A few things to know:
- Prices rise after November 20. Last year Black Hat Europe also had a higher late rate in the final weeks before the event.
- Exhibitors often give away free Business Passes or Briefings discounts through their own promo codes. If you're mainly there to walk the Business Hall, check vendor sites before you pay.
- A one-year recordings add-on is available to Briefings Pass holders.
- Speakers get a free Briefings Pass, up to two per accepted talk.
How many people attend Black Hat?
Black Hat Europe 2025 had more than 4,500 security professionals in attendance, a new record and more than 25% growth over the year before. The 2024 edition had 3,600 unique in-person attendees.
Across the series, Black Hat USA is much bigger. The 2025 Las Vegas event had 20,000 verified attendees, with 100+ Briefings, 120 sponsored sessions, and 115 tool demos. So if someone asks "how many people attend Black Hat," the answer depends on which one: around 20,000 in Las Vegas, and around 4,500 or more in London.
Who goes to Black Hat Europe?
Black Hat Europe attracts a mix of hands-on security people and the leaders who buy security products:
- Security researchers and penetration testers
- Security engineers, SOC analysts, and incident responders
- Security architects and application security teams
- CISOs and security leaders, especially at the Executive Summit
- Financial services security teams, at the Financial Threat Summit
- Security vendors, startups, and investors in the Business Hall
- Students and early-career security professionals
What should you wear to Black Hat Europe?
There's no dress code. Most attendees dress casually, and you'll see plenty of hoodies and black t-shirts. Vendors in the Business Hall usually wear branded shirts, and executives at the Summits lean business casual. London in December is cold and wet, so bring a proper coat for the trip to ExCeL.
And the classic Black Hat advice still applies: be careful with public Wi-Fi, and don't plug in the free USB stick.
Is Black Hat Europe worth it?
Black Hat Europe is worth it if you're a security practitioner who wants new research, hands-on training, and open-source tools, or a security leader who wants a focused European audience. It's harder to justify if you only want the keynotes and vendor floor, since a Business Pass covers that for much less, or if you'd rather have Black Hat USA's scale.
Black Hat Europe is worth it if:
- You want current offensive and defensive research without flying to Las Vegas
- You'll take a Training or spend real time in Arsenal
- You lead security in Europe and want the Executive, AI Security, or Financial Threat Summit
- You sell security products to European buyers and want them in one place
It's probably not worth it if:
- You only want the Business Hall, which a Business Pass covers
- You need the biggest possible audience, which is Black Hat USA in August
- You'd rather wait for the free YouTube recordings a few months later
How do security vendors build relationships with buyers at Black Hat Europe?
Security vendors build relationships at Black Hat Europe by earning trust before asking for anything. That means leading with useful technical content, letting buyers start conversations on their own terms, staying reachable across European time zones, and showing up where buyers do their research after the event, including AI assistants.
Black Hat attendees are professional skeptics. They test claims for a living. Our customer Cyera, a data security company, saw the same thing: security practitioners avoid traditional sales channels and forms, and switching to real-time, personalized conversations helped Cyera cut lead-to-SQL time by 75%. A booth that leads with buzzwords and a badge scanner gets polite nods and no follow-up. A booth that answers a hard technical question well gets a conversation that continues for months.
Lead with something a security person can use
Bring something worth stopping for: a short technical demo, research your team published, a tool that does one thing well, or a straight answer about how your product handles a specific attack. Before you fly, check who on your team or in your customer base already knows the security leaders you want to meet. Knock AI's Private Relationship Graph can surface those warm paths, which matter even more in a community this tight. Then make the next step easy. A Knock Marketing Card can hold your research, docs, a chat, and a booking link behind one QR code, and each rep can carry a Knock Sales Card for conversations at Arsenal or the evening events.
Let the price question start a real conversation
Security buyers want to know what things cost, and they'd rather ask a person than fill out a form. In our 12-month study of 90+ B2B software websites, buyers checking prices chatted at 13 times the site average, and 29.5% of their conversions were live conversations, about six times the rate for general browsers.
So when someone at your booth asks "what does this cost?", that's not a brush-off. It's the start of the conversation. Give them a direct line to someone who can answer honestly, before and after the event. Knock Chat keeps that line open on LinkedIn, Slack, WhatsApp, or your website, so the conversation doesn't end when they leave the booth.
Stay reachable after the Business Hall closes
Black Hat Europe pulls buyers from across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond, and many of them follow up from their hotel or after they fly home. Our data shows live conversations peak around 2pm local time and fall 2.3 times by 9pm, while form fills stay flat all day. Off-hours buyers still want answers. When nobody's live, they settle for a form or leave.
The Knock AI Agent answers technical and pricing questions at any hour, then hands the conversation to your team. Our customer LSports, a global sports data company, used Knock to stay responsive 24/7 and route each lead instantly to the right regional rep, which led to a 9x deal uplift compared with forms.
Show up where buyers research after the event
After Black Hat, a lot of security buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Gemini to compare the vendors they met. Those AI-referred buyers matter. In our data, visitors arriving from AI assistants converted at 2.2 times the rate of Google organic visitors and started chats at 4.9 times the rate of direct traffic, the highest of any channel.
