Security BSides

Security BSides (commonly referred to as BSides) is a series of loosely affiliated information security conferences. It was co-founded by Mike Dahn, Jack Daniel, and Chris Nickerson in 2009. Due to an overwhelming number of presentation submissions to Black Hat USA in 2009, the rejected presentations were presented to a smaller group of individuals. The event was named after the "B-side" of a vinyl record.

Over time the conference format matured and was released to enable individuals to start their own BSides conferences. The Las Vegas BSides conference is also considered part of Hacker Summer Camp given its schedule and proximity to other security conferences during that time.

Of the three standard conference event styles, structured, unconference, and hybrid. BSides falls into the unconference, or anti-conference, event style and is completely attendee driven. Attendees appear at a predetermined time, discuss ideas, and collaboratively agree upon what the schedule will look like for that day. Talks that get the most attention and conversation get added to the schedule.