Conference Description
Key Takeaways
- HOPE 26 brings together hackers, security researchers, journalists, and digital rights advocates for three days of technical sessions and community building
- Topics span offensive and defensive security, cryptography, wireless automotive systems, space systems security, and government transparency
- The conference addresses pressing challenges including digital privacy, secure communications for journalists, and online censorship
- Sessions explore intersections between technology, art, culture, and activism, including feminist and queer perspectives in tech
- Participating organisations include the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and ProPublica
Introduction
HOPE 26, the seventeenth edition of Hackers On Planet Earth, returns to New York City from 14–16 August 2026. The conference serves as a gathering point for hackers, security researchers, digital rights advocates, journalists, and technologists seeking to examine the relationship between technology and society. At a time when debates over digital privacy, government surveillance, and platform accountability continue to intensify, HOPE provides a venue for technical education, policy discussion, and community organising.
About This Event
Organised as a nonprofit initiative, HOPE operates as an all-ages conference designed to be accessible to both seasoned security professionals and newcomers to hacker culture. The event takes place at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, featuring multiple simultaneous tracks that accommodate diverse interests and skill levels. Beyond traditional presentations, the programme includes hands-on workshops, contests, entertainment, and vendor areas where attendees can engage directly with tools and techniques.
The conference structure reflects hacker culture’s emphasis on practical knowledge transfer. Rather than passive consumption of presentations, attendees are encouraged to participate, experiment, and collaborate. This approach distinguishes HOPE from more commercially oriented security conferences, prioritising community education over product demonstrations.
Technical and Policy Discussion Areas
The technical programme covers both offensive and defensive security methodologies. Sessions address vulnerability research, penetration testing techniques, and defensive strategies for protecting systems against emerging threats. Specialised tracks examine wireless automotive security, an area of growing concern as vehicles become increasingly connected, and space systems security, reflecting the expanding attack surface created by satellite communications and orbital infrastructure.
Cryptography remains central to the programme, with sessions exploring both theoretical foundations and practical implementations. These discussions connect directly to broader themes of privacy and secure communications, particularly relevant for journalists and activists operating in hostile environments.
Policy-focused sessions examine government transparency, online age assurance mechanisms, and digital censorship. The presence of organisations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, and Freedom of the Press Foundation underscores the conference’s engagement with advocacy and policy reform. ProPublica’s participation highlights the intersection between investigative journalism and technical security practices, an area where secure communication tools have become essential infrastructure.
Technology, Culture, and Activism
HOPE has historically distinguished itself through programming that situates technical work within broader cultural and political contexts. Sessions exploring feminist and queer perspectives in technology examine how power structures shape both the development and deployment of technical systems. These discussions move beyond diversity as a human resources concern to analyse how identity and experience influence security research, tool design, and community norms.
The conference also programmes sessions at the intersection of technology and art, recognising that creative practitioners often identify novel applications and implications of emerging technologies before they become apparent to traditional security researchers.
Who Should Attend
HOPE draws attendees from across the technology and media sectors. Security analysts and penetration testers attend for technical content and peer networking. Journalists, particularly those covering national security, technology policy, or investigative beats, benefit from sessions on secure communications and source protection. Policy advocates and academics find value in discussions that bridge technical implementation and regulatory frameworks.
The conference’s inclusive positioning also welcomes students, educators, and those new to security research. Unlike conferences oriented primarily toward enterprise security teams, HOPE maintains accessibility for independent researchers, hobbyists, and those approaching technology from artistic or activist perspectives.
Community-Driven Knowledge Sharing
The nonprofit structure and community orientation of HOPE reflect a particular philosophy about how security knowledge should circulate. Rather than treating vulnerability research and defensive techniques as proprietary assets, the conference operates on principles of open exchange. This approach has historical roots in hacker culture’s emphasis on information sharing, though it exists in tension with commercial security markets and government classification regimes. For attendees, this creates opportunities for learning and collaboration that may be unavailable in more restricted professional contexts.