What fwd:cloudsec does

fwd:cloudsec is a vendor-neutral, volunteer-run nonprofit conference organization operating under the Forward CloudSec Association, Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity incorporated in Delaware (D-U-N-S 119517080). The organization produces annual practitioner-focused cloud security conferences in North America and Europe, covering AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes topics including both attack and defense research. Programming is sourced through a Call for Papers process managed on Pretalx, with explicit mentorship for first-time and novice speakers, and all talks are live-streamed and archived on YouTube going back to 2020.

The organization's core digital assets include the invite-only Cloud Security Forum Slack workspace (organized around AWS, Azure, GCP, threat detection, jobs, and events channels), a Technical Oversight Committee that stewards open source cloud security projects such as Granted and known_aws_accounts, a public governance repository on GitHub, and a need-based scholarship program for students and career changers. Marketing and operations run on Mailchimp, Eventbrite (North America tickets), and Swoogo (Europe tickets), with multi-region social presence on Twitter/X, Mastodon, and YouTube.

Revenue is generated exclusively through conference ticket sales and vendor sponsorships, with sponsor funds also supporting the paid Slack workspace. The organization explicitly does not share attendee data with sponsors. It is governed by a Board of Directors and four officers (President Aaron Zollman, Vice President Chris Farris, Secretary Jerin Saji, Treasurer Joel Thompson) plus a five-person Technical Oversight Committee. No investors, parent entity, or commercial affiliation exists; the organization is independent of any cloud service provider.

Name

fwd:cloudsec

Legal name

Forward CloudSec Association, Inc.

Website

https://fwdcloudsec.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

fwd:cloudsec is a vendor-neutral, 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs annual cloud security conferences in North America and Europe, a practitioner Slack workspace, and a Technical Oversight Committee stewarding open source cloud security projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cybersecurity Conferences

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Cloud Computing & Infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP, Virtualization) (EDABAFAB)

Keywords

• Cloud security conferences
• Security community events
• Open source stewardship
• Nonprofit security education
• Practitioner security training

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Conference Ticket Sales: The organization sells tickets to its annual conferences in North America and Europe. North America tickets sold through Eventbrite; Europe tickets sold through Swoogo. Attendee list used solely for confirming ticket payment and admitting people, not shared with sponsors.
2. Conference Sponsorships: Cloud security vendors and providers sponsor the conferences. Sponsors receive visibility at the event and support the paid Slack workspace. Multiple sponsorship tiers available with different branding and visibility benefits.
3. Scholarship Program: Need-based scholarships for students or career changers entering cloud security, providing complimentary tickets, travel stipends, and hotel accommodation. Funded by the organization to grow the community.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

fwd:cloudsec is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conference organization that runs annual practitioner-focused cloud security conferences in North America and Europe. It also operates the Cloud Security Forum Slack workspace for ongoing practitioner discussion, and a Technical Oversight Committee that stewards vendor-neutral open source cloud security projects (Granted, known_aws_accounts). Complementary programs include a scholarship program for students and career changers and a Call for Papers process for speaker selection.

