Kicking Off BSidesSLC 2026: AI, Hackers, and What's Next

All right, welcome, welcome to Bside Salt Lake City 2026. We're really excited to have you here with us. It's a lot of fun. Um, when we start off this conference, we always have to thank our incredible sponsors. Um, without our sponsors, conferences like this simply wouldn't be possible or at least possible at the frequency we would love to do them. Um I'm sure many of you walking in today had a chance to kind of walk by our incredible sponsors. Um a few of them um contributed a lot um both in resources and in time and energy to be here and be a part of this conference and make sure that all of us had a great

experience. So um we like to you know have a huge shout out to our sponsors. We have titanium and platinum sponsors, organizations uh local here to Utah that you might know very well as well as some other incredible sponsors that have some that have come from very far um in order to be here, right? And to sponsor your learning, right, and our engagement in this field of infosc and cyber security that we love. So big round of applause for our sponsors.

All right. So, it's another year. It's another B-side Salt Lake City. We're so glad all of you are here and decided to join us. Um, you know, we could do a lot of other things on Friday, but hopefully coming to Bides is better than going to work. So, we're glad you're here. If you haven't already, please join us on our Discord. That's where most of our and a lot of our communication will happen. whether you're a participant um a speaker uh or you want to be a speaker or a volunteer um or just looking for opportunities to network and to learn and to grow with others here um discord is a great place to do it. So if you

haven't already find us on bsideslc.org or that's our main domain. Um then we have kind of our socials um join our discord discord community. If you're looking for updates, you're looking to network um or just communicate with us directly, you can find most of us there. Those are who volunteers and organiz organizers for the uh for the con. So if you haven't already, please do that. Um before we talk about the details of this particular conference, um just want to introduce some of you to bides. I know uh many of you have probably been involved in Bsides longer than I have. Um so this is not news to any of you. Uh but for some of you this might be your

first Bsides or maybe it's been a while. Um so what is Bsides exactly? Right? Bides is actually a community-driven framework for building events for and by information security community members specifically right um and Bides is worldwide. So besides you can find besides conferences everywhere from Salt Lake to Vegas to San Francisco to Kkow to Zurich to Myanmar, right? Um we really are a worldwide community of people who love infosc, who love security, right? Who love hacking and culture. Um, and wherever you go, you'll probably be able to find either a Bsides conference somewhere near you or at least people who are part of a community and who love sharing their knowledge and their information with others.

So, what's the goal of this community? Well, the goal is to expand our connections, right? Um, beyond just a single conference, right, or a single point in time. So our hope is that as we go about doing that and we go about interacting with each other, you know, learning from each other, connecting with each other, that we create opportunities, opportunities both present and future, um that encourage collaboration. I know for me personally, um I've had incredible opportunities to meet people through bides, both as a participant and as a volunteer. Um, I just meet incredible people. Incredible people that have a wealth of knowledge and experience um that enable me to be better at my job and to have more fun.

And that's why I continue to be a part of this organization um and be part of a global organization of people who just want to be in the community and to help others. It's really fun. So, what happens at a bides? Um well we have discussions we have demos we have speakers we have workshops but what we're looking for is to make it available and really accessible to everyone right um for those of you who if this is your first B size or maybe your first security con right this is an opportunity for you to literally like be 15 feet away right from the person you're learning from right to maybe do a workshop to go hands-on to start a

conversation with someone who's maybe doing um a part of security or technology that you're not familiar with right to have that conversation about what's what's the next big thing in the industry, what's the next big thing for you, right? AI is a hot topic, but we have people here who specialize in OT security, physical security, and other things that are adjacent to traditional IT security that might help you grow and expand your skill set. So, we're really hoping that, you know, more than anything, you take away from this opportunities to learn and to network with your local community. So we can observe, we can orient ourselves, we can decide, we can act on being better.

