Nation-State Threats, LOTL Attacks, Quantum, Identity Risks & Cyber Warfare Among Topics Discussed

: #5G--Billington CyberSecurity:

WHAT
Many of the top names in federal cyberspace will be talking about the most pressing issues impacting the nation, during the 17th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit, being held September 8-10 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. This three-day event includes over 50 panel discussions, breakout sessions, and fireside chats that explore topics such as Living Off the Land (LOTL) attacks, nation-state threat campaigns, quantum computing, space systems security, Zero Trust, and more. The Summit draws 3,000+ attendees, and more than 250 high-level government officials and industry speakers will address topics related to the event’s theme: Reducing Risk in an Age of AI-Enabled Threats.

WHEN
September 8-10, 2026. See agenda for hours.

SELECT TOPICS
Session topics include:

• Understanding the Modern Nation-State Threat Landscape. Top intelligence and industry analysts will unpack evolving state-sponsored cyber operations. The panel explores adversary motivations, strategic trends, supply-chain compromise strategies, and multi-year espionage campaigns targeting critical infrastructure and defense industries, along with attribution challenges and hybrid warfare escalation risks.

• Balancing Innovation and Risk: How AI is Shifting the Cybersecurity Landscape. AI is reshaping the cyber threat landscape, accelerating both attacks and the tools available to defend against them. This panel explores how the public and private sectors can work together to counter AI-enabled threats - from automated vulnerability discovery and synthetic malware to increasingly sophisticated deception - while harnessing AI to strengthen cyber defense.

• Weaponization of AI by Cyber Adversaries. AI is enabling automated reconnaissance, exploit generation, and phishing at scale. This panel explores AI risks, ethics, and how defenders must respond.

• Detecting and Countering Living-Off-the-Land (LOTL) Campaigns. LOTL attacks bypass traditional detections by using native operating system tools and cloud services. This panel explores behavioral analytics, telemetry fusion, identity-centric detection, and MITRE ATT&CK-informed hunt strategies, walking through recent LOTL case studies and defense-in-depth approaches that work in modern hybrid environments.

• A Conversation with the CISA Director. Nick Andersen, Acting Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, will outline CISA’s strategic priorities for 2027–2028, including defending critical infrastructure, public-private and state and local partnerships, and advancing operational resilience across civilian government networks.

• Hardening Identity: Real-World Techniques to Stop Token Theft, MFA Fatigue & Privilege Escalation. This panel examines the identity-security failures threat actors exploit most frequently and the controls that demonstrably reduce risk, including field-tested approaches for strengthening authentication, constraining privilege, and disrupting attacker movement across complex enterprise environments.

• The Security of Space. Space systems are now prime targets for cyber espionage and disruption. This panel examines cybersecurity across the entire space ecosystem, including satellites, command-and-control links, commercial launch systems, ground infrastructure, and the terrestrial networks and cloud platforms that store and process space-derived data.

• United Front: Building an Allied Nation Cyber Analytic Framework to Enable Enhanced Collective Defense. As cyber threats increasingly target nations through shared vulnerabilities and interconnected systems, allied countries face a growing imperative to move beyond ad hoc coordination toward structured, intelligence-driven collaboration. A group of Five-Eye leaders will explore how they are building a common analytical framework to strengthen collective defense, improve attribution and threat prioritization, and counter shared adversaries.

• The Future of Cyber Warfare: Maintaining a Strategic Advantage in an Era of AI, Strategic Competition, and Information Dominance. The Hon. Katherine “Katie” Sutton, Assistant Secretary of War for Cyber Policy and Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of War, will discuss the Department of War’s evolving cyber enterprise, strengthening partnerships with industry, integrating AI into military operations, and ensuring the United States is prepared to deter and, if necessary, prevail against sophisticated cyber threats.

WHERE
Walter E. Washington Convention Center
801 Allen Y. Lew Place NW
Washington, DC 20001

HOW
Credentialed working media may attend at no charge and are encouraged to register in advance to cover the event, subject to approval, at https://billingtoncybersummit.com/register. For questions, contact Shawn Flaherty at 703-554-3609.

WHY
Founded in 2010, Billington CyberSecurity is a leading cyber education company for executives, hosting high-caliber summits and workshops that explore key cyber issues that advance the cybersecurity of the U.S. government, its allied partners, and critical infrastructure. The Summit is presented by a variety of sponsors, including Lead Underwriters Amazon Web Services, Cisco, and Leidos, and will also include a host of receptions and over 150 cyber-focused exhibitor booths.

Fonte: Business Wire