The National Intelligence Service said on the 26th it will co-host with the Korea Research Institute for Security Technology the global cyber security event "Cyber Summit Korea (CSK 2026)" at Coex in Seoul from the 16th to the 18th of next month. CSK is an international cyber security event that began in 2024 under the aim of "jointly responding to cyber threats with the international community" and marks its third year this year.
This year's event will be held under the theme "A consolidated world, security together." A range of programs is planned, including the International Information Exchange Meeting, conferences, international cyber exercises, a cyberattack-defense competition, a graduate and undergraduate paper presentation, exhibitions, a youth white-hat hacker academy, and a National Intelligence Service (NIS) recruitment briefing.
The opening ceremony on the 17th of next month will begin with opening remarks by National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jong-seok, followed by keynote speeches from heads of foreign intelligence agencies, including Héctor Casas, director of the Argentine Federal Cyber Information Agency. At the conference, which will run for two days from that day through the 18th, lectures and discussions by domestic and overseas cyber security experts will continue under three themes: new-technology security and trust, international strategy and cooperation, and cyber security policy and trends.
The international cyber exercise (APEX) will be held Sept. 16-18, with 24 countries participating. This year, an "AI defense team," built jointly by the public, private, and military sectors under the leadership of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), will also take part to assess real-time cyberattack response capabilities. A total of 50 teams that advanced through the domestic public, general, and youth preliminaries will compete in the Cyber Conflict Exercise finals on the 17th, and 10 outstanding teams will be selected.
On the 18th, the event will feature a speech by Catriona Robinson, head of the New Zealand Cyber Security Center, and an awards ceremony for the cyberattack-defense competition, concluding the three-day program with an introduction to next year's CSK 2027.
National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Lee Jong-seok said, "With the emergence of high-performance AI, autonomous AI hacking has already become a real threat," and added, "I hope 'CSK 2026' becomes a venue for exchange that safeguards people's daily lives and drives innovation by corporations amid the rapidly changing cyber environment."