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UPDATE 2021-11-03: The plans for Bsides Cape Town has changes since this post

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As organizer of BSIDES Cape Town, I thought it would be good to give some updates on the past and future of BSIDES Cape Town. We are still active, as some of you might have been wondering, planning the most out of 2021 despite lockdowns and any other surprises. After all as the fortune cookies says: “May you live in interesting times”.

2020 and SARS-Cov2

We had high hopes that the lockdowns would not be as dragged out as they were after the first lockdown in March. As organisers and chairs of Bsides Cape Town organization we had to consider the health of our community, yet still attempted to organize an in person event in the background. A combination of factors worked against us, including a busy year for all the organisers. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get everything in place in time and in person events were still a no-go for us. We apologise to the community for missing 2020, but we aim to continue the work in the infosec community going forward.

2021 and beyond

We appreciated BSIDES Cape Town as it allowed people from all over South Africa to come together in a physical location to hack, catch up and enjoy talks together. We would still like to keep that format going, but until lockdowns are more premitting, we will keep BSIDES Cape Town 2021 an online event. We will combine the powers of Hack South and BSIDES Cape Town, to have a conference running on the Hack South Discord for interaction and YouTube.com for livestreamed talks.

We are sad to not have an in person event as focus, but also we celebrate that this opens the opportunity for international speakers. An addition to international speakers, many of our members who have left the country for global opportunities. We would like to encourage anyone to submit to our CFP which I will have in the next section below.

We will also have a call for workshops out soon (see below section CFW), and possibly will have the opportunity to be hosted in the physical realm. Some workshops like lockpicking and Wifi hacking we appreciate work well in the physical rather than the virutal.

We are also working with a well known hoster of Capture the Flag (CTF) events, and will have a BSIDES Cape Town 2021 CTF running on the weekend.

Our Website

BSIDES Cape Town

Call For Papers (CFP)

Call for papers are open until 23:59 30th of September 2021

The theme is Theme: Rising from the Ashes Please submit your CFP to: Call For Papers

Call for Workshops (CFW)

Still finalising workshops, keen an eye on the below to submit your workshops:

Call For Papers BSIDES CPT Twitter

Capture the Flag (CTF)

Capture the flag still being organized, keep an eye the below or our twitter

Call For Papers BSIDES CPT Twitter

Sponsors

Sponsorship in a non-physical world is a new frontrier for us. We are still working on the details of exact sponsorship packages, but you can contact us at sponsorship@bsidescapetown.co.za.

Volunteering

Though volunteering will be different this year (more online), we are open to anyone who wants to get involved. I have been very encouraged by the number of people who have contacted me so far to get involved. Please email charles@bsidescapetown.co.za or me at christo@bsidescapetown.co.za.

Check out pervious years videos!

BSIDES Cape Town youtube channel Notable videos:

Thank you for everyone’s continued interest and contributions to BSIDES Cape Town. Though the lockdowns have forced more people into the digital realm, I have personally missed seeing all the familiar and new faces of BSIDES last December. Please join us again this year and keep an eye on the Twitter account.

If you have any specific questions or thoughts don’t hesitate to email me or the organisers at: christo@bsidescapetown.co.za / organisers@bsidescapetown.co.za

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