Hardening Designers Conference 2026: Addressing AI Agentic Collapse

The Hardening Project executive committee will host the online conference 'Hardening Designers Conference 2026 — Agentic Collapse' from July 2 (Thu) to July 4 (Sat), 2026. Program details and registration ( https://hardening.doorkeeper.jp/events/196978 ) are now open.

With AI agents reshaping the fundamentals of cyber defense, the conference centers on the theme: 'Who stops the runaway, and how?' Speakers include executive chair Yuki Kadowaki (NAIST), Yo Kawaguchi (Kawaguchi Sekkei), Masafumi Negishi (IIJ), and Isamu Nakatsuru (Fujitsu), who will lead discussions across vendor, user, and research perspectives.

Highlights

- DAY1–DAY3 Collaboration: From 'Micro Hardening V3' to 'Fighting Incidents with AI' (Yo Kawaguchi) Experience hands-on defense training on Day 1, using GenAI to protect servers against simulated attacks. Building on this, on Day 3, three engineer-executives will candidly discuss their experiences with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and Codex CLI.

- DAY2: 'Tech Showcase & Open Mic' A fast-paced briefing session featuring industry experts, complemented by interactive sessions like 'Open Mic' and 'Arsenal' for tool demonstrations.

- DAY3: 'The Reality of Incident Response' (Masafumi Negishi) Hear raw, untold lessons from organizations that experienced major incidents in 2025. Additionally, Isamu Nakatsuru will discuss, 'Can AI save the messy, tedious world of security?' exploring the front lines of malware analysis and forensics.

Background: The Era of Invisible Delegation — Agentic Collapse

The widespread adoption of GenAI and autonomous agents has rapidly shifted the landscape of cyber offense and defense. AI, intended as a defensive tool, can become a trigger for runaway processes. This applies not only to AI but also to supply chain components like outsourced services, OSS, and cloud platforms. We call this collapse of the chain of delegation 'Agentic Collapse.'

Program Overview

- Day 1 (July 2): Training Session / Micro Hardening (Hands-on) - Day 2 (July 3): Tech Showcase & Open Mic - Day 3 (July 4): Conference Day | Deep Session (Discussions)