Okay. So let's talk now about specifically what's going to happen today. So we're here at the Slick campus. We're going to be in three different buildings. Um so the building we're in right now is the KGMC. That's the one highlighted here in red. That's kind of where we are. Um this so this is the main part of the event. So um the building just kind of directly behind us is the MPEDC. That's the one that's really kind of looks like it's part of the same building, but they consider a different part. Um, and then there's going to be a building back here to my left. Um, just kind of across the courtyard in the parking lot, the MFC.

That is a third building where we're going to have events and workshops. So, you just came in through those doors right there. You just passed the registration desk. That's where you can find help. Um, if you're looking for answers to your questions or you're just looking to connect and hang out with the organizing, uh, members of BIDES like myself, um, that's where you can find us. Okay? So, we'll always be there. We'll be there throughout the rest of the day. If you need anything, you lose your badge, you have a question, you're trying to find a specific room, a specific workshop, um, questions about competitions, whatever it may be, um, you'll be able to find us right there.

That is just behind these doors to rich you came in. Also, we have our sponsors here in the hallway to my left. Um, we're also going to have two important sponsors here behind registration desk. If you haven't already, talk to them, learn a little bit about them. They probably have some cool knowledge for you, maybe some tips, also some cool swag, right? Again, it's probably better than just sitting at your desk or sitting at home at work, right? So, give them a shout out, right? Again, they support the conference. We couldn't do this without them. And they really are great. They're giving um their resources and their time to be here and to help us

out. Of course, we also have uh some contests this year like we do. Um and we're going to be doing a sponsor raffle contest. So, when you register, you probably got that little sponsor raffle card, right? We're asking you to go talk to the sponsors, go talk to the communities, get stamps from each one of them, write your name on it, bring it back. There's a little bag out there that says sponsor raffle. Drop that in there. Um and if you're here um at closing ceremonies at 4 o'clock, um you'll have the opportunity to get your name drawn and probably get a nice prize. So, we have things like Lego sets, tool sets, $100 gift cards, cool

SBC's, um, like Raspberry Pies, uh, Flipper Zeros with the coveted Wi-Fi board and really interesting things. So, take your time, learn a little bit about, you know, our Spencers and our community, uh, community members and just get a chance to win cool stuff. So, again, without our incredible sponsors, um, this simply wouldn't be possible. So uh please you know take time to learn from them right they also maybe have job opportunities. It really is an important part of your career right and your development uh in the industry is to learn about organizations and companies that are doing cool things that you want to do. Okay. So um who makes this possible? Well of course it's you right the

participants and the volunteers and the organizers. Um so many people put so much work into this. um until I started volunteering um and I kind of was able to peel back you know that virtual curtain um I really didn't know how much went into planning a conference like uh like this but it really does take a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of effort and um it's all volunteer right we're not really in this for anything but you know the cool opportunities to hang out with really smart people and fun people and grow the community so if you see anybody on this list or anybody with you know an orange

uh lanyard or someone who looks like they're helping, you know, just let them know that you're really appreciative that they're willing to spend their time and their money to be here um and just to do cool stuff. Um as part of BIDES, uh we're organized under the Utah Cyber Security Society. So these amazing people here, you see, um Anthony, Tyler, Ivonne, and Bryce, uh and myself, and many others, um we again we take the time to try and organize these events for you. Um, and it's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work. Um, and so, you know, again, we're here. We're a 501c3. So, we do our best to do this, you know, again, not for any other

reason than to build strong community, build strong connections with you, and to learn and and to grow at the same time. Um, a little bit about me. Um, many of you probably don't know who I am, right? Sometimes I don't know who I am, right? U, but my name's Trey. Uh, I've been volunteering with this B-sides organization for about three years now. I'm a security architect at an organization downtown called Wet. We do critical electrical infrastructure. It's a lot of fun. Um, it's also a little stressful. I feel like I'm one of those people where AP is always like breathing down my neck, right? So, it's a little stressful sometimes. It does keep me up

