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

Platinum Sponsors

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Supporter Sponsors

Special Thanks

  
 

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


Premier Patron


The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) was established in 2012 and is the largest consolidated IT organization in America. At ITS, we deliver modern technology solutions that connect NYS agencies, entities, commissions and local governments with millions of New Yorkers. Our talented ITS employees are leaders, innovators and drivers of positive change who have won countless state and national awards. We believe technology is transformational, and we will never stop striving to do better, be better and improve the way we operate.

Our skilled cyber professionals protect the state’s systems and data from intrusion and attack, provide cyber incident response assistance, distribute real-time advisories and alerts, provide managed security services, and deliver comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training for state and local employees. We have enhanced the customer experience by creating simple, seamless and improved digital services, which are easily accessed by New Yorkers from every region.

Want to know more about how ITS, a NYS Agency on the rise, makes IT Happen? Visit our website at its.ny.gov.

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.

RET2 is a computer security research firm founded in 2017. Driven by experience in the commercial and defense industries, we strive to reimagine vulnerability research, program analysis, and security education as it exists today. We quantify success through the practical application of our tailored
research and technologies.

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.

Silver Sponsors


Bishop Fox is the leading authority in offensive security, providing solutions ranging from continuous penetration testing, red teaming, and attack surface management to product, cloud, and application security assessments. Discover why our Cosmos platform, service innovation, and culture of excellence draw industry awards, and our offerings are consistently ranked as “world class” by customers. 

North Pole Security (NPS) offers a proactive solution to endpoint security by focusing on prevention rather than detection and response. NPS develops the open source security agent Santa, that the team started while at Google. Santa operates on macOS endpoints, enforcing policies based on a “naughty or nice” list. NPS’ new control plane Workshop pairs Santa with a streamlined approval process to ensure your business runs safely and seamlessly.

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.

Azeria Labs was founded in 2017 on the realization that Arm-based devices were rapidly taking over the world and hardly anyone was looking closely at how to analyze them for vulnerabilities. Our mission is to equip the next generation of security experts with the skills to both defend and exploit Arm-powered systems, from IoT devices to smartphones and beyond. Under the leadership of Maria Markstedter—renowned Arm exploitation expert, author of Blue Fox: Arm Assembly Internals and Reverse Engineering, and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS—Azeria Labs provides private, world-class training courses to organizations around the globe. Through meticulously crafted courses and continuous innovation, Azeria Labs remains at the forefront of Arm-focused cybersecurity training.

Epsilon is a European company providing security research services.
We specialize in vulnerability research and exploit development, focusing on mobile devices (iOS and Android). We’re hiring talented researchers who want to evolve in a friendly and benevolent environment.

Scorpion Labs is a Boston-based offensive security team, that uses threat-driven penetration testing to provide impactful and actionable results to customers across nearly every industry vertical. The team provides network, application, and product-focused penetration testing.

Catalyst Security is a growing team of highly experienced vulnerability researchers, working on solving the most challenging problems in support of our customers. We are currently hiring senior researchers skilled in the areas of iOS, Android, 0click, and Browser research. We offer highly competitive compensation, a supportive and fun work environment, and the chance to work with an exceptionally skilled world-class team of researchers.

At Collectors, we’re revolutionizing the world of collectibles with cutting-edge technology that powers authentication, grading, trading, and security at scale. From rare coins and trading cards to video games and event memorabilia, our platforms protect billions of dollars in assets across physical and digital ecosystems. With brands like PSA, PCGS, and WATA under our belt, we’re backed by 1,900+ global team members and a relentless drive to bring trust, transparency, and innovation to collectors worldwide.

We’re looking for security engineers who want to build resilient, high-integrity systems in a fast-moving environment – people who can anticipate threats, design secure architectures, and protect passionate collectors across every touchpoint. If you’re ready to engineer trust at scale, visit https://www.collectors.com/careers for more information on our open roles.

RunSybil is a startup scaling offensive security by automating hacker intuition. RunSybil’s flagship AI-driven penetration testing platform, Sybil, autonomously finds vulnerabilities faster than human hackers and enables organizations to identify and fix weaknesses before they can be exploited. It combines state-of-the-art artificial intelligence with deep cybersecurity expertise to deliver active defense capabilities that simulate real attacker behavior. RunSybil’s core team includes seasoned industry veterans from OpenAI, Meta, Mandiant, NCC Group, and Trail of Bits.

Supporter Sponsors


Triple Haven Technologies was founded in 2016 and is a team comprised of Reverse Engineers, Vulnerability Researchers, Tool Developers, and System Engineers. Our staff experience ranges from mid-level engineers to senior engineers and includes multiple subject matter experts. As a small cyber security focused company, Triple Haven is experienced in providing efficient, successful, deployable, and customized solutions to customers at mission speed.

Special Thanks to the “old BK Hackers”


The Lineup

check back soon 2025…

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

Stay Tuned – We’re Figuring It Out

While there isn’t enough time to shovel a bunch of money out for Summercon 2022 research, we are really excited about being able to fund new research. Thanks for being patient!