fwd:cloudsec State of the Conference 2025

fwd:cloudsec State of the Conference 2025

Speakers: fwd:cloudsec Organizers

Conference: fwd:cloudsec North America 2025

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH6wh0rhNOs

Overview

The fwd:cloudsec organizing committee delivered their second-ever "State of the Union" address, updating the community on the health, finances, growth, and challenges facing the conference in its sixth year. Led by Scott Piper and other organizers, the session covered the conference's nonprofit structure, detailed budget transparency, sponsorship dynamics, talk submission trends, the declining ratio of practitioner-to-vendor speakers, the scholarship program, Slack community engagement concerns, and the Technical Oversight Committee's adoption of the Granted project. The session concluded with an open community Q&A covering topics from venue selection to international expansion and volunteer opportunities.

Background

▶ Watch: Mission statement: democratize security for every individual and organization (0:30)

fwd:cloudsec is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to "democratize security" — ensuring every individual and organization has easy access to world-class cloud security knowledge. The conference is independent, not affiliated with any cloud provider or vendor, and is entirely practitioner-focused. It has grown from a virtual event in 2020 to a two-day in-person conference that has moved through Salt Lake City, Boston, Anaheim, Arlington/DC, and now Denver in 2025. A European edition launched in 2024 with events in Brussels and Berlin.

The last State of the Union was delivered in 2023, when growth appeared exponential and the organizers were uncertain about the conference's ceiling. By 2025, growth has plateaued and stabilized, and the focus has shifted from scaling to sustaining quality, increasing practitioner representation, and building organizational resilience.

Key Findings

▶ Watch: Full budget breakdown: expenses and revenue across all six years (12:00)

Budget transparency is a deliberate organizational value. The organizers shared detailed income and expense breakdowns across all six years. Expenses have grown intentionally — the conference became two days in 2023 (doubling hotel costs), Anaheim in 2024 was expensive due to food truck catering, and 2025 introduced a new $600 speaker honorarium plus hotel coverage. Revenue comes primarily from sponsors (the majority), with ticket revenue as a secondary source. The organization has built a modest reserve fund for contingencies. Ticket prices have increased from approximately $100 to $150, with a new "personal supporter" tier at a higher price point.

Practitioner speaker representation is declining. The ratio of talks from practitioners (people employed at non-vendor companies) versus vendor employees has trended downward over the conference's history. This is identified as a primary concern given the conference's practitioner-focused mission. The $600 speaker honorarium was introduced specifically to address this, as vendor employees have natural incentives to speak at cloud security conferences while practitioners may face more barriers (time, travel costs, employer support). However, the honorarium did not noticeably increase talk submissions in its first year.

Talk submissions have plateaued. After steady growth through 2023, the number of CFP submissions has stabilized. The organizers view this as a concern, particularly combined with the practitioner representation decline. They are seeking community input on how to encourage more and more diverse submissions.

Slack community engagement is declining. While new members continue to join the fwd:cloudsec Slack, active participation (posting, engagement) has declined. The organizers are uncertain how to address this but recognize it as a threat to community value.

11 of 51 sponsors (22%) have been acquired over the conference's history, a statistic the organizers presented with dark humor. AWS sponsoring in 2025 was noted as likely to suppress that statistic going forward.

The Technical Oversight Committee adopted the Granted project. Granted, a tool for managing cloud credentials that many community members use daily, was adopted after its creator moved to Anthropic. The committee recognized that a tool with access to cloud credentials should not be abandoned or handed to an unknown maintainer. The fwd:cloudsec organization now provides custodial stewardship. The committee also previously adopted the list of known AWS accounts (originally from Scott Piper's repository).

Conference naming origin. The name "fwd:cloudsec" is a play on AWS conference naming conventions (re:Invent, re:Inforce, re:Mars) — the organizers chose "fwd:" (forward) as a joke on email headers. The original plan was to be a BSides-style conference (BSides Cloud), but BSides requires geographic permission from local chapters for each city, which was incompatible with a traveling conference.

Technical Deep Dive

▶ Watch: Practitioner vs vendor speaker ratio declining — key concern (20:00)

This session was not a technical talk. The content was organizational, financial, and community-focused. Technical discussions were limited to brief mentions of the Granted project and the known AWS accounts list.

Demo / Proof of Concept

▶ Watch: Granted project adopted under Technical Oversight Committee (24:00)

No demo was presented. The session consisted of bar charts, budget breakdowns, and community discussion.

Defensive Implications

▶ Watch: 2026 planning: venue TBD, depends on re:Inforce schedule (38:00)

While not a security talk per se, several community-level implications are relevant for defenders. The Granted project adoption ensures continuity for a credential management tool that many cloud security practitioners depend on daily. The declining practitioner speaker ratio may result in future conference content that is less operationally grounded and more vendor-influenced unless the trend is addressed. The scholarship program continues to develop new cloud security talent, with alumni joining security teams at Apple, AWS, Grafana, and other organizations.

The conference's independence from vendors and cloud providers is actively maintained and is a key differentiator that ensures content quality. The call for volunteers, mentors, and understudy organizers signals that the conference's long-term sustainability depends on community investment.

Key Takeaways

• Full budget transparency: fwd:cloudsec publicly shares detailed income and expense data as a 501(c)(3) committed to trust through openness.
• $600 speaker honorarium introduced: Aimed at increasing practitioner speaker representation, though initial impact on submission volume was minimal.
• Practitioner speaker ratio is declining: The conference's most significant content quality concern, as vendor speakers increasingly outnumber practitioners.
• Granted project adopted by the community: The credential management tool is now under fwd:cloudsec's Technical Oversight Committee stewardship.
• Slack engagement is declining: Active participation in the community Slack has decreased despite growing membership, and organizers are seeking solutions.
• 2026 venue TBD: Timing depends on AWS re:Inforce scheduling; Canada is currently unlikely due to travel concerns for US-based attendees.

About the Speaker(s)

The session was delivered by the fwd:cloudsec organizing committee, primarily Scott Piper (who also maintains the known AWS accounts list), along with other board members and organizers. The board of directors and conference organizers are largely the same people, many of whom have been involved since the first year. Chris Farris spoke about the Technical Oversight Committee and Granted adoption. The conference has approximately 20 CFP reviewers ensuring diverse topic coverage across clouds, technologies, and security domains.