The Black Hat Briefings was created to fill the need for computer security professionals to better understand the security risks to information infrastructures and computer systems. Black Hat accomplishes this by assembling a group of vendor-neutral security professionals and having them speak candidly about the problems businesses face and the solutions to those problems. No gimmicks - just straight talk by people who make it their business to know the information security space.

IF YOU WANT TO SUBMIT, PLEASE NOTE:
Black Hat does not accept product or vendor related pitches. If your talk is a thinly-veiled advertisement for a new product or service your company is offering, please do not apply.

If you want to present a "101" level course on a new technology or to introduce the attendees to a new issue, please label your submission as such. For example, a person talking about an overview of anonymous networking technologies would call their talk something like "Anonymous Networking 101: An overview of technologies used to obfuscate your network behavior", etc.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

#1 Decide which show you would be able to present at.
You must choose to speak at either the US or Federal show. Speakers who are chosen to speak at one are not automatically chosen to speak at the other. You are currently on the Federal 2003 CFP page.
The goal: To assure that presenters will be ready with completed materials.

#2 Decide what key subjects/topics your presentation will cover and select the appropriate track.
This is intended to help us place your talk in the appropriate subject/topic category. Because of the unique nature of this conference, the combining of some of the best hackers with security professionals, there will be an emphasis on where the rubber meets the road. What works, what doesn't, and what to do about it.
The goal: To assure diversity in the topic and presentation selections.

The Black Hat Federal 2003 Briefings tracks will be:

Attack!
Policy, Procedure and Law
IDS, IPS and Honeynets
Defend!
Application Security
Routing & Infrastructure

#3 Understand the differnt time constraints.
Generally, talks will be 75 minutes, 90 minutes. It is expected the speaker will budget time for audience participation and Q&A.
The goal: Create lively and challenging interaction with the audience.

#4 Submit a presentation.
We have changed the way we accept submissions. Submit presentation after completing the submissions form.

Speakers may submit more than one proposal but each proposal must be submitted via separate submissions forms.

Additional supporting materials (in Microsoft Word '95, '97 or 2000, Power Point '95, '97 or 2000, Adobe Acrobat .PDF or plain text) that may be useful in helping us in selection (eg code, white papers, references, resume, etc) may be submitted along to: cfp<a>blackhat.com

Note: although we will make a reasonable attempt to accommodate speakers' request for equipment/services, we cannot and will not guarantee the availability of such items. In the case that special equipment/services or additional equipment/services is requested, the speaker is expected to bear such costs themselves. Every speaker is expected to make presentations from their own machines.

#5 We have changed the submissions policy. Submit presentation after completing the submissions form. Additional materials such as white papers, proof of concept, etc that may enable us to to help decide whether your topic would be appropriate should also be sent along to: cfp<a>blackhat.com Submissions are due no later than August 15, 2003 for Black Hat Federal.

Send submissions to cfp<a>blackhat.com Presentations are selected and evaluated in the order received. If you want to present on a topic, let us know early even if you turn your materials in right at the deadline. This helps us plan and select topics. Don't hold off until the last minute.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Talks will be reviewed through a voting process. Submissions get rated on a one to five scale by each of the reviewers, and the resulting scores are added up. Those submissions in each category with the highest scores are selected. In the case of topic overlap a lesser scoring submission may be selected to keep variety in the program.

People submitting a talk proposal will get email notification that Black Hat has received the proposal generally within 48 hours of receipt of the submission. Once selection has been completed you will receive in email a confirmation of acceptance or rejection.

Speakers will be contacted if there are any questions about their presentations. If your talk is accepted, you can continue to modify and evolve it up until September 1, 2003, at which time it is frozen for the printed materials and CD ROM.

All presentations must be vendor neutral (no sales pitches for services or products are permitted). Presentations which demonstrate proprietary tool(s) must provide a copy of the tool(s) for distribution on the Black Hat CD and website. All sources of information, software, etc should be properly cited.

Things that get our attention:
Talks that are more technical or reveal new vulnerabilities are of more interest than a review of material covered many times before. We are striving to create a high-end technical conference and any talk that helps reach this goal will be given extra attention.

Original content or research that has been created specifically for Black Hat and has not been seen before always gets extra priority as well as demonstrations involving new material, or a new way of presenting information to the attendees.

Note: By speaking at the Black Hat Briefings you are granting Black Hat, Inc. permission to reproduce, distribute, advertise and show your presentation including but not limited to https://www.blackhat.com, printed and/or electronic ads, flyers, mailers, etc.

SPEAKING REQUIREMENTS

To meet the goals outlined above, Black Hat expects several things from selected speakers.

1) If you are going to announce or demonstrate a new tool as the primary focus of your talk, that tool must be made available for the conference CD ROM. We don't want a room full of people all excited about what you have demonstrated only to learn the tool is $12,000 and not available to the general public.