at night, but uh, it's also really neat and fulfilling. Um, you know, defending our electrical infrastructure against potential attacks, right? keeping the lights on and making sure we have electricity, right, to preserve, you know, kind of the state of our modern uh society. Um, in addition to that, I'm also a cyber security educator. So, I I guess I just can't get enough, right, with work and besides I have to go and teach security at night, but it's a lot of fun. I really enjoy it. I love helping others learn and improve their skills um and become, you know, the next generation of my colleagues, right? My leaders and the people that I want to work with to hopefully create a more

secure environment for all of us. But why do I do this? Why do I do B sites? Well, I do it because I'm a product of this community. Uh many years ago, some of you may remember Open West. Um it's kind of a conference that's come and gone. Uh great folks, great people. And that was actually really my my introduction to security. Uh I remember is Open West I think 2013. It was at the UVU campus and they had an infosc track. Um and infosc was always something I thought was neat, right? and having been a longtime Linux user, things like that, privacy and security were always on my mind. Um, but it wasn't something I

thought I could actually do, right, and have a career. And doing that infosc track at Open West literally changed my life. Out of that conference, I knew right away what I was going to do with my career, right? I was going to be in infosc as we called it at the time, right? And um, it's been really it's been really fun. It's been rewarding. I'm sure as many of you know, it's interesting work. It's constantly changing, right? It changes really fast and security seems to change even faster and so it's a lot of fun. Um but yeah, technology and security are my passion. It's what I do. You can find me on X, you can find me on my website. Um you

can find me on LinkedIn or on our Bites Discord P. Honestly, I'm open to any DMs. If you just want to chat or hang out, talk about careers, talk about security, talk about volunteering, um I'm I'd love to chat. Just let me know. Reach out to me. Okay. So, let's talk about sessions, communities, and contests a little bit more. So, again, we're here in the KGMC. This is the main building. This is where you are right now. This is where the first track is going to be. So, if you've looked at the session schedule, we have two tracks this year uh of speaker sessions. The main track, track one, is almost always going to be in this building, in this

very room. Okay? And then we're going to have track two is going to be in that building across the courtyard, across the parking lot adjacent. Um there we're going to have some fun stuff. there's going to be an auditorium style classroom where you're going to have track two. So, when you're looking at the two columns of um of the schedule, track one will probably be in this room. If you're looking for speakers, track two will be in that building over to my left uh in the auditorium. And in that building as well on the first floor, um those of you who got the Lily Go, right, the LiyGo badge stuff, uh we're going to be doing in the

hallway there the different stations so you can program your device and learn a little bit about hardware hacking. And there's also a free space down there. Um so for those of you who are maybe doing CTFs or doing other communities or just need a place to chill, to eat, to hang out, to network, um that space is available to you as well. Okay, we're really excited to have the women in tech here as well. Um, so for those of you those of you who don't know, they're an excellent um kind of nationwide or maybe even worldwide organization who support uh incredible women who are either in technology or looking to get into tech and tech work.

Um, we have a special event for them, a lunchon uh on the second floor of that building on in room 223. Um, so if you've RSVPd for that, um, we're excited to have you with us, um, and learn a little bit more about how we can support the incredible women and their efforts to, um, to engage with the technology community. Okay, so we've talked about track one, this building, this room, track two right over there, adjacent to the left, um, and then here behind us, so the separate building just kind of behind these stairs and up up the stairs in the MPDC, this is where we're going to have most of our communities today. Okay, so

we're going to have an excellent capture the flag. Um, this is actually being hosted by Jex Floit. And if you don't know Jexloit yet, you will. Uh, soon to be world famous DJ and and redte teamer extraordinaire. Um, you know, spinning sick tunes and and helping you hack on flags and stuff. Uh, it's going to be a lot of fun. So, even if you maybe are not a red teamer or you haven't done pentesting before, um, go stop by the community, go learn what it's about. Go talk to Derek, who's who's Joloit. Um he's really awesome. He's doing some amazing things for the community. He's going to be up the stairs and to your left. Okay, so that's going to be where

the CTF is. And this is the competitive CTFs. Interested in competing either as an individual or as a team to win sweet prizes. Um that's where you're going to want to spend most of your time. Okay. We also have the keep courtesy of 801 Labs here. Um 801 Labs has been an amazing community member u based out of Salt Lake. Um they help us a lot, right? right? They help the community. They provide hands-on exercises and training. And we're so grateful to have them today with us as well. So, just down the hallway from the competitive CTF, if you just want to maybe take it easy, right, hack on some flags, get some hands-on experience, you can do that at the keep.

