Opening Address - BSides Cape Town 2023

thank you everyone um welcome to bides 2023 we're very excited to have you all

here we have an amazing lineup this year um it's it's surprising how much we've gone since last year um more than even we expected by far could accommodate um but we're really glad to have all of you here um speakers and attendees and sponsors and everyone um I'm just going to go through a few housekeeping rules and just in general what to expect from the conference and some Logistics uh so firstly uh just the fire evacuation um we have two stairs the main in the center of the venue and on the side just use the ones to the side and you'll see most of the rooms such as this one have fire exits at the back as well uh on

most floors we also have bathrooms um then in terms of if there's an emergency or whatever case uh just grab the nearest organizer volunteer uh you can identify Us by either our t-shirts or by our badges so the organizers will be wearing dark blue t-shirts and the volunteers gray t-shirts your uh speakers and workshoppers have white t-shirts and then the humans the attendees which will probably not be wearing their t-shirts currently um have black t-shirts and then also there's the badge other than that um moving over to a few things that we have other than the STS running today you might have seen this on our social media um but we have quite a few activities that you can take

part in firstly would be the capture the flag that we're running um you can register over that address it's already been running for a week uh and it ends uh later today at 400 p.m. secondly we have a scavenger hunt um this is something new that we're doing this year it's something for everyone um you'll see may may or may not have noticed QR codes absolutely everywhere um they form part of the challenge so if you get a chance head over to the website and uh maybe you can win some exciting prizes then off of that um we have a vending machine uh run this year by orange cyber defense if you were year last year you might have noticed it uh

hopefully this year it's in a bit more working condition but I've been told they still need to need some time to make some tweaks um so maybe later today head up there and play around with that if you want on to the next one I mean AI has been The Craze this year absolutely um so goose is buol do his own AI challenge uh some of you might have done some of these previously those where you have like gandal or something and you need to get the AI to tell you uh a secret we have one of our own this year built by Goose um you can also go and check that out that's opening at 10:30 so that's

just after the opening and such and then that runs till uh 3:00 this

evening and then we have a on a workshop track we're going to have an elastic CTF later today that runs for 2 hours um believe this set up well two yeah about 2 hours um setup is going to be about half an hour to an hour there you can go sit in that room take part of the CTF or anywhere else in the venue it is an online CTF before that we'll have two other workshops running today we also had workshops yesterday um for today you don't need any tickets for the workshops uh you can just show up but make sure it's it's it's first come first Ser um so if you're going to be late you're

most likely not going to get a space there then for CTF if if you don't have enough reason already to participate there um I can give you some better ones so in terms of prizes this year uh we have some things sponsored by uh aled security and and offsec uh we also have some smaller prices our s so we have about three CRPS to give away um three CPS the Azure SS um we have two offset 200 vouchers with 90 day lab access to give uh as well as one one year um access on the offs SEC uh platform as well to give away and then some smaller other stuff such as OMG cables lock big

sets uh and some other small things some of which will be tied to specific uh challenges and such such as the vending machine uh or such then moving over to the workshops today we're H hosting two workshops uh the first run by Colin um that will take place just after the opening keynote um that will run from 10:50 to 12:20 and then we have a second Workshop uh by mik on Defenders Den that is an offensive and defensive Workshop that runs in a virtualized environment um that it shows you how to attack and defend an ad environment those are sponsored by OCTA and then we have elastic hosting the one workshop and 42 crunch with who is with

Colin hosting the API Workshop then in terms of talks um we have a very packed schedule um it was really hard turning talks uh down this year don't don't expect to read that at the right side I can't fit it on the screen um you'll see on your badge at the back side uh there is a QR code that will take you to the pre- talks website that has the entire schedule um I do recommend viewing it in in desktop mode um it is bad on mobile but we can't do much on that it's three tracks um so just in terms of logistics um as people leave late on the day uh we have track 3

closing at uh 3:30 uh p.m. and then track two closing at 5:15 so then only track one will be uh open after that um you'll notice the tracks don't start at the same time that is absolutely intentional uh we don't want everyone to be moving between tracks at the exact same time we have a lot of people here so we just have them staggered so that people can um move independently but with that with that noted um do keep the uh presenters in mind when you enter venues either during a session uh a start like either leaving during a session has started or coming in after a session has started they're busy presenting try to interrupt them as

