BSides 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, some talks could not fit in the schedule and were rejected by the organisers. The rejected presentations were presented to a smaller group of individuals at the first BSides conference. The first event was quickly organised by grassroots groups made from those who had their talks rejected, and has been praised for allowing for more perspectives and conversations when compared with the larger conferences. BSides was organized in a style similar to an
unconference in its inaugural year, with talks selected immediately prior to the event through an online community-driven process. Every year since, the speaker lineup has been scheduled in advance through a formal RfP process, and published by the organizers ahead of time. In 2010, BSides expanded to
Berlin,
Ottawa,
Dallas,
Delaware,
Atlanta,
Kansas City,
Denver,
Boston,
Austin, and
San Francisco. in the same year over 40 events took place globally. In 2022, BSides Cleveland was criticised for booking Chris Hadnagy who was previously banned by DEF CON for undisclosed misconduct claims. Hadnagy was a surprise speaker, and not revealed until his talk began. The decision resulted in a number of experts withdrawing from the event, and the organiser of the event stepped down and was replaced by a four-person team supported by BSides central organisers. == See also ==