Conference Description
Key Takeaways
- Executive-level cybersecurity event designed for CISOs and senior security leaders seeking peer-driven learning
- Focus areas include AI threat response, insider risk, non-human identity security, and agentic AI
- Interactive format featuring tabletop exercises, mock scenarios, and hands-on workshops
- Addresses practical challenges in measuring security ROI, board communication, and organisational resilience
- Organised by Confide Group with sponsorship from A Security, Bolster AI, Safetica, Aembit, Clarity, Gambit, and Cimento
Introduction
The Los Angeles Anti-Summit brings together CISOs and senior security leaders for a departure from conventional conference formats. Organised by Confide Group and held at Altar in Long Beach, California, the event prioritises hands-on collaboration over passive presentation attendance. At a time when AI-driven threats are reshaping the security landscape and organisations face mounting pressure to demonstrate the business value of their security investments, the Anti-Summit offers practitioners an environment built around candid peer exchange and practical problem-solving.
A Different Approach to Security Conferences
The Anti-Summit positions itself as an alternative to traditional cybersecurity events where attendees often spend hours listening to vendor presentations and keynote speeches. Instead, the format centres on active participation through tabletop exercises, mock incident scenarios, peer-led roundtable discussions, and interactive workshops. This structure reflects a growing recognition among security leaders that the most valuable conference experiences often happen in hallway conversations rather than auditorium seats.
The event’s design acknowledges that senior security professionals frequently learn more effectively from peers who have navigated similar challenges than from theoretical frameworks or product demonstrations. By creating structured opportunities for experience sharing, the Anti-Summit aims to help attendees develop actionable strategies they can implement within their own organisations.
AI Security and Emerging Threat Vectors
Several discussion tracks address the security implications of artificial intelligence from multiple angles. Sessions on AI threat response examine how adversaries are leveraging machine learning capabilities to enhance attack sophistication, while separate workshops explore the defensive applications of AI within security operations. The inclusion of non-human identity and agentic AI security as distinct topics reflects the expanding attack surface that organisations face as automated systems increasingly interact with sensitive resources without direct human oversight.
These discussions arrive at a critical juncture for security teams. As enterprises deploy AI agents capable of autonomous decision-making and action, traditional identity and access management frameworks require fundamental reconsideration. The Anti-Summit provides a forum for practitioners to share early experiences and emerging best practices in this rapidly evolving domain.
Operational Challenges and Business Alignment
Beyond technical threat discussions, the agenda addresses persistent operational challenges that security leaders face. Sessions on measuring ROI for AI initiatives speak to the ongoing difficulty of quantifying security investments in terms that resonate with executive leadership and boards. Workshops on maximising value from penetration testing offer practical guidance on translating technical findings into meaningful risk reduction.
The programme also tackles insider risk investigation, an area where technical controls must be balanced against employee privacy considerations and organisational culture. Customer-targeted fraud represents another discussion thread, acknowledging that security teams increasingly bear responsibility for protecting not just internal assets but also the customers who interact with their platforms.
Executive communication under pressure receives dedicated attention, recognising that a CISO’s effectiveness during a security incident depends as much on stakeholder management as on technical response capabilities. Building organisational resilience emerges as a unifying theme across multiple sessions, reflecting the reality that modern security programmes must prepare for disruption rather than assuming prevention will always succeed.
Who Should Attend
The Anti-Summit is designed for security executives responsible for strategic decision-making within their organisations. The target audience includes CISOs, Chief Security Officers, Heads of Cybersecurity, VPs of Security and IT Operations, Deputy CISOs, and CIOs with security oversight responsibilities. Attendees typically come from large enterprises, technology companies, and organisations with mature security programmes where leaders face complex, multi-faceted challenges that benefit from peer perspective.
Sponsoring Organisations
The event receives support from sponsors operating across the cybersecurity landscape. A Security and Bolster AI serve as lead sponsors, with supporting sponsorship from Safetica, Aembit, Clarity, and Gambit. Cimento sponsors the dinner programme. The technologies represented span AI security, data loss prevention, cloud collaboration security, and penetration testing services.