That’s a wrap on the 38th Annual FIRST Conference in Denver. What an incredible week out west! Six days of learning, connection, and exploration with incident response professionals from around the globe. 🏔️✨

From hands‑on training to keynotes, SIGs, BoFs, lightning talks, and a buzzing exhibit hall, this year’s program delivered insights and collaboration at every turn. And of course, the conference social event brought the whole community together in true Colorado style. 🤝🌄

Thank you to everyone who joined us at altitude to strengthen global coordination and help shape the future of incident response. #FIRSTCON26

🔗https://go.first.org/FXZ3s

Next stop: Bangkok 🌏 Save the date for the 39th Annual FIRST Conference — we’ll see you in Thailand, June 13-18, 2027. ✨

🎉 #FIRSTCON26 has wrapped in Denver, Colorado!

The 38th Annual FIRST Conference brought together incident response teams, CERTs, government agencies, and security leaders from around the world to do what this community does best: collaborate, share intelligence, and make the ecosystem stronger.

Highlights:

✅ FIRST released its mid-year 2026 vulnerability forecast, projecting approximately 66,000 CVEs by year-end — a 46% overage against the initial annual forecast, driven largely by AI-assisted vulnerability discovery

✅ Chris Butera, Acting Executive Assistant Director for CISA's Cybersecurity Division opened the conference drawing a direct parallel between soccer team coordination and how the security community needs to operate: fast movement, shared trust, and partners who know the play before it develops

✅ Former US National Cyber Director Chris Inglis pushed back on rigid defense models, making the case for coalition defense — private sector, infrastructure providers, and governments operating together, not in parallel

✅ EPSS deployed its v2026.06.15 refresh, delivering updated exploitation probability scores for every public CVE

✅ New and critical security frameworks, tools, SIGs, and research insights aimed at automating defense and managing AI risk were showcased during the event

FIRST also welcomed its newly elected Board of Directors for the 2026–2027 term, appointing Logan Wilkins (Cisco, US) and welcoming back returning board member Mona Elisabeth Østvang (mnemonic, NO). Olivier Caleff was also re-elected as Chair of the Board of Directors, beginning his second term in the role.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended, presented, and sponsored.

Sessions will be available on YouTube in the coming weeks.

Read more: https://go.first.org/RKxUj

#cybersecurity

The final day of the 38th Annual FIRST Conference is here. 🌄

It’s been a week of learning, connection, and exploration at altitude — and today we wrap up with the last round of sessions and takeaways to bring home.

Thank you, Denver, for an incredible week.🤍

🔗https://go.first.org/FXZ3s

#FIRSTCON26

Your voice helps strengthen the global IR community.

Share your thoughts in the #FIRSTCON26 survey and help us keep improving year after year. 🏔️🤝📝

🔗https://go.first.org/FXZ3s

Day 4 brings another full day of sessions, SIGs, BoFs, and global collaboration.

The conversations happening here in Denver are pushing incident response forward in real, meaningful ways. One more day to go — let’s make it count. 🛡️✨

🔗https://go.first.org/FXZ3s

#FIRSTCON26

Day 3 is here, and it’s a big one. 🌄

We’ve got an afternoon keynote to spark new thinking, and tonight’s Conference Social Event brings the whole community together.

Join us as we will unwind and connect against the Denver skyline! Be ready to throw on a cowboy hat and say, "Yeehaw!"🤠

🔗https://go.first.org/FXZ3s

#FIRSTCON26

⭐ Tip your hat to our Silver Sponsor, @Group-IB steady on the trail and helpin’ keep #FIRSTCON26 rollin’.🤠

🔗https://go.first.org/FXZ3s

Howdy, FIRSTies! 🤠

Have you saddled up and subscribed to the #FIRSTImpressionsPodcast yet? Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify! Every year, the trail bosses themselves, Chris John Riley and Martin McKeay, sit down with #FIRSTCON sponsors and speakers to swap stories, share insights, and preview the biggest conversations in cybersecurity.

From the wild frontier of AI security to hard-earned lessons from the incident response trail, the podcast rounds up some of the best content from this year's conference. 🤠🐎

🔗 Tune in here for the #FIRSTCON26 content: https://www.first.org/newsroom/news/first-impressions/

#FIRSTCON26 #FIRSTImpressions #Cybersecurity #Denver #PeakDefense

Day 2 is rolling in with clear skies and a packed agenda.

From technical deep dives to management‑level discussions, today is all about exploring new ground and strengthening global coordination across the IR community.

Denver is delivering the energy. 🏔️⚡

🔗https://go.first.org/gUP5C

#FIRSTCON26