SVCC 2026: Three Days of Innovation, Collaboration, and Community

SVCC 2026 at San José State University, bringing together researchers, students, industry professionals, and cybersecurity leaders.

Supported by IEEE, IEEE Computer Society, HPE, and Adobe

Innovation. Collaboration. Inspiration.

For three days in June, San José was home to the 7th Silicon Valley Cybersecurity Conference (SVCC 2026), bringing together researchers, industry professionals, students, educators, and cybersecurity practitioners from across the field.

Hosted by the Silicon Valley Cybersecurity Institute (SVCSI) in collaboration with the IEEE Computer Society, SVCC 2026 offered a mix of research presentations, keynote talks, industry sessions, tutorials, competitions, and opportunities to connect with others working in cybersecurity.

From the first keynote to the final conversations of the conference, the program reflected how quickly the cybersecurity field is changing—and how important it is for researchers, industry, and students to learn from one another. Exploring the Future of Cybersecurity

Artificial intelligence was an important topic throughout SVCC 2026. It appeared across research presentations, keynote talks, industry sessions, tutorials, and hands-on activities. Attendees connect and exchange ideas during SVCC 2026. Speakers discussed the growing role of AI in areas such as secure software development, cloud security, privacy, networking, and cyber defense. Rather than focusing on AI alone, many sessions looked at how these technologies are becoming part of the broader cybersecurity landscape and what that means for building secure and reliable systems. Keynote Speakers

SVCC 2026 featured four keynote speakers who brought perspectives from leading universities and industry.

The conference opened with Dr. Ioannis Demertzis of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who discussed scalable secure computation and the future of privacy-preserving systems, databases, and AI.

Dr. David Brumley of Carnegie Mellon University explored the evolution of offensive security in his keynote, The Evolution of Popping the Shell: From Craft to Computation, looking at how automation and AI are changing vulnerability discovery.

On the final day, Dr. Mustaque Ahamad of the Georgia Institute of Technology shared his perspective on trusted computing platforms and the challenges of building secure systems in an increasingly connected world.

The conference concluded with Sai Ramamoorthy, Vice President at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), whose keynote, From Packets to Prompts: How Networks, Operations, and Security Are Being Rebuilt, examined the changes taking place across enterprise networks, operations, and cybersecurity.

The four keynotes gave attendees an opportunity to hear different perspectives from both academic researchers and industry leaders about the issues shaping cybersecurity today. Research at the Center of SVCC

Research has always been an important part of SVCC, and this year's conference continued that tradition.

Researchers from universities, research institutions, and industry presented peer-reviewed work covering topics including artificial intelligence, secure systems, cloud security, networking, privacy, and cyber resilience.

The Research Poster Competition was another highlight of the conference. Students and early-career researchers had the opportunity to present their work directly to attendees, receive feedback, and connect with other researchers and professionals.

These conversations are an important part of SVCC, providing opportunities for academic research to connect with practical cybersecurity challenges. Learning by Doing

SVCC 2026 also gave participants opportunities to put their skills into practice.

The Adobe Capture-the-Flag (CTF) challenged participants with hands-on security problems, while the HPE CyberWarrior Hackathon gave teams the opportunity to build and test secure solutions through its “Build-It” and “Break-It” phases.

Adobe Capture-the-Flag participants celebrate their achievements at SVCC 2026.

The IBM Quantum Safety Tutorial, presented by John Buselli and Jim McGugan, introduced participants to the security challenges associated with quantum computing and the importance of preparing today's cryptographic systems.

Another session, “Bug-Finding and Patching for the LLM Era,” led by Dr. Taesoo Kim and Andrew Chin from Georgia Tech, explored new approaches to finding and patching software vulnerabilities with the help of large language models.

These hands-on activities added another dimension to the conference, allowing participants to learn directly from experts and apply what they were learning.

Connecting Industry and Research

The Industry Sessions brought together cybersecurity professionals from organizations including Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, ServiceNow, and other technology companies.

Speakers shared practical experiences and discussed topics ranging from AI-assisted cyber defense and security automation to Zero Trust, multi-cloud security, privacy, and the secure deployment of AI agents.

The sessions provided an opportunity to hear how cybersecurity challenges are being addressed in real-world environments and how ideas developed through research are making their way into products, services, and organizational practices.

Beyond the Sessions

Some of the most memorable parts of a conference happen outside the scheduled sessions.

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Attendees connect and exchange ideas during SVCC 2026.

Throughout SVCC 2026, attendees connected during poster sessions, coffee breaks, networking events, and informal conversations. Students met researchers, researchers connected with industry professionals, and new ideas and collaborations began through conversations that may continue long after the conference.

That sense of community is an important part of what makes SVCC special. Thank You to Our Community

SVCC 2026 would not have been possible without the many people who contributed their time, knowledge, and energy to the conference.

We sincerely thank our keynote speakers, industry presenters, researchers, reviewers, sponsors, volunteers, students, organizing committee members, and all of our attendees for being part of SVCC 2026.

The conference brought together people with different experiences and perspectives, but with a shared interest in advancing cybersecurity and preparing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

We are grateful for the ideas shared, the connections made, and the many conversations that began during these three days.

We look forward to continuing this journey with our cybersecurity community and welcoming everyone back to the next SVCC. Voices from SVCC 2026

Eman Naseerkhan

“Getting to present original research AND compete against some seriously talented people, all in the same week, is something I won't forget. Beyond the wins, some of the most valuable moments came from the conversations in between, meeting fellow students, industry professionals, and academics who are all pushing this field forward. Grateful for the team and the community!”

Jason Jenlincic

“SVCC 2026 exceeded all my expectations. As my first cybersecurity conference, it provided an incredible opportunity to present research, compete in the HPE Build It, Break It Hackathon, and connect with inspiring researchers and industry professionals. Winning Best Poster and placing 3rd in the hackathon made the experience even more rewarding. I'm grateful to the organizers, mentors, and everyone at the Silicon Valley Cybersecurity Institute for creating such an engaging and impactful event. I look forward to returning in the future.”

Krupa Pratap Brahmkstri

“SVCC 2026 provided an outstanding platform to share ideas and collaborate with cybersecurity professionals from academia and industry. Presenting on Identity-Centric AI and discussing the future of AI-driven cyber defense was a truly rewarding experience. I'm grateful to the Silicon Valley Cybersecurity Institute for bringing together researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders to foster innovation and meaningful conversations that will shape the future of cybersecurity.”