So, maybe you're just wanting to take it easy or maybe you want your first hands-on experience, right? um you can stop by the keep and the wonderful folks at 801 Labs is going to love helping you go hands-on um with kind of the the red side of what we do in security. Okay, so we also have some very student um focused um material as well available. I know many of you are students or returning students looking to break into the security and technology industry. Um, so again, this building behind us up the stairs and to the right, there's going to be a student career session. So if you're interested in learning like, hey, I'm a student.

I'm looking to get into security, like how do I do that, right? Um, there's going to be some awesome material for you there. And kind of adjacent to that as well, we're going to have a resume review workshop. So, if you have your resume handy, either in paper or digital format, there'll be someone there um who has been doing resé review and specifically security and technology résumés for a long time, right? They actively do hiring. So, if that's something you're interested in, I highly encourage you to do that. There's nothing like getting your resume reviewed in a low pressure environment by someone who does that on the daily, right, without having the pressure of, you know, it being a job opportunity or

not. So, definitely encourage you to do that. Like I said before, right? Um, you know, Bides is about more than just IT security, right? There's so many cool and fun things we do that are IT security adjacent that can improve our skill set, open our minds to new things, and physical security is one of those. So, we're going to have an excellent lockpicking community uh again up the stairs and to the right just behind you in uh room 228. So, if you're interested in physical security and you want to help others and show off your expertise or you just want to do it for the first time, please go take a look. Um, I know

before I started volunteering at Bides, I didn't know a lock from another and now in theory with a bobby pin, I can get myself out of handcuffs, which I hope I never have to do, but you never know, right? So, if that's ever been on your mind, um, definitely encourage you to take a look. It's going to be a lot of fun. We also have something new this year. Um it's called hack attack defense learning and cyber security through play. Um we know that uh security can be very intimidating and hard to get into uh and hard to get started with. And so uh in 215 we're actually going to have a community where you can go and you can

learn through kind of gamification and a really fun and easy introduction to how to start right how to start getting into cyber security or thinking getting into a security mindset um by participating there. So, if maybe this is your first time, you're new, or maybe it's not, and you want to share your expertise, come join us up the stairs, straight back behind the stairs in 215 and 216 for some fun activities. Okay, so contest, right? So, I mentioned that Jexloit is running a competitive CTF up the stairs and to the left. Um, and so we have some excellent prizes. Flipper zeros, Raspberry Pies, um gift cards, tool sets, Lego sets, um and we have prizes for both individuals

and teams. So, if you fancy, um you know, spending your time today hacking on on some activities, right? Capturing some flags, um the first, second, and third from the individuals will be able to pick uh their their three prizes, and we'll have a uh team prize as well for each individual member of the team. So, if that's something you're interested in, um we'd love to see you do that. If you want to do that or you just want to track the progress and the scores of CTF, you can go to ctf.bsideslc.org as well to track those. In addition to that, we have um some other contests. So, just the fact that you're here and you're registered, we're

excited to have you. We'll be drawing uh we'll be picking one person who registered to get a surprise prize, as I call it. Um and then we're also going to have a social media contest, right? So, if you take a cool picture um or you have a really cool post and you post it on X or you post it on LinkedIn and you use this the the hashtag besides SLLC, we'll also um provide you with the prize. We're also looking for community members who are MVPs, right? So, those of you who again are maybe experts or working really hard and helping people in communities or labs or helping the organizers, we want to recognize you,