Product overview

fwd:cloudsec is a non-profit cloud security conference organization governed by the Forward CloudSec Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The organization operates annual fwd:cloudsec conferences in North America (Bellevue, WA) and Europe (London, UK), hosting practitioner-focused content on cloud security across AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes. The portfolio includes the Cloud Security Forum Slack workspace for community engagement, and the Technical Oversight Committee which stewards open source cloud security projects including Granted and known_aws_accounts. Additional offerings include scholarship programs for students and career changers, and a Call for Papers program for speaker selection. The organization is volunteer-run and vendor/provider-neutral.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• fwd:cloudsec North America Conference Annual practitioner-focused cloud security conference held in North America featuring talks on AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes security, both attack and defense research, and hands-on topics for cloud practitioners. Planned for ~350 attendees across two tracks with lunch provided both days.
• fwd:cloudsec Europe Conference Annual practitioner-focused cloud security conference held in Europe featuring practitioner presentations, workshops, and discussions on cloud security topics including data sovereignty and European-specific technical challenges.
• Cloud Security Forum Slack Workspace Invite-only Slack workspace serving as an active community forum for cloud security professionals, with active channels for AWS, Azure, GCP, threat detection, jobs, and events. Used for ongoing community engagement and conference coordination, supported in part by conference sponsors.
• Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) Project Stewardship A vendor and provider-neutral stewardship body that adopts and supports public and open source cloud security projects by lending credibility, marketing, and advocacy support. Currently stewards Granted (granted.dev) and known_aws_accounts.
• Conference Scholarship Program Need-based scholarship program offering complimentary conference tickets, hotel accommodation, and travel cost reimbursement to full-time students at accredited universities and career changers entering cloud security.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Granted (granted.dev)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGranted is an open source cloud security tool that has been adopted under the Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) of fwd:cloudsec. The TOC provides vendor-neutral stewardship for this project, lending credibility, marketing, and advocacy support. The project is community-driven with no single point of failure.
• known_aws_accountscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAn open source project under the Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) of fwd:cloudsec. The TOC provides stewardship and support for this community-driven open source cloud security project.
• EventbriteminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEventbrite is used as the ticketing platform for the North America conference. Privacy Policy is in place stating attendee information is used solely for confirming ticket payment and admitting people to the conference.
• SwoogominorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSwoogo is used as the ticketing platform for the Europe conference (tickets for fwd:cloudsec 2026 on sale via Swoogo).
• YouTubeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerYouTube is used for live-streaming conference sessions and archiving recordings. Playlists available for each conference year. Videos posted after events except for Birds-of-a-Feather sessions.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• DEF CON: One of the world's largest independent, volunteer-run hacker conferences. Highly comparable to fwd:cloudsec in its vendor-neutral, practitioner-first ethos, though broader in scope and far larger in scale.
• OWASP Foundation: A 501(c)(3) nonprofit that produces community-driven security guidance, tools, and projects. Highly comparable to fwd:cloudsec's nonprofit community-stewardship model and its open source project adoption approach via the Technical Oversight Committee.
• BSides: A grassroots, community-driven series of information security conferences run largely by volunteers with similar values around practitioner-led content, vendor-neutrality, and low-cost entry — the closest analog to fwd:cloudsec's model, albeit security-broad rather than cloud-specific.
• TROOPERS (ernw): An independent, practitioner-focused IT security conference held in Heidelberg with a strong technical and research orientation. Comparable to fwd:cloudsec Europe in its community-driven, vendor-neutral approach to deep cloud and infrastructure security topics.

Regional players

• AWS re:Inforce: AWS's vendor-run cloud security conference. Comparable as a destination event for cloud security practitioners, but operated by a single cloud provider — the opposite end of the vendor-neutrality spectrum from fwd:cloudsec.

Broad incumbents

• RSA Conference: The largest commercial information security conference with significant cloud security content. Comparable as a major security conference serving enterprise security buyers, but vendor-heavy and far larger than fwd:cloudsec.
• Black Hat: A large, established security conference with US, Europe, and Asia editions. Comparable as an independent, practitioner-attended security conference series, but more commercial, broader in scope, and significantly larger than fwd:cloudsec.
• SANS Institute: A major provider of cybersecurity training, certifications, and events. Comparable because it serves the same cloud security practitioner audience for upskilling, though as a paid commercial training provider rather than a nonprofit community event.

Emerging players

• CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) / KubeCon: Hosts Cloud Native Security Day and co-located cloud security programming under the Linux Foundation. Comparable because it convenes the cloud-native/Kubernetes security community that overlaps fwd:cloudsec's audience and TOC scope.
• Cloud Security Alliance (CSA): A nonprofit organization producing cloud security research, standards, and community programs. Comparable as a nonprofit body serving cloud security practitioners, with overlapping research and community missions to fwd:cloudsec.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fwdcloudsec
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@fwdcloudsec
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fwd-cloudsec

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about fwd:cloudsec