Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly, Google Security Engineering Manager Ellen Cram Kowalczyk, and Microsoft Threat Intelligence Strategy Director Sherrod DeGrippo.

DeGrippo spoke to TechRepublic earlier this month about keeping businesses secure during the Paris Olympics.

TechRepublic is covering Black Hat and DEF CON remotely. This article will be updated throughout Black Hat and DEF CON with more news highlights.