Marco Ciappelli speaks with Suzy Pallett, newly appointed President of Black Hat, about Black Hat Europe 2025 in London. They discuss record-breaking attendance (25%+ growth), keynotes on ransomware and compliance vulnerabilities, the strength of cybersecurity community collaboration, and how Black Hat adapts its programming across global regions while maintaining its community-first mission.
____________Guests:
Suzy Pallett
President, Black Hat. Cybersecurity.
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzy-pallett-60710132/
There is something almost paradoxical about the cybersecurity industry. It exists because of threats, yet it thrives on trust. It deals in technical complexity, yet its beating heart is fundamentally human: people gathering, sharing knowledge, and collectively deciding that defending each other matters more than protecting proprietary advantage.
This tension—and this hope—was on full display at Black Hat Europe 2025 in London, which just wrapped up at the ExCel Centre with attendance growing more than 25 percent over last year. For Suzy Pallett, the newly appointed President of Black Hat, the numbers tell only part of the story.
"What I've found from this week is the knowledge sharing, the insights, the open source tools that we've shared, the demonstrations that have happened—they've been so instrumental," Pallett shared in a conversation with ITSPmagazine. "Cybersecurity is unlike any other industry I've ever been close to in the strength of that collaboration."
Pallett took the helm in September after Steve Wylie stepped down following eleven years leading the brand through significant growth. Her background spans over two decades in global events, most recently with Money20/20, the fintech conference series. But she speaks of Black Hat not as a business to be managed but as a community to be served.
The event itself reflected the year's dominant concerns. AI agents and supply chain vulnerabilities emerged as central themes, continuing conversations that dominated Black Hat USA in Las Vegas just months earlier. But Europe brought its own character. Keynotes ranged from Max Meets examining whether ransomware can actually be stopped, to Linus Neumann questioning whether compliance checklists might actually expose organizations to greater risk rather than protecting them.
"He was saying that the compliance checklists that we're all being stressed with are actually where the vulnerabilities lie," Pallett explained. "How can we work more collaboratively together so that it's not just a compliance checklist that we get?"
This is the kind of question that sits at the intersection of technology and policy, technical reality and bureaucratic aspiration. It is also the kind of question that rarely gets asked in vendor halls but deserves space in our collective thinking.
Joe Tidy, the BBC journalist behind the EvilCorp podcast, delivered a record-breaking keynote attendance on day two, signaling the growing appetite for cybersecurity stories that reach beyond the practitioner community into broader public consciousness. Louise Marie Harrell spoke on technical capacity and international accountability—a reminder that cyber threats respect no borders and neither can our responses.
What makes Black Hat distinct, Pallett noted, is that the conversations happening on the business hall floor are not typical expo fare. "You have the product teams, you have the engineers, you have the developers on those stands, and it's still product conversations and technical conversations."
Looking ahead, Pallett's priorities center on listening. Review boards, advisory boards, pastoral programs, scholarships—these are the mechanisms through which she intends to ensure Black Hat remains, in her words, "a platform for them and by them."
The cybersecurity industry faces a peculiar burden. What used to happen in twelve years now happens in two days, as Pallett put it. The pace is exhausting. The threats keep evolving. The cat-and-mouse game shows no signs of ending.
But perhaps that is precisely why events like this matter. Not because they offer solutions to every problem, but because they remind an industry under constant pressure that it is not alone in the fight. That collaboration is not weakness. That sharing knowledge freely is not naïve—it is strategic.
Black Hat Europe 2025 may have ended, but the conversations it sparked will carry forward into 2026 and beyond.
____________HOSTS:
Sean Martin, Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine and Studio C60 | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com
Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine and Studio C60 | Website: https://www.marcociappelli.com
Catch all of our event coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/technology-and-cybersecurity-conference-coverage
Want to share an Event Briefing as part of our event coverage? Learn More 👉 https://itspm.ag/evtcovbrf
Want Sean and Marco to be part of your event or conference? Let Us Know 👉 https://www.itspmagazine.com/contact-us
Marco Ciappelli speaks remotely with Suzy Pallett, newly appointed President of Black Hat, as Black Hat Europe 2025 wraps up in London. The conversation covers the event's significant attendance growth, key themes including AI agents and supply chain vulnerabilities, notable keynotes challenging assumptions about ransomware and compliance, and Pallett's community-centered vision for Black Hat's future across its global events.