That means two things. Your product needs to show up accurately in AI answers, which we cover in why you're not showing up in AI search and our AI discoverability playbook. And when those buyers land on your site, they expect a conversation, not a form.
Don't let interested buyers leak away
The most common post-event mistake is assuming interested buyers will fill out a form. Most won't. In our data, 90% of visitors who tried to convert, clicking a demo or contact button, left without converting. Winning back even a small slice of them would add as many conversations as an 18% jump in traffic.
Knock Reveal identifies the accounts behind anonymous visits from Black Hat contacts, and Knock Routing sends them to the rep who met them in London. If security buyers are your market, our guide to inbound lead conversion for cybersecurity companies goes deeper.
Best ways to build trust with security buyers at Black Hat Europe: the shortlist
- Knock AI: Best for turning booth, Arsenal, and evening conversations into ongoing relationships, with 24/7 answers and routing to the right regional rep across LinkedIn, Slack, WhatsApp, and your website
- Arsenal tool demos and research talks: Best for earning credibility with practitioners
- The Summits: Best for meeting security leaders, AI security owners, and financial services teams in a smaller room
- Badge scanning: Best for logging Business Hall visitors, as long as each scan becomes a real conversation
If you're covering other European events this season, see our guides to Web Summit and Slush.
Exhibiting in London? Set up your Black Hat card and chat links with Knock AI before December 7. It takes minutes.
FAQs
What is Black Hat Europe?
Black Hat Europe is the European edition of the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, held each December at ExCeL London. It includes hands-on Trainings, research Briefings, Arsenal open-source tool demos, full-day Summits, and a Business Hall of security vendors.
What is the Black Hat event?
Black Hat is a series of cybersecurity conferences founded in 1997 by Jeff Moss. The flagship is Black Hat USA in Las Vegas each August, with other editions in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and Canada. Black Hat focuses on security research, training, and the security industry.
Where is Black Hat Europe?
Black Hat Europe 2026 is at ExCeL London, in the Royal Docks area of East London, United Kingdom.
When is Black Hat Europe 2026?
Black Hat Europe 2026 runs December 7 to 10, 2026. Trainings run December 7 to 10, Summits are on December 8, the Business Hall is open December 8 to 10, and Briefings and Arsenal are on December 9 and 10.
How much does it cost to attend Black Hat Europe?
A Black Hat Europe 2026 Briefings Pass costs £1,899 plus 20% VAT at the regular rate, which ends November 20, 2026. Group rates are £1,699 each for 5 to 10 people and £1,499 each for 11 or more. Trainings are priced per course, and Business Passes are often available free through exhibitor promo codes.
How many people attend Black Hat?
Black Hat Europe 2025 had more than 4,500 attendees, a record. Black Hat USA, the largest Black Hat event, had 20,000 verified attendees in Las Vegas in 2025.
What is the difference between Black Hat and DEF CON?
Black Hat is a professional cybersecurity conference with paid Trainings, research Briefings, and a vendor Business Hall. DEF CON is a community-run hacker convention held in Las Vegas right after Black Hat USA, known for its villages and contests. Both were founded by Jeff Moss.
Who owns Black Hat?
Black Hat is owned by Informa, the UK-based events and media company.
Is there a free pass for Black Hat Europe?
Black Hat Europe doesn't advertise a free general pass, but many exhibitors offer free Business Passes through promo codes, which cover the Business Hall, keynotes, Arsenal, and sponsored sessions. Students can apply for a limited Student Pass for Thursday, December 10.
Are Black Hat Europe Briefings recorded?
Yes. Briefings Pass holders can watch recordings on demand starting about a week after the event. Black Hat releases Briefings recordings publicly on YouTube roughly 90 to 120 days after the event.
What are the Summits at Black Hat Europe 2026?
Black Hat Europe 2026 has three full-day Summits on Tuesday, December 8: the Executive Summit, the AI Security Summit, and the Financial Threat Summit. A Summit Pass includes lunch and a free Business Pass for the main conference.
What is Arsenal at Black Hat?
Arsenal is the part of Black Hat where independent researchers demo open-source security tools. It runs alongside the Briefings on December 9 and 10 and is included with Briefings, Summit, and Business Passes.
Is Black Hat Europe worth it?
Black Hat Europe is worth it for security practitioners who want new research, Trainings, and open-source tools, and for security leaders and vendors who want a focused European audience. If you only want the vendor floor, a Business Pass is the cheaper option.
How should security vendors follow up after Black Hat Europe?
Security vendors should follow up after Black Hat Europe with something technically useful, in the channel each buyer chose, and stay reachable across time zones. Make sure your product shows up accurately in AI answers, since many buyers research vendors with AI after the event. Knock AI keeps every Black Hat conversation, follow-up, and website visit in one relationship history.
Before you badge in
Black Hat crowds can tell a pitch from a conversation in about five seconds. Bring something worth their time, make it easy to keep talking, and be there when they come back with questions in January.
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