Summercon 2025

OUR CODE OF CONDUCT

CODE OF CONDUCT

It’s been a few years since our last update, and a lot has changed. The world isn’t as isolated as it was in 2021, but we’re still mindful that community spaces work best when everyone is clear about the expectations. Since some folks might be joining us for the first time (or the first time in a while), here’s a quick reminder of our Code of Conduct.

Many years ago, Summercon published its first real Code of Conduct. That was kind of a landmark, since the Summercon team has always prided itself on a certain amount of constructive chaos. That early code looked like this:

If you love anarchy, want to break things, set off fire alarms, or generally behave like a twelve-year-old, you probably should stay away—even if you are a twelve-year-old. Especially if you are a twelve-year-old. It’s not that kind of event, and we’re not those kind of people. Even though we’re a group of hackers, breaking the law is still illegal.

If you’re interested in meeting your peers in the security world, connecting with some of the finest people you’ll ever know, putting names to faces, and learning about the latest trends in security analysis, we’d love to see you. Mingle, socialize, make lifelong friendships. That’s what we’re all about.

We still believe in that.

But the world has grown. And while we still love that constructive chaos, we’ve grown a lot too. We want everyone to have a good time. And because not everyone agrees on what that means, we’ll be very clear:

Summercon is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for conference talks or exhibitors. The conference reserves the right to eject anyone who engages in behavior that is threatening or patently offensive to the community, regardless of whether it occurs at the conference venue, parties, or online.

Conference participants violating our rules may be thrown out of the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the conference staff immediately. Anyone wearing a red Summercon Staff shirt is empowered to intervene.

In case you don’t feel comfortable approaching a staff member, you can call us at 720-586-4225 (720-586-HACK) to speak directly with the organizers.

TL;DR: Legal says we’ve gotta say it, so here it is: We reserve the right to remove anyone, anytime, for any reason. No drama, no debate, no refunds, no takebacks. Don’t test us.

Thanks for sticking with us. We know vibes matter, and it’s just easier for everyone to enjoy themselves when the expectations are clear. Play nice, stay weird, and have fun!

WHAT MAKES A GREAT SUMMERCON PRESENTATION?

With the opening of the Summercon 2025 CFP, here are a few friendly tips for what makes a great Summercon presentation. These seven points represent the kinds of things that we are evaluating when we look at CFP proposals.

  1. Technical
    • While we occasionally incorporate talks of a non-technical nature, almost every presentation that shows up at Summercon is deeply technical. They’re not sales pitches, and they’re not about righting societal wrongs. So if you’re planning on submitting a talk about why people should buy your company’s particular security snake oil, or why your company has the best culture (and you can too!), you’ll have more success somewhere else.
  2. Novel
    • From time to time, in the interest of getting important content in front of the best audience in the world, we let people present something they’ve already shown at events of lesser stature. But we prefer totally new presentations instead of rehashed talks. New content has a better chance of getting shown on the Summercon stage.
  3. Irreverent
    • While the presentations are technical, successful Summercon presentations get their point across is through non-traditional means. This is not the place to read slides. One memorable presentation used an Android-shaped piñata as a prop. Another invited participation through an AA-meeting style format. The sky’s the limit (within the limits of our code of conduct, of course).
  4. Revels in the Journey
    • If you like talking about the trials and tribulations of research, we are all ears. Even though your final results may be super polished and look effortless, everyone knows you had at least three major setbacks and went down two totally worthless paths before you arrived at a good solution. Share those. People love that, especially our speaker selection committee.
  5. Sticks it to The Man
    • Despite all the sponsorships, corporate attendance, and more buttoned-up nature of Summercon (see our Code of Conduct, which is totally reasonable, by the way), we are still, at heart, a hacker conference. Challenge authority. Show you’re not a patsy for The Man. Fight the Power.
  6. Engages the Audience
    • Summercon speakers are a special breed, because Summercon attendees are a special breed. Prepare to have people call out your mistakes, heckle if you’re less than prepared, and generally push your buttons. Successful presentations channel this misplaced audience enthusiasm. We still fondly recall a choose-your-own-adventure presentation, where randomly selected audience members got to dictate the direction of the talk. Engage your audience, and they won’t turn on you. (This can be good life advice, too.)
  7. Fits into the Allocated Time
    • We cannot overstate this: fill the time, generally 45 minutes of speaking with 10 minutes of Q&A. Our speaker selection committee has been around the block, so if you’re going to try to pretend that a six hour seminar fits into 55 minutes of speaking slot, it’s probably not going to get selected.

We look forward to your submission!

sponsors sidebar 2025

Research Grant Sponsors

 

Platinum Sponsors

 

Gold Sponsors

 

Silver Sponsors

 

 

Supporter Sponsors

 
  

CFP Now Open 2025

It is once again time to submit your proposals for Summercon presentations.

