Black Hat Brings Together Cybersecurity Experts in Riyadh

A flock of experts, speakers, and ethical hackers have gathered in Saudi Arabia to partake in Black Hat, a cybersecurity event organized to provide a platform of communication for people interested in cybersecurity and expertise exchange in this field.

Black Hat has been organized this year following the success achieved by the “@Hack”, a similar event that was held last year, and lured many peeps from the cybersecurity sector. Black Hat has brought together over 200 international speakers, and more than 250 pioneering cybersecurity firms, including Cisco, IBM, Spire, and Infoblox, in addition to over 40 startups.

The event is organized by the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones (SAFCSP) and Informa Tech, in partnership with the General Entertainment Authority (GEA). Black Hat contributes to accomplishing the kingdom’s goal to empower its citizens, enhance their skills in the field of cybersecurity and programming, and growing its national cadres in the modern technology sector.

“The passion and ambition I saw in the Saudi government and people in this vital sector promise a great future for this industry in Saudi Arabia. Organizing Black Hat in the kingdom comes as a response to the remarkable enthusiasm we noticed among the Saudi youth in this field. Last year, ‘@Hack’ welcomed a record number of visitors that we haven’t seen in any event in the US in the past 20 years. We expect last year’s record to be broken this year,” Mike Champion, regional executive vice president of Informa Markets, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Champion hailed Saudi Arabia’s plan to empower one programmer in every 100 Saudi citizens, noting that it’s an ambitious plan that will contribute to creating an amazing future for the sector. “We will try to support this plan through such events, which bring the best programmers, hackers, and experts from the cybersecurity world to meet Saudis interested in learning more about this industry,” he explained.

The event includes six main zones hosting an executive summit dedicated to the region's elite cybersecurity chiefs to discuss the latest developments in the field, and exchange expertise; technical workshops; a business lounge that hosts large corporates and startups from Saudi Arabia and the world; the Arsenal zone for developers where the latest developments are presented; and training courses that are offered by 50 professional trainers.

Black Hat also includes the ‘Capture the Flag’ competition that features several challenges including websites’ bugs exploitation, digital forensic analysis, reverse engineering, and coding. More than 1,000 contestants, and 200 teams from 35 counties compete for a prize of SAR700,000 over three days.

Other competitions include the Bug Bounty Cup, which urges participants to hunt and explore bugs in real security companies for cash prizes of SAR300,000. Black Hat also introduces the Cyber Village, which brings together 6 different challenges, namely the Vehicle Penetration Challenge, which aims to educate security researchers about the functions of vehicle systems as well as providing them with practical experience; the Unlock Challenge, a physical security experience where visitors can identify weaknesses in different locks; and the Escape the Room challenge that requires the team's collaboration as contestants solve a series of puzzles within a limited time frame.

The Smart City Challenge simulates various sectors of infrastructure where security researchers can exploit security gaps in infrastructure installations; the Drones Breakthrough Challenge, a competition between two teams, in which the first team seeks to deliver the largest number of shipments by drone while the other team seeks to carry out various cyber-attacks on drones of the first team; and finally, the Electronic Chips Hacking challenge that gives visitors the opportunity to learn how to hack mobile devices and the Internet of Things, and control access to stored data.

The Cyber Seed competition comes within the Business Hall zone, where participating startups present their business ideas to tech experts and investors to win over SAR90,000.

Black Hat is a global cybersecurity event launched in 1997, and one of the world's most important events for the information security sector and a destination to those interested. It started as an annual event in Las Vegas before moving to many countries around the world. The event comes to the region for the first time this year, in Riyadh, to showcase the technology's latest updates in addressing challenges and enhancing cyber skills.

Japan's famed cherry trees are getting old, but a new AI tool that assesses photos of the delicate pink and white flowers could help preserve them for future generations.

The "sakura" season is feverishly anticipated by locals and visitors alike, with the profusion of the stunning blossoms marking the start of spring.

But many of the trees are reaching 70 to 80 years old, well beyond their prime blooming age.

This means increasing costs to tend to the trees and maintain popular flowering spots.

To help authorities identify ailing specimens, brewing giant Kirin developed a tool called Sakura AI Camera.

It tells users the condition and the age of the trees based on photos they take with their smartphones and upload them to a website.

A five-point scale -- only available in Japanese for now -- ranges from "very healthy" to "worrying".

A tree with healthy flowers blooming densely all the way to the tips of the branches gets top marks.

The artificial intelligence tool has been trained using 5,000 images of cherry trees with the help of experts.

The photos are then mapped on the Sakura AI Camera website with details such as tree condition and location.

"We heard that the preservation of sakura requires manpower and money and that it's difficult to gather information," Risa Shioda from Kirin told AFP.

"I think we can contribute by making it easier to plan for conservation," she said.

About 20,000 photos have been collected since the launch last month, with the data available online for free for local authorities.

- Worth a million -

According to Tokyo's Meguro Ward, famous for its riverbanks lined with cherry trees, replanting a new one costs around one million yen ($6,800).

Hiroyuki Wada of the Japan Tree Doctors Association, who inspects cherry trees in major spots in Tokyo, helped supervise the AI tool.

He said he hopes that it will help experts study the environmental reasons behind the degradation of some of the trees he sees.

In part, he blames climate change.

"I'm very worried. Changes in the environment are usually gradual, but now it's visible," he told AFP.

"There are impacts from the heat, and of course the lack of rainfall," he said.

"The age of the trees naturally makes the situation more serious," he added.

Japan's weather agency said in January that last year was the hottest since records began, like other nations.

Kirin began donating some of its profits for the preservation of cherry trees last year, as a way to "pay back" to the communities.

Cherry blossoms symbolize the fragility of life in Japanese culture as full blooms only last about a week before the petals start falling off trees.

The season is also considered one of change as it marks the start of the new business year, with many university graduates starting their first full-time jobs and older colleagues shifting to new positions.

Black Hat Brings Together Cybersecurity Experts in Riyadh