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
EG Egypt 4 events
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EG·002 Conference
Arab Security Conference
Cairo, Egypt · first documented 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
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EG·003 BSides
BSides Cairo
Cairo, Egypt
Community-run Security BSides chapter in Cairo.
No works indexed yet · add one
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EG·001 Conference
Cairo Security Camp
Cairo, Egypt · first documented 2010
Egyptian security conference organised by the Bluekaizen community, described by its organisers as the first information security conference organised in an Arab country.
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EG·004 CTF
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
AE United Arab Emirates 3 events
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AE·003 Conference
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
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AE·002 Conference ended
HITB+CyberWeek
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates · first documented 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
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AE·001 Conference dormant
OPCDE
Dubai, United Arab Emirates · first documented 2017
Technical security conference founded in Dubai, running in person from 2017 to 2019 before moving online. Also ran a separate Kenya edition.
KE Kenya 2 events
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KE·001 Conference
AfricaHackon
Nairobi, Kenya · first documented 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
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KE·002 Conference dormant
OPCDE Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya · first documented 2018
East African edition of OPCDE, held in Nairobi with a deep technical programme including baseband and firmware research.
NG Nigeria 2 events
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NG·002 BSides
BSides Lagos
Lagos, Nigeria
Security BSides chapter serving Nigeria's security community.
No works indexed yet · add one
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NG·001 Conference
NaijaSecCon
Lagos, Nigeria · first documented 2017
Nigerian security conference held in Lagos.
No works indexed yet · add one
SA Saudi Arabia 2 events
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SA·001 Conference ended
@Hack
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · first documented 2021
Riyadh security conference held in 2021, subsequently rebranded as Black Hat MEA.
No works indexed yet · add one
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SA·002 Conference
Black Hat MEA
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · first documented 2022
Middle East and Africa edition of Black Hat, held in Riyadh, with briefings, trainings, and an Arsenal tooling track. Successor to @Hack.
ZA South Africa 2 events
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ZA·001 BSides
BSides Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa · first documented 2012
Community-run Security BSides chapter in Cape Town, publishing a complete public talk archive going back to 2012. The backbone of Southern African representation in this index.
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ZA·002 Conference
ZaCon
Johannesburg, South Africa
Grassroots South African security conference built around community talks and original research.
No works indexed yet · add one
CI Côte d’Ivoire 1 event
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CI·001 Conference
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
TN Tunisia 1 event
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TN·001 CTF
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.