South Korea's National Intelligence Service will hold the global cybersecurity event Cyber Summit Korea (CSK 2026) with the National Security Technology Research Institute from Sept. 16 to 18 at COEX in Seoul.

This year's event, themed "Security Together in a Connected World," will feature a range of programmes including an international information exchange meeting, a conference, international cyber training, a cyberattack defence contest, paper presentations by university and graduate students, a youth white-hat hacker academy, exhibition and promotion booths, and an NIS recruitment briefing.

The opening ceremony on Sept. 17 will begin with an opening address by NIS Director Jong-seok Lee (이종석), followed by keynote speeches by heads of overseas intelligence agencies including Hector Casas, director of Argentina's Federal Cyber Intelligence Agency.

The conference, running for two days from Sept. 17 to 18, will feature lectures and discussions by domestic and foreign cybersecurity experts under three themes: security and trust in new technologies, international strategy and cooperation, and cybersecurity policy and trends.

On Sept. 17, a total of 50 teams that advanced through preliminary rounds in the domestic public, general and youth divisions will compete in the final round of the cyberattack defence contest, the Cyber Conflict Excercise, with 10 outstanding teams to be selected.

Lee said the emergence of high-performance AI has made autonomous AI hacking a realistic threat. He said he hopes CSK 2026 will serve as a forum for exchange that protects people's daily lives and drives corporate innovation in a rapidly changing cyber environment.