Positive Hack Days 10: The Origin to take place on May 20–21, 2021

The iconic Positive Hack Days forum will open its doors on May 20–21, 2021, at the Hyatt Regency Moscow Petrovsky Park. This year we will not just talk about attacks and defense, we will take on the audacious role of writers of history, describing transformation and the beginning of a new era.

The event will be held in a hybrid format: some will be able to attend it in person, and some will be able to watch a live online broadcast. The broadcast will allow you to view the main halls and backstage of the forum from different angles through dozens of cameras and experience total immersion thanks to the filming that is on a par with the TV format.

Russian and foreign developers, representatives of governmental authorities, CIOs and CISOs of the largest Russian and international companies, leading experts from banks as well as telecom, oil and gas, industrial, and IT companies are going to speak at PHDays. The program consists of dozens of presentations, workshops, hands-on labs, round tables, and lectures.

The forum will traditionally include a large-scale competition program developed by leading cybersecurity experts, based on all the wide experience of conducting PHDays. Contests are an important part of the event: they visualize the infosec threats around us.

"We came up with the concept of The Origin last year, but time has shown that it happened a bit prematurely: it should take place right now. And this is associated not only with the post-COVID era and the dramatic increase in the importance of digital technologies, but also with the overdue necessity to reassess the information security model, which will change the established infosec role in business," said Vladimir Zapolyansky, Director for Marketing and Corporate Communications at Positive Technologies.

In 2020, The Standoff, the world's largest open cyberbattle, separated from PHDays and became an independent activity. This year, The Standoff will become a full-fledged partner of the forum for the first time. The Standoff cyber-range is a digital replica of a modern metropolis, emulating the real city infrastructure with its industrial and energy complexes, financial system, banks, transport infrastructure, entertainment facilities, and business center. The virtual city will become a battleground for red and blue teams and will clearly demonstrate how important it is for today's businesses to have a risk-oriented information security strategy. The battle will take place on May 17–21, and its results will be given wide publicity within the PHDays framework.

"Technologies are not easy to visualize because we can't always show their internals in the form of servers, cables, and light bulbs, and we are working towards the solution," says Vladimir Zapolyansky. "At The Standoff you can clearly convey to any audience the idea of how technology is woven into the modern city and into our lives and how dangerous the consequences of cyberattacks may be. It is a place to try out any hypotheses, a place where anyone can anticipate and avoid catastrophic consequences in real life."

"Positive Hack Days reflects the expertise and knowledge content of the IT and IS industries in Russia. Every year, the role of IT in the world is growing, and technology is developing at an incredible pace. That is why we believe that The Origin, the central theme of the event, should be put forward now, in the Year of Science and Technology in Russia," says Victoria Alexeeva, Program Director of Positive Hack Days.

See you on May 20 and 21 at PHDays!