Keynotes - Opening Remarks - Day One

good morning

besides thank you all very much for being here today uh thank you all very much for carrying enough to mask uh while you're here and uh remember everybody it's hot out there it's dry in here drink lots of water okay cool why are we all here I mean it's been 15 years since the last the first time that this thing happened um mostly that just makes me feel old but this is I me truly kind of an amazing longevity this this community has grown so much in that time this is as of today the 13rd security bides event that we know of in the world

13 so I'm not just old I'm actually kind of amazed um and how did this happen I you know mostly uh I think it's because of you folks I've got a few ideas my grandmother had a saying that there's nothing so bad that it ain't good for something and this entire conference exists because there were conversations that we couldn't have at black hat at RSA or any number of other places right rejection failure exclusion these things are terrible in the moment but this community exists because people look at those they took those things and they actually built something from them that was not only unique but truthfully stronger and more flexible in some ways that were desperately needed in the

world there are situations in life and in our industry where you'll only get one shot and you need to cross your teas and Dot your eyes where there's no makeup and there's no recovery option and you can't Unbreak break eggs if you drop them right but most Beginnings aren't like that most Beginnings are about learning and the only way to learn new things things that actually new things that nobody's learned before is by doing the most important part is begun even with a tiny group of people in a tiny room even if you overcrowd your tiny room or the next bunch of tiny rooms so badly that you have to shoehorn a bunch of portable AC to keep from

expiring by perspiring even if you overload that AC so badly that your power cord decides to actually Halt and literally Catch Fire the important part is still begun if you begin hard enough and keep at it you can work well out and there's a good chance it will work out well especially with the right help best of all so you know there's the old saying to go fast go alone to go far go together but if you can find a way to go with just enough people to get you where you need to go as fast as you can that's even better right and bsides excels at this decentralization ducy if every bsides had to be set up by

Jack and Banshee and nouse and Cinders and all the rest of us we'd still be a couple of dozen not a thousand and3 we wouldn't have the global reach because it's decentralized because we come together whereever weere needed and by we I mean you guys you gals you everyone out there and us we get things done without a whole bunch of State transfer vertical communication we're not just a conference because of that we're a movement and all you've got to do to be part of it is participate the next time one comes around in your neighborhood so many wonderful things have started here besides is a place for Beginnings wonderful amazing programs have begun here and grown into movements

of their own Pros versus Joe's I am the cavalry our Proving Ground mentored track for new speakers that's so effective and impactful that conferences like black hat started doing it as well public dialogue about mental health in our profession again pioneered here our ground truth data science track has spawned you know other organizations that are doing uh excuse me uh wonderful things that got started at our annual data science Meetup here I can't even begin to cover the impact that you have when you and your fellow participants take the things you start here out into the world you are part of that you are here to do that the co-founder you'll meet the new employer or future colleague

that you'll get to know the cool skill you'll pick up just because you're here and you can spend 20 minutes or how an hour or even a couple of days with someone who isn't just a worldclass expert in something but is so jazzed and so excited about it that they love to share it with everybody that they can you are a part of that but it's not just about starting things bides is a community to sustain and boost these Beginnings open welcoming built to incorporate the best from any place we can find it and to celebrate and Elevate those fantastic fellow Travelers passwords con Sky talks Higher Ground each of them led by people who came to

bsides with fantastic ideas and track records already and made us and themselves better and more impactful as a result of coming together I mean after all what is bsides a bside is a cheap record right it's it's a place to experiment to learn to come up with something new and unexpected and wonderful and give it a chance just a chance for the world to realize how powerful it is whether that's a person or an idea or an organization or a whole movement but all of that every bit of that of what that can be begins with you and that brings me to my requests and the reason I'm taking a little longer to get to those talks

today you knew it was too good to be true right there's always a catch we always are going to ask something from you so when you leave this room today after the keynote please because you don't want to miss that bit about the amazingly accomplished people sharing what they love best and care most about right but when you leave this room today this is my request for your bsides and it's only a request but go begin something new talk to someone you haven't before learn something you never thought you'd need for your job like how to pick a lock or how to operate a ham radio or whatever is just interesting but better yet help something that's already

started to grow whether that's you or whoever is sitting next to you right now but go ahead take a look right now and make eye contact with a person to your left or your right or at least make eye contact with their shoes and their shoes instead of your shoes like I mean we're all you know Geeks here we get it that's fine too and no it doesn't work if you all look left at the same time and then you all look right at the same time right because this is something like most things that works better with each of you figuring that local bit out for yourselves rather than some Central Authority trying to coordinate

everything take that look anyway and make a mental note and at some point in the next two days not right now but sometime after the talk walk up to those folks and then if they look confused that's okay remember a lot of us are a little bit face blind okay so that just means you don't have to worry about it but you walk up and you tell them Damon Tanner sent you and you ask that person what they really care about what's their thing what's really cool and exciting and what they're looking forward to while they're here and okay I mean that's a little too long we can do better there's a great Irish word for

this a great word for b-sides in general actually just walk right up and say hey DT sent me what's the crack that's c a i no K very important distinction a lot of us have you know security clearances to maintain that kind of thing but I promise you that no K crack is 100% compatible with that crack is a good time it's a fun experience it's a friendly conversation right and it can be the thing that has happened or is going to happen or even something that's happening right now it's good crack the word crack and bides is good crack too so Damon sent me what's the crack and see where it takes you right see

what you can learn and what you can help grow and I'm I'm going to warn you we'll be checking up on this at the end of the conference so just remember when somebody walks up and says hey what's the crack this is as official as bsides business ever gets and sharing the crack is a moral imperative it's how all of this got started and how all of it continues to grow and how all of us Chang the world one life at a time that's enough of that put a pin in it [Applause] because uh in just a few minutes we're going to have uh Sven catel come here and uh talk about how ml security can

best draw from our accumulated experience in designing and operating secure and Safe Systems in order to address the actual critical risks that are manifest in AI systems rather than some of the more shallow threats that get endless chattering attention today so stay stay tuned stay put and oh yep there's our man right here we're going to get him set up and uh you guys will get to hear some very interesting stuff