little as possible um because there's going to be a lot of people coming in and out um other than that um there is one non-recorded talk on chck one we will clearly outline that with um with our volunteers as well as having uh stickers or uh uh displays uh that show there's no recording audio visual or photos allowed on that track uh but other than that um you can take pictures and such on the other tracks then moving over um we've been running this conference for quite a long while um but this year we've had a lot of sponsors and we're really thankful for that because at the end of the day we can run this conference without

sponsors but not nearly at this level um they also allow us to keep the ticket price for this conference at the level that it is currently um we don't want to be charging 15,000 for an entry ticket and then have people like students not be able to attend um so we're really thankful for all our sponsors this year um they really helped make this conference what it is uh and especially I want to give a shout out for obscure they've been really accommodating and helpful this year as well and they are also our Platinum sponsor um we have a bunch of gold sponsors here as well this this year um we also want to thank our

silver sponsors and then lastly our bronze sponsors sponsors sorry um we also have some community and a sponsors this year just uh on that side and then other than that um enjoy the conference um I will then hand over to um obscure for a quick introduction and welcome uh and after that we will be kicked off by by Dominic white over there with the opening keynote thank you no we fine we've got our wolf on we're good as I um good morning bide Skype Town um I think it's fitting that a marketing person is actually opening this conference because I'm really appreciating um the electrifying energy in this room it's amazing I'm City skum I ate marketing for obscure Technologies

and being in this industry for about seven years it's actually um I I don't think I was going to get here and feel Goosebumps and getting all the feels from you guys um I have this very somber image in my head and thinking that all my jugs are just going to go above your heads so so my um um I've always been taught and all our leaders from you know from grade one has always taught you um never being in a room where you are the smartest person I think I've picked the exact room where I need to be today um um a little bit about obscure for you guys who don't know we a cyber

security distribution we a pure bread cyber security distribution you're more than welcome to go and check out our stack of products um Charles has shown me already at the back no sales talk no nothing like that um I I also just quickly want to go in and just say that from obscure perspective and it's very important and we really feel passionate about the the technical side of things so Fran and J Justin couldn't be here today our Founders and um leadership executive team of our company this company has been built on technical skills they are both Technical and they um commend themselves for always building that out and that's the Cornerstone the backbone of everything

that we do um Education First we run an internship program where we take kidss in that cannot go to Varsity but you all know that the industry that you've chosen is a lifelong Varsity so I commend you guys on that as well um then I cannot say I cannot say it any better um I really want to acknowledge the importance of cyber security and the collaborative spirits of the bide Community um you guys are the Cornerstone for everything that we do yes we install and Implement all sorts of fancy products and stuff that excites you from vendors across the globe but you guys are actually our guardians of Faith since it's dystopian theme you are

the Gilead Gardians of a guardians of fa when it comes to cyber security um I really I'm so impressed with the creativity coming from a marketing site um for the B sites organizers for really going above and beyond to make this event so interesting and fun for you guys um I really want to emphasize the importance for you guys to go around Network um talk to each other and I'm sure that's happening because this is my first bit um but go and talk to the sponsors and um get engaged you you never know who you might meet um I'm a um I'm a happy CV collector I'm happy to pass them on and if you're my little friend I will always

shove it across the across the table I also want to thank all the other sponsors and it um enlightens my art when I look at that board and um half of the sponsors are either our partners or our vendors um so that tells you our commitment from a broader Community to support you guys um I'm not going to tell this D joke it's terrible but I am going to do it because I've got a a quickly made Tristan run to incredible Connection in the past last 15 minutes to quickly go and get me some eight so it's I'm not working or not up to standard in this room um Tristan where are you yes you can go and discuss it

with him um the first then then yeah let me do the joke the first one who gets the answer and this is an old one because and then I know I'm going to get lots of answers why did the cyber security expert break up with their

[Laughter] computer if my boyfriend goes out with another girl then uh I I will have [Music] yes well no no you you need to have a good self-image besides the fact that she's cheating on you oh that was a bad example okay I'm just going to go like obscure technologist was created in 2016 on the 1st of April what do you call that day there we go I cap there you go thrist please give him his headset I want you guys to enjoy your day and have the most fun ever and thank you for this electric environment I'm really enjoying it I'm out [Applause]

bye