Top Communities & Associations

Cybersecurity Marketing Society is a 2,500+ member community for cybersecurity marketing professionals, with chapters, events, and a popular podcast.

ISC2 is a global nonprofit with 600,000+ certified members, best known for the CISSP certification. It runs chapters, education, and Security Congress for cybersecurity professionals worldwide.

ISACA is a global professional association for IT governance, risk, audit, and cybersecurity. It runs certifications including CISM, CISA, and CRISC, and has 180,000+ members worldwide.

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the global standards organization for cloud security best practices, research, and certification. It produces the Cloud Controls Matrix and the CCSK credential.

OWASP is a global nonprofit community behind the OWASP Top 10 and hundreds of open application security projects. It runs local chapters worldwide and AppSec Global conferences.

Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is a nonprofit community dedicated to women in cybersecurity, with chapters across the US and globally. It runs an annual conference that has become a major industry recruiting and community moment.

InfraGard is a partnership between the FBI and the private sector focused on critical infrastructure protection. It has 70+ chapters across the US and tens of thousands of vetted members.

SANS Institute is the world's largest cybersecurity training and research organization, best known for its hands-on technical courses, GIAC certifications, and the Internet Storm Center. Trains hundreds of thousands of practitioners annually.

GIAC is a cybersecurity certification body founded in 1999, affiliated with SANS Institute. It offers 40+ practitioner-focused certifications across offensive security, defense, incident response, cloud, and leadership, with more than 200,000 credentials issued.

ISSA is an international professional association for cybersecurity practitioners with 10,000+ members across 100+ chapters worldwide. Runs local events, SIGs, the ISSA Journal, and annual International Conference.

IAPP is the world's largest information privacy community, with 80,000+ members across 160+ countries. Best known for CIPP, CIPM, and CIPT certifications and its Global Privacy Summit.

The FIDO Alliance is an open industry association with hundreds of members developing authentication standards — most notably passkeys — to reduce the world's reliance on passwords. Members include Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.

The Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) is a vendor-neutral organization of IAM and security leaders defining best practices for identity-first security. Publishes the annual Trends in Securing Digital Identities report.

CREST is an international accreditation and certification body for penetration testing, threat intelligence, incident response, and SOC providers. Widely required for UK and APAC government contracts.

The National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) is a US-based nonprofit partnered with CISA to run Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Data Privacy Week, and consumer education programs via StaySafeOnline.org.

RH-ISAC is the threat intelligence sharing community for retail, hospitality, restaurant, gaming, and consumer-facing industries. Members share real-time cyber threat indicators and best practices.

The National Retail Federation is the largest retail trade association globally, with a dedicated cyber risk council and loss prevention programs. NRF's Big Show and PROTECT conferences draw retail security decision-makers.

The Executive Women's Forum (EWF) is the largest member organization for women executives in cybersecurity, information risk, and privacy. Runs the EWF National Conference and a national Fellowship program.

The Internet Society (ISOC) is a global nonprofit founded in 1992 that supports open standards, internet infrastructure, and policy. Houses the IETF, promotes Internet trust projects including MANRS (routing security) and encryption advocacy.

BSides San Francisco is an annual community-driven technical security conference held each April alongside RSA Conference. Known for accessible talks, research releases, and a strong Bay Area practitioner community.

TASK is a Toronto-based cybersecurity community that has run monthly technical meetups since 2003. One of the longest-running practitioner meetups in North America, drawing 300+ attendees per event.

CIPS is Canada's national body representing IT professionals, including those specializing in cybersecurity. Administers the I.S.P. and ITCP professional designations recognized across Canadian government and industry.