Well, maybe not that dramatic but there can be little doubt that the idea and most of all the people taking action to bring that idea to life have changed the way the community is engaging with information security events globally. Originally bSides was created to provide a forum to speakers that didn’t make the (CFP) cut for the usual suspects (BlackHat, DefCon,..) but were far to valuable to not share with the community. That probably still holds true but bSides became far more than that; and a good example of this is bSides London. Even tho running in parallel with InfoSecurity Europe 2011 it is hardly a basin for overflowing talks considering that InfoSec Europe is neither a Con nor do they seem to accept speakers without commercial involvement in the event anyway. bSides rather gave the interested folks in London a reason and framework to start organizing one of the (unfortunately few) security events of this kind in town. Could an event like this be organized not running under the bSides flag? Absolutely. Would it draw the same amount of interest from both volunteers and participants? Hardly. Looking back to InfoSec Europe 2010 where there was not even enough interest to start an informal SecurityBloggers meetup the excitement and enthusiasm the bSides movement brings to the table becomes obvious.
While there are still several months to go until we get to hear (not only) United Kingdom’s most talented, interesting and without a doubt most attractive speakers bSides London already took its first hurdle by showing that there is a great interest in this event. Assuming that the word continues to spread and that at least some of those thousands of security enthusiasts and InfoSec professionals will get bored in the labyrinth of security booths at InfoSecurity Europe the first ever bSides UK event could be off to a great start.
If you want to know more don’t dawdle and check out the . Seats are going quick (no, really) and there is still the option to submit a proposal for a talk (CFP) for a chance to tell your grandchildren that you were one of those (in)glorious basterds speaking at the first bSides London.
If Twitter is your thing make sure to follow @BSidesLondon or the hashtag #bsideslondon as well.
The event information at a glance: