Dallas, TX

February 19, 2026 6-10pm

Digital Fight Club: Cyber returns to DFW with a national event featuring fighters and refs from around the US.

Tired of hearing the same ‘ol same ‘ol at cybersecurity conferences? Tired of being kissed up to or not being able to speak your mind in a proposal?

So are we.

Come see the nation’s top Cyber leaders spar on topic chosen by the top CISOs in Cyber today.

BONUS: By popular demand, we’ve added a special 5th fight for two lucky cyber tech vendors to go at it. Yes, it’s a sponsorship level and NO, it’s not pay for play (speaking sponsors usually don’t get heckled, right?)

 

Mayhem, indeed!

 

The Fight Format

Each fight lasts about 12-13 minutes

  • Opening Arguments: 45 secs each
  • Rebuttal Rounds: 15 secs each (6-8 rounds)
  • Refs Call Fouls (Buzzer) Anytime: 15 sec responses each

Not sure what a Digital Fight Club is?
Maybe this will put a little pep in your step.

 

Fight 1

AI Driven Attacks

Julio Casablanca

Julio Casablanca
Cybersecurity Advisor, WWT
  • System Engineer
  • Nacho Libre fan
  • Maverick (Blaze)

Alena Funtikova-White

Alena Funtikova-White
Cyber Threat Intel, Toyota Financial Services
  • PhD
  • VP, ISSA
  • Russian Federation Scholar

Fight 2

AI Powered Defense

Larci Robertson

Larci Robertson
Cybersecurity Advisor, Infinite Ranges
  • Navy Crypto
  • Fortune 100 Sales Engineer
  • Bulldog

Lalit Ahluwalia

Lalit Ahluwalia
CEO, DigitalXForce
  • Climbs every mountain
  • Dares to dream
  • Thapar Institute

Fight 3

RaaS: Ransomware as a Service

Quentin Rhoads-Hererra

Quentin Rhoads-Hererra
VP, Security Services, SHI
  • Sold his co to SHI
  • Comp Sci guy
  • Thunderduck

Phillip Wylie

Phillip Wylie
Chief Security, Suzu Labs
  • Review Board Black Hat
  • Cyber Podcast host
  • Blazer

Fight 4

Securing an Open Source Stack

Chris Russell

Chris Russell
CISO, tZERO
  • VP, Engineering
  • US Army Intel
  • Bobcat

Jeff Bankard

Jeff Bankard
Dir. Cybersecurity, Baker Tilly
  • Engineer, PhD
  • Zoomie
  • Argonaut

Fight 5

Special Cyber Vendor Fight

Adam Arellano

Adam Arellano
Field CTO, Harness
  • Undercover social worker
  • Marine
  • Ute
TBD

Nicole Carignan

Nicole Carignan
Field CISO, Darktrace
  • Intrusion vet
  • Defense Tech vet
  • Aggie

Referees

Deputy CISO, AT&T

  • Financial services vet
  • US Navy!
  • Razorback

CISO, Michaels Stores

  • Telecom vet
  • Former tech leader
  • Biology genius

CISO, Dallas Cowboys

  • Novartis vet
  • Former auditor
  • Bulldog

These are the folks that help make this event happen