DEF CON 35 (2027)

DEF CON 35 runs August 5-8, 2027 at the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada — dates DEF CON announced in October 2025 and still carries on its own front page. Founded in 1993, DEF CON is the largest hacker convention in the world, drawing roughly 26,000-30,000 attendees in recent years and mixing talks, contests and more than forty hands-on 'villages'. The AI Village has become one of its centres of gravity: the DEF CON 34 edition ran practical LLM-security and red-team workshops plus HalCTF, a competition where participants write and fine-tune their own pentesting agent on open-source models. Capture the Flag remains the flagship contest, and Policy @ DEF CON puts regulators in the same room as the researchers.

Date

August 5–8, 2027

Location

Las Vegas Convention Center, West Hall, Nevada

Format

In-Person

Event Type

Conference

Status

Upcoming

Expected Attendance

25,000+

Pricing

Paid

Organizer

DEF CON Communications

Added

Aug 13, 2026

Updated

Aug 13, 2026

• ✓CISO
• ✓Head of Security Engineering
• ✓AI Red Team Lead
• ✓Security Researcher
• ✓Threat Intelligence Analyst
• ✓Product Security Engineer
• ✓Technology Policy Advisor

For a CISO or head of security engineering, DEF CON is where the attacks against your AI stack are demonstrated a year or two before they appear in a vendor threat report. The AI Village workshops and HalCTF are directly transferable to standing up an internal AI red team; the ICS, Biohacking and Car Hacking villages do the same for OT, clinical and vehicle estates. It is also the most efficient recruiting and benchmarking week in security — a chance to see how your own team performs against the field, meet researchers you would otherwise only read, and hear where policy is heading from Policy @ DEF CON before it becomes a compliance deadline.

• ✓AI Village — hands-on LLM fundamentals and red-team workshops
• ✓HalCTF — build and fine-tune your own pentesting agent from open-source models
• ✓Capture the Flag (CTF), the attack/defense contest running since 1996, with Black Badge awards
• ✓Biohacking Village — medical device, firmware and clinical-workflow security
• ✓ICS Village — industrial control system security in simulated environments
• ✓Adversary Village — adversary simulation and offensive cyber operations
• ✓Car Hacking Village — vehicle exploitation and CAN bus security
• ✓Quantum Village and Cryptocurrency Village
• ✓Policy @ DEF CON — researchers and policymakers in the same programme

• ★The AI Village is explicitly framed as 'practical, no-bullshit AI security' — hands-on LLM red-team workshops rather than vendor keynotes about AI risk
• ★HalCTF has participants write and fine-tune their own pentesting agent on open-source models, which is closer to what an internal AI red team actually does than any conference demo
• ★Forty-plus villages let one team split across AI, ICS, automotive, medical-device and cloud tracks in the same week
• ★Policy @ DEF CON deliberately puts policymakers and researchers in the same room, which matters as AI security rules land
• ★Capture the Flag has run since 1996 and its Black Badge is the most recognised individual credential in offensive security

DEF CON 35 badge pricing is NOT yet published — DEF CON opens pre-registration in the spring of the event year. For reference, DEF CON 34 (August 2026) priced pre-registration in tiers: $560 early bird ($540 + $20 card processing fee) through 22 May, $580 ($560 + $20) from 23 May to 17 July, and $600 ($580 + $20) from 18 July to 31 July; cash registration at the door was $520. DEF CON badges are fully transferable.

When is DEF CON 35 (2027)?

DEF CON 35 (2027) takes place August 5–8, 2027 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Where is DEF CON 35 (2027) held?

DEF CON 35 (2027) is held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event format is in-person.

How much does DEF CON 35 (2027) cost?

DEF CON 35 (2027) is paid. DEF CON 35 badge pricing is NOT yet published — DEF CON opens pre-registration in the spring of the event year. For reference, DEF CON 34 (August 2026) priced pre-registration in tiers: $560 early bird ($540 + $20 card processing fee) through 22 May, $580 ($560 + $20) from 23 May to 17 July, and $600 ($580 + $20) from 18 July to 31 July; cash registration at the door was $520. DEF CON badges are fully transferable.

Who should attend DEF CON 35 (2027)?

DEF CON 35 (2027) is aimed at CISO, Head of Security Engineering, AI Red Team Lead, Security Researcher, Threat Intelligence Analyst, Product Security Engineer, Technology Policy Advisor.

What topics does DEF CON 35 (2027) cover?

DEF CON 35 (2027) covers AI security, LLM red teaming, Offensive security, Adversary simulation, ICS and OT security, Medical device and healthcare security, Automotive and CAN bus security, Technology policy.

This page was written from 4 sources, 1 on domains other than defcon.org.

1. 1.defcon.org — defcon.orgvendor
2. 2.defcon.org — dc newsvendor
3. 3.defcon.org — dc 34 villagesvendor
4. 4.en.wikipedia.org — DEF CON