We admit that we have a lot of latitude in how we schedule speakers, but generally presentations fall into two categories: short (25 minutes), and long (55 minutes).

We tend to favor technical presentations that are geared around offense, but we’re open to all good ideas. Please build in time for spirited Q&A. 

We invite you to review what we look for when selecting a presentation here, but here’s the quick summary:

  1. Technical
  2. Novel
  3. Irreverent
  4. Revels in the Journey
  5. Sticks it to the Man
  6. Engages the Audience
  7. Fits into the Allocated Time

Please submit your proposals using our Google Form.

Deadline: Saturday, May 17, 2025 11:59PM (EDT, because we’re in New York)

SPONSORS

Platinum Sponsors

Atredis Partners is a research-driven Information Security consultancy. We deliver advanced penetration testing, embedded security research, and cutting edge risk management. Our team is made up of some of the most respected hackers in the information security industry, and we thrive on hacking complicated targets, on time and under budget. Our HQ also happens to be in the birth city of SummerCon, but we’re pretty sure the Best Western in North Saint Louis burned down years ago.

Gold Sponsors

Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build, power, and evolve the tools and technologies that connect millions of entrepreneurs with millions of buyers around the world. As an Etsy Inc. employee, whether a team member of Etsy, Reverb, or Depop, you will tackle unique, meaningful, and large-scale problems alongside passionate coworkers, all the while making a rewarding impact and Keeping Commerce Human.

Flatiron Health is a healthtech company expanding the possibilities for point of care solutions in oncology and using data for good to power smarter care for every person with cancer. Through machine learning and AI, real-world evidence, and breakthroughs in clinical trials, we continue to transform patients’ real-life experiences into knowledge and create a more modern, connected oncology ecosystem. Flatiron Health is an independent affiliate of the Roche Group.

Silver Sponsors

RED BALLOON SECURITY was founded by Dr. Ang Cui out of Columbia University’s Intrusion Detection Systems Lab in 2011 with its pioneering technology, Symbiote Defense. Today, its R&D has expanded to a team of world-class researchers and developers who continue to publish seminal research papers on embedded security and intrusion detection.
Since its inception, the team at Red Balloon has partnered with the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, performing on funded research activities and deploying its defensive technologies on a range of critical embedded systems. The company has also ethically disclosed vulnerabilities in hundreds of millions of embedded devices and continues to advance the state of embedded device security as part of its mission.

Supporter Sponsors

Bishop Fox is the largest private professional services firm focused on offensive security testing. Since 2005, the firm has provided security consulting services to the world’s leading organizations — working with over 25% of the Fortune 100 — to help secure their products, applications, networks, and cloud with penetration testing and security assessments. The company is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and has offices in Atlanta, GA; San Francisco, CA; New York, NY; and Barcelona, Spain.

The Phosphorus Unified xIoT Security Management Platform is the industry’s only CPS Protection Platform proactively covering the entire security and management lifecycle for xIoT. Through its unique ability to directly communicate with over one million device models (including over 600 vendors) in their native languages, Phosphorus’ platform empowers all organizations to safely discover, remediate, monitor, and manage any IoT, OT, IIoT, and IoMT device, including the most sensitive mission-critical and life-critical assets. It fully automates the remediation of the biggest xIoT device vulnerabilities – including unknown and inaccurate asset inventory, default credentials, out-of-date and vulnerable firmware, risky configurations, banned and end-of-life devices, and expired or self-signed certificates.

645 Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with exceptional founders who are building iconic companies. We invest at the Seed and Series A stages and leverage our Voyager software platform to enable our Success team and Connected Network to help founders scale to the growth stage. 645 has $550m+ in AUM across 5 funds, and is growing fast with backing from leading institutional investors, including university endowments, funds of funds, and pension funds. The firm has offices in New York and SF, and you can learn more at www.645ventures.com.

Presentations

2025

The Lineup

check back soon 2025…

Important people

gathering the people 2025

SUMMERCON 2025 – Dates, Tickets

As we said during the closing ceremonies of Summercon 2024, Summercon 2025 is July 11 – July 12, 2025, once again at Littlefield in Brooklyn, NY. We have a block of early bird tickets available.

Register now!

Trouble is brewing

We’re excited to announce that we’re gearing up for our July event in Brooklyn, NY. We’re currently huddled over keyboards (and coffee mugs) planning something extraordinary. Yes, we’re a bit late in getting the news out – blame all the booze (and the hangovers)!

More thrilling updates are on the way. Stay tuned, keep hacking, and perhaps, keep nursing those hangovers – we’ll make sure this year’s Summercon is worth the wait!

Cheers,

Summercon Management