Black Hat USA 2026 Wrap-Up: The Agentic Age Has Arrived And Is Reshaping How Defenders Work
Black Hat, Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
Black Hat's recap of USA 2026 identifies the arrival of the agentic age as the event's overarching theme, spanning AI agents, predictive defense, and machine-speed operations.
More than 23,000 members of the cybersecurity community gathered in Las Vegas across six days of Trainings, Briefings, Summits, Keynotes, Arsenal demonstrations, and Business Hall conversations, with attendance up more than 15% year over year.
Discussions of agentic AI that were once theoretical became tangible across research presentations, executive discussions, and community-built demos. Sponsors including ThreatLocker, Microsoft Security, Google Cloud Security, Cisco, SentinelOne, ServiceNow, Wiz, Tenable, and Qualys showed security strategies built around autonomous systems and AI-powered analysis.