VULN-ESC is an invite-only circle for CISOs and security leaders, convened under VULNCON. Closed-door roundtables, real incident post-mortems, and a private channel that stays open between them. Chatham House rules. Peer review at the door.
VULN-ESC is convened by VULNCON, India's security research conference. That lineage is the difference: when the circle walks an incident, the researcher who found the vulnerability can be in the room alongside the CISO who had to disclose it. Most executive networks convene one side of that conversation. We convene both.
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Founding members
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City chapters (Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad)
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Incidents walked end-to-end
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Vendors in the room
The CISO's chair sits between the board and the breach. VULN-ESC is built for that specific isolation: a private circle where security executives talk about what actually happened, not what the vendor deck says. No selling. No spectators. Just peers, candour, and Chatham House rules.
Four things, run properly, instead of twelve run thinly.
Real incidents, walked end-to-end by the person who lived through them.
CISO-to-CISO connection across geographies and sectors.
Signal that helps leaders brief their boards with confidence.
A collective CISO voice where regulation meets reality.
You can apply to join if you meet the following criteria.
You are a CISO, CISO-equivalent, security leader, or in a similar executive role at an enterprise.
Your organisation has production systems, real users, and an incident history. A functioning security programme, not a security plan.
You have run or led response on a real incident.
Your LinkedIn or public profile confirms your executive title and scope of responsibility.
Five rules. Break them and you are out. That is what makes the rest of it work. You are expected to contribute, not consume.
Everyone here has carried the same weight. Disagree hard, take apart the decision, never the person who made it.
Chatham House rules, always. Use what you learn. Never attribute it, inside or outside the circle.
No pitches, no demos, no surveys, no follow-up mail worked off an attendee list. The circle is a room, not a funnel.
Come with the incident you have not told the tidy story about yet, and the board question you could not answer. That is what the room runs on.
No transcripts, no screenshots, no sending a deputy in your place without telling us first.
Roundtables, summits, chapter meets, and members-only sessions. Sessions are not recorded. Attendance lists are not circulated. Slides, when there are any, stay in the room.
The circle's flagship summit, running alongside VULNCON. A full day of roundtables, fireside interviews, and the annual State of the CISO report.
Oct 2026
Bengaluru
Further dates announced monthly.
Members lead security at national banks, insurers, hospital groups, port and freight operators, and consumer platforms. Names stay in the room.
The circle is for CISOs, CISO-equivalents, and security leaders at operating enterprises who want a private, peer-only room to discuss the realities of the job: incidents, board dynamics, regulation, and what is actually working.
Every application is read by two sitting members. Most take two weeks. Many are declined, and that is the point.