If my inbox is anything to go by, there are many 2015 conferences and events related to security happening throughout the year. The following are those that will be of the most interest to security practitioners:

General Information Security Events

Some events focus on information security in general, including Infosec Europe, to be held in June in London. This is a must-visit event of the year for security practitioners in Europe and features a variety of technical sessions and a multitude of exhibiting vendors in the expo. There are also some smaller, local events, such as Infosec Belgium, also in March. These events are run by Infosecurity Magazine, which also offers virtual conferences for online viewers.

The Security B-Sides conference in London will be held at the same time as Infosecurity Europe. Security B-Sides conferences are growing in popularity. They generally draw a smaller crowd but are held in high regard for being highly interactive, fostering audience participation and offering good networking opportunities. These conferences will be held in a variety of locations worldwide in 2015.

In a similar vein to Infosecurity Europe, the annual RSA Conference, to be held in San Francisco in April, is a must for security practitioners in the United States, with a full conference program and a massive associated exhibition. An RSA event is also being held in Singapore this year. Though events were previously held in Europe, one was not held there in 2014, and there is no evidence that there will be one in 2015.

More Specialized 2015 Conferences for Information Security

For those of a more technical bent, there are three Black Hat conferences in 2015. There will be one in Singapore in March, one in Las Vegas in April and one in Amsterdam in November. These events are famous for showcasing the latest security innovations and exposing security limitations and vulnerabilities.

Immediately following Black Hat is DEF CON, the world’s largest hacker conference. It offers a mix of tracks related to security and hacking subjects, social events and contests for skills such as picking locks and various forms of hacking.

For those looking for a broader perspective on security, ASIS International goes beyond information security and addresses a wide spectrum of topics, including physical security, supply chain security, terrorism and industry-specific technology such as oil and gas security. Events are being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in February; Frankfurt, Germany, in March; New York in April; and Singapore in November.

Various associations are putting on 2015 conferences related to specialized areas within the security industry. The Cloud Security Alliance has its Cloud Expo Europe in London in March, with a dedicated theater for presentations around security and governance issues. ISACA, which is dedicated to advancing the IT profession through education, has a handful of events that will be of interest to security professionals. The Internet Security Foundation also has a variety of events, both physical and online, covering specific areas of interest within the security field.

General IT Events Featuring Security Tracks

Among analyst firms, Gartner offers the most events, with security and risk management summits in Maryland in June, Sydney in August and London in September, as well as an identity and access management summit in London in March. It also puts on the annual Symposium/ITxpos, of which there are eight in 2015. These will be held in Dubai in May; Cape Town, South Africa, in September; Orlando, Sao Paulo, the Australian Gold Coast and Tokyo in October; and in Goa, India, and Barcelona, Spain, in November. These are more general IT events, but there is a specific security and risk management track and tracks related to specific security industries.

Another general IT event is CeBIT, which will feature 322 exhibitors of business security wares at the flagship event in Hannover, Germany, in 2015. Business security is one of nine focus areas at this huge, sprawling exhibition, covering 27 halls. There are further CeBIT events in Sydney in May; Porto Alegre, Brazil, in August; Bangalore, India, in October; and Istanbul in December.

IBM InterConnect

IBM InterConnect 2015 will be held in Las Vegas in February and focus on the cloud, security, service and asset management. Of particular interest to security professionals will be the security intelligence track, which features application and data security strategies, identity and access management for the enterprise, mobile and cloud, infrastructure protection and security analytics and fraud prevention.

Though it may seem daunting to pick from all the security conferences that will be held this year, the good news is that professionals will have plenty to choose from and can find the conference that will best fit their needs — and the needs of their organization.