Security BSides

"BSides" redirects here. For music term, see A-side and B-side.

Security BSides (commonly referred to as BSides) is a series of loosely affiliated information security conferences.[1] It was co-founded by Mike Dahn, Jack Daniel, and Chris Nickerson in 2009.[2][3][4] Due to an overwhelming number of presentation submissions to Black Hat USA in 2009, the rejected presentations were presented to a smaller group of individuals.[5][6] The event was named after the "B-side" of a vinyl record.[7]

Over time the conference format matured and was released to enable individuals to start their own BSides conferences.[8][9] The Las Vegas BSides conference is also considered part of Hacker Summer Camp given its schedule and proximity to other security conferences during that time.[10]

Of the three standard conference event styles, structured, unconference, and hybrid. BSides falls into the unconference, or anti-conference, event style and is completely attendee driven.[11][12][13] Attendees appear at a predetermined time, discuss ideas, and collaboratively agree upon what the schedule will look like for that day. Talks that get the most attention and conversation get added to the schedule.

  1. ^ Bradbury, Danny (7 October 2016). "B-Sides: A Grassroots Security Movement". SecTor 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  2. ^ "BSides / BSidesHistory". www.securitybsides.com. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  3. ^ "Becoming jaded with Security BSides' Jack Daniel". SearchSecurity. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  4. ^ Vamosi, Robert. "After 10 Years And 600 Events, Security BSides Keeps Growing". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  5. ^ "Security BSides / FrontPage". www.securitybsides.com. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  6. ^ "Network Security Blog » Have you signed up for Security BSides?". Archived from the original on 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  7. ^ Loshin, Peter (29 August 2017). "Top cybersecurity conferences for when Black Hat and RSA aren't right". TechTarget Security. TechTarget. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  8. ^ HUNTER, ILEANA (2022-10-08). "More than 200 attend Idaho Falls cybersecurity conference". Post Register. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  9. ^ "BSides Cairo: The security conference that's building information sharing from the ground up". The Daily Swig | Cybersecurity news and views. 2020-03-06. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  10. ^ "What to watch for as 'Hacker Summer Camp' gets underway in Las Vegas". CyberScoop. 2022-08-09. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  11. ^ "Growing InfoSec "Unconference" Exceeds 20 Global Events This Year & Expects 400 Attendees in San Francisco". Archived from the original on 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  12. ^ "Security BSides Grows, But Not Too Much". Dark Reading. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  13. ^ Brenner, Bill (2010-02-24). "Security B-Sides: Rise of the 'Anti-conference'". CSO Online. Retrieved 2023-02-25.