The regional landscape
Events
Where this research gets presented. Conferences, BSides chapters, CTFs, and villages across the Arab world and Africa — including the ones that have gone quiet, because an archive should remember those too.
- Events mapped
- 17
- Countries
- 8
- Active
- 13
- Dormant or ended
- 4
EGEgypt4 events
EG·002Conference
Arab Security Conference
Cairo, Egypt · since 2017
Cairo-based regional security conference with a technical track and an associated CTF, drawing speakers from across the Arab world.
No works indexed yet · add one
EG·003BSides
BSides Cairo
Cairo, Egypt
Community-run Security BSides chapter in Cairo.
No works indexed yet · add one
EG·001Conference
Cairo Security Camp
Cairo, Egypt · since 2010
Egyptian security conference organised by the Bluekaizen community, described by its organisers as the first information security conference organised in an Arab country.
EG·004CTF
CyberTalents CTF
Egypt
Recurring regional capture-the-flag competitions run on the CyberTalents platform, including national and Africa-wide rounds.
No works indexed yet · add one
AEUnited Arab Emirates3 events
AE·003Conference
GISEC Global
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Large Gulf security exhibition and conference in Dubai, with a technical track and hosted CTF alongside the industry programme.
No works indexed yet · add one
AE·002Conferenceended
HITB+CyberWeek
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates · since 2019
Abu Dhabi edition of the Hack In The Box conference series, run as part of CyberWeek in 2019.
No works indexed yet · add one
AE·001Conferencedormant
OPCDE
Dubai, United Arab Emirates · since 2017
Technical security conference founded in Dubai, running in person from 2017 to 2019 before moving online. Also ran a separate Kenya edition.
KEKenya2 events
KE·001Conference
AfricaHackon
Nairobi, Kenya · since 2014
Kenya's community-driven offensive security conference and one of the longest-running technical security events in East Africa.
No works indexed yet · add one
KE·002Conferencedormant
OPCDE Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya · since 2018
East African edition of OPCDE, held in Nairobi with a deep technical programme including baseband and firmware research.
NGNigeria2 events
NG·002BSides
BSides Lagos
Lagos, Nigeria
Security BSides chapter serving Nigeria's security community.
No works indexed yet · add one
NG·001Conference
NaijaSecCon
Lagos, Nigeria · since 2017
Nigerian security conference held in Lagos, running since 2017.
No works indexed yet · add one
SASaudi Arabia2 events
SA·001Conferenceended
@Hack
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · since 2021
Riyadh security conference held in 2021, subsequently rebranded as Black Hat MEA.
No works indexed yet · add one
SA·002Conference
Black Hat MEA
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · since 2022
Middle East and Africa edition of Black Hat, held in Riyadh, with briefings, trainings, and an Arsenal tooling track. Successor to @Hack.
No works indexed yet · add one
ZASouth Africa2 events
ZA·001BSides
BSides Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa
Community-run Security BSides chapter in Cape Town, publishing a complete public talk archive going back to 2013. The backbone of Southern African representation in this index.
ZA·002Conference
ZaCon
Johannesburg, South Africa
Grassroots South African security conference built around community talks and original research.
No works indexed yet · add one
CICôte d’Ivoire1 event
CI·001Conference
Cyber Africa Forum
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Francophone-leaning pan-African security forum held in Abidjan, focused on the continent's cybersecurity ecosystem.
No works indexed yet · add one
TNTunisia1 event
TN·001CTF
Securinets CTF
Tunis, Tunisia
Capture-the-flag competition run by the Securinets student club at INSAT, one of the largest recurring CTFs in North Africa.
No works indexed yet · add one
Gaps in the map
This landscape is incomplete by definition — regional events are often announced on social media and never archived. If a conference, BSides chapter, CTF, or meetup from the region is missing,add it. Events that have ended are still worth recording.