This week Las Vegas hosts "Hacker Summer Camp", the trio of BSides, Black Hat and DEF CON conferences that draw the global cybersecurity industry together. Beyond the sweltering August heat, the dominant theme across all three events is agentic AI: how to secure and govern autonomous agents so they don't go rogue, whether lawmakers should regulate models including open-weight and Chinese systems, and how attackers are already exploiting AI agents for autonomous hacking. Vendors at Black Hat in particular are expected to pitch AI-driven tools for detecting and defending against threats at machine speed.

BSides Las Vegas (3-5 August) is the smallest and most community-focused event, offering hands-on technical talks and a career-oriented "Hire Ground" track. Black Hat (1-6 August) is the largest and most corporate, featuring a government-heavy opening session titled "Cyber Power in the Age of AI" with officials including National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, CISA's Nick Anderson and the FBI's Brett Leatherman, plus keynotes on AI-powered vulnerability research and a premiere of the documentary "Midnight in the War Room". DEF CON (6-9 August) closes the week under the theme of "agency", with veteran organiser Jake Braun highlighting the need for hackers and human-rights advocates to collaborate on emerging technology issues.