B Sides (Security Conference)

BSides is a framework for organizing and holding security conferences. The concept began in the US in 2009 with Mike Dahn, Jack Daniel, and some others because the CFP for Blackhat Vegas or DEF CON was oversubscribed and those unable to present decided to hold their own conference on the 'b side'. Now, many have been arranged in several countries throughout the world. BSides has come to be known as a 'conference by the community for the community'. Events are generally free to attend and rely on sponsorship to pay for the venue and other costs and are run as not-for-profit.

Because the events of B-Sides offer smaller, more intimate networking atmospheres and breakout discussions, they foster strong audience participation and overall group interaction.

A popular BSides conference is the one in San Francisco, known in the security community for its high-quality talks. In 2011, BSides San Francisco included 28 talks, 40 presenters, and several interesting panels ranging from legal debates to cyber-security awareness.^[1] In 2012 it included 24 talks, 35 presenters, and one half-day training course.^[2]

Specific B Side Events

• BSides Hamburg was held for the first time on December 28, 2014 ^[3] and is expected to be held each year in parallel to the Chaos Communication Congress.
• BSides Ottawa held September 5 and 6, 2014 ^[4]
• BSides San Francisco
• BSides Las Vegas
• BSides Orlando was held on April 11 and 12, 2015 with 460 people attending.^[5]
• BSides Boston
• BSides London was held 24 Apr 13^[6]
• BSides Cape Town will be held on 5 December 2015^[7]
• B Sides MSP in Minneapolis–Saint Paul was first held on January 7, 2011 in the Wabasha Street Caves,^[8] recreated for an August 23, 2014 event^[9] and June 13–14, 2015.^[10]
• B Sides Puerto Rico was held for the first time on April 5–6, 2013 ^[11] and is expected to be held every April each year. Its organized and run by a local non for profit security organization, Obsidis Consortia.
• B Sides DC was held for the first time on October 19–20 and is expected to be held in October of each year as "the Octoberfest of BSides."^[12]
• B Sides Algiers was held for the first time on May 14–15, 2012 by OWASP Algeria Student Chapter, for the second time on May 3–4, 2013 and is expected to be held in May of each year by Shellmates (ex OWASP)^[13]
• B Sides Vienna is held every year after the DeepSec conference in November. ^[14]
• B Sides Manchester was held for the first time in July 2014 with 200 attendees. The second was in August 2015 with 400 attendees.^[15]
• BSides Tampa will be held for their 3rd year on April 16th in 2016 after hosting over 400 attendees during their previous events.^[16]

References

External links

• Security B-Sides