Black Hat MEA 2026
About the event
Black Hat Middle East and Africa runs for its fifth edition from 1 to 3 December 2026 at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham, north of Riyadh, and is the region’s largest gathering dedicated to cybersecurity. It is organised by Tahaluf and hosted by the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones together with Tuwaiq Academy, under the global Black Hat brand, which has run offensive and defensive security conferences for more than twenty-five years.
The programme pairs research with practice across three days: Briefings on four stages with more than 150 technical presentations on vulnerabilities, emerging threats and AI-driven defence; Arsenal for open-source tooling; an Executive Summit for security leadership; a business hall the organiser states brings together over 500 brands; and an activity zone with live hacking stations and prize pools exceeding one million Saudi riyals, alongside The Blacksite, Capture The Flag and the Bug Bounty Cup. A certified training programme of around forty tracks runs with it, covering ethical hacking, offensive security, digital forensics, cloud security and security governance. It addresses information security practitioners and leaders, researchers, developers, security vendors, government bodies and startups.
Entry to the exhibition and The Blacksite is free with prior registration on the Expo pass, which includes shuttle transport between the metro station and the venue. Paid passes start at USD 299 for Gold, adding Executive Summit and opening ceremony access, pre-arranged business meetings and accredited professional development hours, and at USD 2,099 for Black, which includes a full training course. Student and press passes are free subject to the organiser’s conditions, and the investor pass is by application.