right? Again, this is a communitydriven event and without you and your participation, things like this simply wouldn't be possible or wouldn't be very fun. So, if you're out there and you're a pro, right, and this is your 20th bides, uh, and you're out sharing your expertise or your knowledge or your time, we'd love to hear about it. Please let us know. Okay. So, we do have some guidelines and some rules, right, for the contests. Um, whether it's CTF or social media or what have you. Um, if you want to get a prize, you have to be here at closing ceremonies in this room at four o'clock today, right? So, if you want to um have a chance to win the

raffle or be awarded your prizes, you must be here and be present. Uh, we won't be shipping prizes out or holding prizes. So, please stick around, spend time with us. Um, I know it's Friday. We'll get out of here. Closing ceremonies don't last very long. We're here to recognize you and recognize the amazing things you did today. If you're still looking for the schedule, you can find um paper schedules out there on the table or you can find at bsideslc.org. Just go to content and event schedule portal um or schedule at a glance if you're looking for an outline. And of course, you can talk to any of the organizers there at the desk and we can

direct you to wherever you need to go. Uh here at the Slick campus, um there's food options nearby. So, if you're looking for burgers or uh you're looking for sandwiches or other things, um you can definitely get stuff either delivered or head out. I know a lot of groups like to organize like pizza parties and they're going out to pizza or burgers together. Find a community, right? Find people to hang out with. See who wants to go to lunch. We're going to have a little bit of a lunch break today. Um and there is definitely some good food options nearby. All right. So before we close and get started with the conference, just want to make you aware that this is not the

beginning or the end of conference season for Utah or for Bides. Uh we have some other amazing events coming up. Uh in September, we have Bides Cash, which is going to happen in Logan in uh again in September on September 18th. It's going to be a lot of fun. So, if you're here in northern Utah and you just can't get enough and you want to do more CTFs, you want to do more contests, you want to uh learn some more and do some more workshops, uh we're going to be there in September. And of course, we have Saint Con, right, which happens on October at the Provo Convention Center every year. Super excited to have them. They're an

incredible supporter, by the way, right? This is not a competition. We're all here to build the community. We all work together. Uh we work together, we play together, we we hack together, right? We have fun. So for those of you who haven't had the Scon experience yet, it is quite the experience and so I definitely encourage you to look early and to keep track of when tickets released. So um you can go ahead and attend that event. And then we're also going to have Bides Red Rocks where we're expanding Bides um to all corners of Utah and the past few years we've had the opportunity to bring it to southern Utah, both St. George and Cedar City to

reach community members and people out there who don't have the chance to come up here to northern Utah. So, even if you're up here in northern Utah, but you want to, you know, escape the cold for a little bit and hang out with us in sunny southern Utah and again share your expertise or have more opportunities to learn, we'd love to have you. And then a pre um is another uh conference that happens usually in February in Park City. So, you get a chance to ski, snowboard, hang out in the snow, um as well as uh learn um about more security topics. So today actually I believe if I'm not mistaken the uh CFP the call for

proposal for besides cash is open. So for those of you out there who have maybe thought about starting a workshop or wanting to speak and getting uh that public speaking experience um this is your chance. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to to have you share with us and share with the community. Um and again a very low pressure communitydriven environment. Um, please visit the Besides Casheach website and let us know um if you'd like to submit a topic. We'd love to hear from you. Okay. So, before we close, we hope today that you make connections um that you help drive uh this communitydriven event and that you use that to build your career, right? Um

being in security is so much fun. Um, like I mentioned before, you know, I wouldn't be here today in my career as a security architect and a security educator if it wasn't for a community-driven event, right? That sparked my interest and got me thinking about, you know, working in infosc and cyber security. So, um, if you see students around or those who are are learners or just getting started or trying to break back into the industry, reach out to them, right? Maybe, you know, tip them off on opportunities, careers, right? It's hard for us to be engaged when we're not doing it on the daily, right? I know many of us, especially in this environment, are

looking for work. So, reach out and be a good community member. Okay, and I think that's all we have. Again, one last big round of applause to our sponsors for making this possible. So glad to have them here. Make sure you stop by, get their stamps, get their free swag. I'm sure they have plenty. And enjoy your conference, everyone. We'll see you back here at 4 o'clock. Thank you.