2) Your completed materials for the printed conference proceedings MUST be submitted by September 1, 2003 or you will be dropped as a speaker and an alternative will be put in your place. Materials for the CDROM, (which can include an updated presentation), must be submitted by September 15, 2003.

3) Black Hat expects speakers to be available during the lunches and reception in order to meet and mingle with the attendees. If you cannot do so, for example because of a business commitment, please let us know when you submit your materials.

4) Assume that the attendees already understand the basic concepts regarding your topic. For example, if you are talking about cryptography, assume that everyone knows the difference between public key vs. symmetric algorithms. Black Hat strives to be known as a more technical security conference, and as such, expect more high-level details from their speakers. If you must err in one direction or the other, err on the side of more technical.

5) In your presentation please include a reference to all of the tool(s), law(s), web site(s) or publication(s) you refer to. This bibliography will greatly help attendees who wish to learn more about your subject, but are not sure where to start. This is a new requirement for presentations in 2003.

6) The content you provide for the conference CD ROM should include a copy of all the RFCs, White Papers, and/or tools referenced in your presentation. Attendees really like this, and we do too.

7) If you are performing a demonstration we expect you to provide all the necessary equipment. We will only provide an internet connection, power, and AV equipment as detailed in the Presentation Resources section.

8) If your presentation discusses a problem, also present suggested solutions. If no solutions exist please explain why they are not possible or practical and what you think the impact will be. If you present a solution to a new problem also explain what the weaknesses to the solution are, as well as their impact on the problem.

PRESENTATION RESOURCES
We can accommodate most requests if it enhances your presentation and they are made at least four weeks in advance of the show. Current tools we can make available to speakers include LCD projectors, slide projectors, microphones, video switch boxes, and wireless network access.

Black Hat currently provides 2 lcd projectors, 2 screens, microphone, and video switch box. Microphones are always wired since wireless mics can often be interrupted by cell phones.

This year will be two LCD projectors in a session. If your talk requires any sort of demonstration we encourage you to set up a network (presenters are advised that they are responsible for providing their own hardware and software) and have each machine projecting on one of the LCDs. This way audience members will be able to follow along what is occurring on each node as the talks progress, or the speaker may provide different information on different screen, etc.

There will be wireless Internet connectivity in case you need network access to demonstrate any aspect of your presentation.

Please forward any additional resource questions to cfp<a>blackhat.com

REMUNERATION
The remuneration policy has changed!

If you have never presented at Black Hat before, and you are selected to present, Black Hat will pay for one presenter's coach class roundtrip airfare and one hotel room for three nights at the Sheraton Premiere at Tyson's Corner and a speaking honorarium of $500 USD.

If you have spoken before at Black Hat you will receive one presenter's round trip coach class airfare, one hotel room for three nights at the official Black Hat venue hotel, and a speaking honorarium of $1,000 USD.

1. If you have been specifically invited to speak you fall into the second category.
2. If you work for a company that is also an official Black Hat sponsor, we are unable to offer any compensation for travel, accommodations or honorarium.
3. Speakers who are asked to participate in a panel but who also present on a topic will not be paid an additional honorarium.
4. Speakers who are asked to present on separate topics at the same conference will earn an honorarium for each presentation. Only the original airfare and hotel room will be covered (no additional rooms, room nights or travel expenses will be provided or reimbursed).

Once you have been accepted, you will be contacted by us to make hotel and travel arrangements. Please make sure that you include a valid email address and telephone number (and fax if possible) where you can be reached.

HOTEL INFORMATION
The Black Hat Federal 2003 Briefings & Training Conference will take place September 29-October 2, 2003 at the Sheraton Premiere at Tyson's Corner, Virginia. Please see the Federal Briefings pages for more information on hotel, venue, schedules, etc.

IMPORTANT DATES
August 15, 2003: Call for Papers closes for Black Hat Federal 2003. Submit NOW.
August 31, 2003: Early Bird Discount Rate for registration closes
September 1, 2003: Conference / Group discount rates at the hotel closes. Reminder: you can reserve your room at the same time as you register for the conference
September 1, 2003: Deadline for materials for inclusion in the printed Conference Proceedings
September 15, 2003: Deadline for materials for inclusion in the Conference CD
September 29-30, 2003: Black Hat Federal 2003 Training at the Sheraton Premiere at Tyson's Corner, Virginia
October 1-2, 2003: Black Hat Federal 2003 Briefings at the Sheraton Premiere at Tyson's Corner, Virginia
Registration will open May 15.

MORE CONVENTION INFORMATION
Please visit https://www.blackhat.com/ for previous conference archives, information, and speeches. Updated announcements will be posted to news groups, security mailing lists, email, and the Black Hat web site when available.

Thank you for your time!

Jeff Moss, Organizer