Hardening Designers Conference 2026 — Agentic Collapse (Online, Japan)

Hardening Designers Conference 2026 — subtitled "Agentic Collapse" — runs fully online over 2–4 July 2026, organised by Japan's Hardening Project executive committee. Its central question is who, and how, stops AI agents when they run amok, bringing together defensive-security practitioners and researchers from across industry and academia.

Day 1 centres on hands-on practice: the defensive exercise Micro Hardening V3, in which participants use generative AI as a companion to keep servers running while under attack across timed 45-minute rounds, plus a threat-hunter training hands-on. Day 2 features short lightning pitches from hardening practitioners, a tool showcase, and open-mic sessions. Day 3 moves to deeper talks on AI-assisted incident response, post-SIEM security operations and related advanced topics.

Speakers announced include Yuuki Kadobayashi (Nara Institute of Science and Technology), Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Masashi Negishi (IIJ) and a Fujitsu practitioner. The conference doubles as a warm-up for the in-person Hardening 2026 competition held later in Hokkaido. Aimed at security engineers, incident responders and defenders curious about how AI agents change both attack and defence, it is a practical, exercise-led event rather than a vendor showcase. Registration is via Doorkeeper.