Cyber

DFC: Cyber — Dallas 2026

Feb 18, 2026 6:00 PM · The Granada Theater · Dallas, TX

SponsorsFightsRefereesVideosPhotos

Digital Fight Club: Cyber returns to DFW with a national event featuring fighters and refs from around the US. Come see the nation's top Cyber leaders spar on topics chosen by the top CISOs in Cyber today. By popular demand, a special 5th fight pit two cyber tech vendors against each other.

RSVP
February 18, 2026

The Fight Format

  • Each fight runs ~10 minutes
  • Opening arguments: 45 secs each
  • Rebuttal rounds: 15 secs each (6–8 rounds)
  • Refs call fouls (buzzer) anytime — 15 sec response each
  • Audience votes to decide the winner

Event Timeline

Sponsors

The companies backing this fight — and all the decision-makers in the room. Want in on the action? Reach out below.

Fights

Defending your ideas in front of a crowd of your peers. Educational and entertaining at the same time.

AI Driven Attacks

Julio Casablanca
Cybersecurity Advisor, WWT
  • System Engineer
  • Nacho Libre fan
  • Maverick (Blaze)
VS
Alena Funtikova-White
Cyber Threat Intel, Toyota Financial Services
  • PhD
  • VP, ISSA
  • Russian Federation Scholar
View fight page →

AI Powered Defense

Larci Robertson
Cybersecurity Advisor, Infinite Ranges
  • Navy Crypto
  • Fortune 100 Sales Engineer
  • Bulldog
VS
Lalit Ahluwalia
CEO, DigitalXForce
  • Climbs every mountain
  • Dares to dream
  • Thapar Institute
View fight page →

RaaS: Ransomware as a Service

Quentin Rhoads-Hererra
VP, Security Services, SHI
  • Sold his co to SHI
  • Comp Sci guy
  • Thunderduck
VS
Phillip Wylie
Chief Security, Suzu Labs
  • Review Board Black Hat
  • Cyber Podcast host
  • Blazer
View fight page →

Securing an Open Source Stack

Chris Russell
CISO, tZERO
  • VP, Engineering
  • US Army Intel
  • Bobcat
VS
Jeff Bankard
Dir. Cybersecurity, Baker Tilly
  • Engineer, PhD
  • Zoomie
  • Argonaut
View fight page →

Special Cyber Vendor Fight

Jignish Patel
Field CTO, Harness
  • United Airlines
  • Da Bears
  • Golden Eagle
VS
Nicole Carignan
Field CISO, Darktrace
  • Intrusion vet
  • Defense Tech vet
  • Aggie
View fight page →

Referees

They don't judge the debate — they call fouls. The audience decides the winner. All referees below officiate every fight at this event.

Jason Hamilton

Deputy CISO, AT&T
  • Financial services vet
  • US Navy!
  • Razorback

Wei Dong

CISO, Michaels Stores
  • Telecom vet
  • Former tech leader
  • Biology genius

Raymond King

CISO, Dallas Cowboys
  • Novartis vet
  • Former auditor
  • Bulldog

Watch

Event videos here and fight videos on the fight pages

Photos

Mayhem captured for posterity

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