OFFZONE 2024 attracts record attendance

In the two days of the conference, 124 experts spoke to a crowd of 4,000 people. The event was supported by 50 partners, including 9 media outlets and 17 community groups

August 23, 2024

The 5th conference on practical cybersecurity OFFZONE 2024 took place in Moscow’s ZIL cultural center on August 22–23, bringing together industry professionals, developers, researchers, and members of the academia.

OFFZONE is growing year to year without compromising on its essentials—the highest quality of technical content. This year, we broke the attendance record with 4,000 people visiting the event. It is both a platform for sharing practical insights and a networking venue for the cybersecurity community. This is the reason why OFFZONE remains one of the key annual events in the industry. The feedback we receive reaffirms this and inspires us to try new ideas.

Evgeny Voloshin

Сhief Strategy Officer, BI.ZONE

Partners

Sber became the general partner of OFFZONE 2024 while the Xakep magazine was the general information partner. Positive Technologies and T‑Bank acted as strategic partners. The event was also supported by Kaspersky, HeadHunter, F.A.C.C.T., and others.

Speakers

The two-day event featured 124 experts with a total of 98 presentations. Sergey Golovanov, the Chief Security Expert of Kaspersky, was the keynote speaker. In his address r00+ 0f 3/\@ (Root of evil), he talked about the evolution of cyber incidents over the past 20 years. He analyzed the root causes and motivation behind cyberattacks, focused on the aspects that typically escape the public eye, and suggested ways to minimize risks.

Thematic zones

Main track and Fast track covered a wide range of issues, including parser vulnerabilities, Wi‑Fi pentests, AI and ML in cybersecurity, key trends and practices of incident investigation.

The event featured several parallel sessions:

Threat.Zone, where experts shared their research on current cyber threats and attendees could test their knowledge of the cyber landscape in Russia and other CIS countries.
AppSec.Zone, dedicated to everything related to application security. Here, the speakers explored secure application architecture; SDLC processes, mechanisms, and tools; and other issues.
AntiFraud.Zone, where leading professionals from the financial, retail, and cybersecurity sectors discussed how to combat fraud. The guests took part in case studies, brainstorming sessions, and simulations of real‑world events involving fraud in the fintech sector. Those who proposed unconventional solutions were awarded offcoins.
AI.Zone, focused on best practices in the application of AI and ML inside and outside the corporate environment. This session featured a quiz where the attendees could earn offcoins or get prizes for interesting questions to the speakers.
CTF track, dedicated to ethical hacking contests. The participants tried their hand at tackling advanced tasks from the CTFZone authors.
Community track, celebrating the cybersecurity community at large. The first day was allocated to talks, while the second day, to solving the tasks offered by various community groups on the first day.

In the CUB_3 zone, the guests could try to uncover the mystery of a peculiar technological artifact of unknown origin. According to the legend, it was found in 2019 and now has three companions. Conference participants learned how the cube evolves, what happens behind the doors of the research laboratory, and why traces of the cube could be detected at OFFZONE 2024.

BI.ZONE Bug Bounty

BI.ZONE Bug Bounty results for the past year were also presented at the conference. Over the year, the number of companies on the platform grew by 112% and the number of programs by 58%. Experts noted that more and more ecosystems and groups of companies opt for bug bounty. Among them are Sber (three public programs) and Astra Group (two programs).

There was also a BI.ZONE Bug Bounty booth at the conference, where the guests won merch for solving tasks.

Activities

Attendees participated in a variety of activities. Some took the OFFZONE quest to see what the organizers and partners had prepared for them. Others rode a bull at the rodeo while answering cybersecurity questions. Still others tested their hacking skills at HACK in 15 min or assembled and customized a badge at Craft.Zone. At Tattoo.Zone, 57 attendees got tattoos, including 25 people who had the conference logo inked. As always, OFFZONE merch was in great demand: guests bought more than 3,500 items.

Activities were also organized by Sber, T‑Bank, Positive Technologies, and other partners. For example, conference guests could turn on their hacker mindset and take part in a Hamster Kombat‑style game, test their skills in bug hunting, create a unique badge with their own hands, compete in a tournament on PS5 and Retro Genesis, attend workshops, take quizzes, and much more. As part of the conference, BI.ZONE held its annual One Day Offer program to scout for talent.