What is SharkFest?
SharkFest is a non-commercial educational conference series dedicated to sharing knowledge, experience, and best practices among the global Wireshark developer and user communities.
Since 2008 in the United States, and from 2016 in Europe, practitioners have gathered at SharkFest to sharpen their skills in protocol analysis, network forensics, and open-source packet tooling. Sessions cover topics from Wireshark internals and dissector development to high-speed capture, encrypted-traffic analysis, and incident-response casework.
SharkFest is run as a partnership between the Wireshark Foundation and a community of volunteer contributors. There are no paid keynotes, no sponsored content masquerading as talks, and no upselling of products — just network engineers and security researchers presenting work they actually do, to people who actually do it.
The Wireshark Foundation
The Wireshark Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that sustains the Wireshark project and runs SharkFest. Donations to the Foundation pay for continuous integration, code-signing, infrastructure, and the work that keeps Wireshark a trustworthy default for packet analysis.
If your organisation relies on Wireshark — for incident response, for dissector development, for network engineering — please consider supporting the Foundation directly.
A short history
SharkFest began in 2008 in Los Altos, California, initiated by Janice Spampinato. It now runs annually in the United States and Europe, with one Asian edition held in 2018.
First SharkFest, Los Altos, California
Initiated by Janice Spampinato, the inaugural event brings together the early Wireshark developer and user community in the Bay Area.
SharkFest Europe debuts
First European edition, hosted in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
SharkFest Asia
A single Asian edition is held in Singapore. No further Asian editions are currently planned.
Virtual editions
The pandemic shifts SharkFest online. Talks remain on YouTube as an open archive.
Wireshark Foundation established
The Foundation is formed in September as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, taking over stewardship of the Wireshark project and SharkFest.
SharkFest'26 EUROPE — Brussels
The 10th European edition, hosted at the Brussels Marriott Hotel Grand Place.
Code of Conduct
SharkFest is committed to providing a welcoming and harassment-free environment for everyone, regardless of experience, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, religion, or background.
Our short version
Be excellent to each other. Help newcomers. Speak up if something isn't right — every event has clearly named code-of-conduct contacts on the welcome page and on every attendee badge.
Read the full Code of ConductGet in touch
SharkFest is a community effort. Whether you want to speak, sponsor, volunteer, or just ask a question — we'd like to hear from you.
