The Guide to BSides Las Vegas (Updated for 2026)
August 3-5
Tuscany Hotel and Casino
BSides Las Vegas website
($100 Early Bird Donation, $500: Donor + 1)
This is what Black Hat used to be before Cyber Insurance was a thing. Buy your ticket early for the best deal or you will have to pay the donor price. If you are already part of the IT industry, chances are you will find something to interest you.
Conference Floor Map: 2nd Floor
The venue is old, and the carpets have that sticky quality that brings back memories of Def Con at the Riviera. There is ample parking close to the casino entrance. The corridors and stairs here are a little tight and there are not many places to set up a quick LAN. Unless you plan a lot of hands-on participation, I don’t recommend bringing your ThinkPad. Wear comfortable clothing and be ready to maneuver yourself in and out of chairs.
I can’t stress how much good planning helps the experience. Talks are broken down into “Grounds” and are published well in advance. Create a detailed itinerary in your app of choice. Having a plan of just walking around hoping for something to do will lead to disappointment.
The talks here are the highlight and every year has a chance for amazing moments. Don’t try to record or take extensive notes, all the talks are recorded and are available online later. Maybe take a quick photo containing the title and contact information of the presenter and maybe a particularly interesting slide but in general taking photos is discouraged and if you happened to attend the Skytalks, prohibited.
Not all the presenters are experienced, not all of them speak with a sexy Australian accent but nearly all will provide current and actionable insight into what’s going on in this side of the industry. If you are working with Google, AWS, or Azure (especially Azure) you are going to learn something Google, Amazon and Microsoft don’t really want the public to know, and it will make you better at your job. Don’t make too much noise, clap with enthusiasm at the end and as much as it hurts me to say this, don’t be a troll (save it for Black Hat Briefings). A lot of the time these presenters come from across the world, spending months preparing for this because they believe what they must share is truly important, and at conferences like these they are usually right.
If the talk was particularly interesting or valuable to you, make a note and about 2 weeks after the conference contact the presenter to let them know you enjoyed the presentation. This not only lets the presenter know that all the work they put in was worth it, but it lets you expand your professional circle as these presenters are usually part of a group, one that likely has a unique channel of communication (anything from Discord to carrier pigeon).
Not every time slot will have a talk directly related to your current field, when this happens, and the option is available I highly recommend you attend talks focused on policy. Policy is a keystone category in this profession and is an investment that will pay off over time. These types of talks will be part of the “Common Ground” track of talks.
Career Village/Hire Ground
There is a Hire Ground track on Monday and the major industry organizations like ISC2, ISACA and CSA will be out there, but you will also find people doing outreach throughout the conference. Look for the little silver CISSP pins on people’s jackets; this is usually a sign they are approachable to answer questions about a career in cybersecurity.
This is a really great opportunity to talk about things like pay and the type of benefits being offered, don’t be afraid to ask questions as this is a very open environment. You can come up to a recruiter and ask, “What do I need to learn in the next 6 months?” and “What kind of pay is that going to get me?” and walk away understanding if the effort will be worth it. It helps going into this at least somewhat prepared, your time is limited, and you want to be concise. The “quality” of the Hire Ground/Career Halls varies year by year.
If you are going to attend Black Hat Briefings on the 5th and 6th you will typically only have two days dedicated to BSides but depending on the events it might be worth it to split time especially if you plan to visit the Hire Ground track on Monday.
Atmosphere
The overall atmosphere is very welcoming, the presenters are more genuine and my first time at a BSides Con (there are many throughout the year across the world) reminded me of my first 2600 meeting. My advice for having a great time is to smile the entire time you are there and don’t feel pressured to participate beyond clapping for presenters. Socializing here is, in my opinion, much easier here. Striking up a conversation, especially after an interesting session, is much simpler and everyone is much more easygoing.
Value: 9/10
The quality of briefings and the variety of activities for $100 is hard to beat. Compare that with the 3k you will pay for Black Hat. The experience is nowhere near as polished and the environment not as comfortable, but the atmosphere and quality of the talks make this an amazing value.
Skytalks
Quoted from the BSides site:
Skytalks operates as an “Off the record” / “Chatham house rules” space with a strict and well-enforced “no recording” and “no photography” policy. Consider us a micro digital detox where all electronics must be put away and in airplane mode.
To attend Skytalks you MUST have a BSidesLV badge, a token for the talk, and be wearing a mask. Tokens available during scheduled “token drops” in the BSidesLV schedule. Tokens are provided in a first come first served fashion.
I bet you had to Google/AI what Chatham House Rules are. You are not allowed to attribute any information gathered from these talks to an individual or a company. This can get very tricky with people getting fired for disclosing internal tools (Hi Salesforce) but this is even more critical now with the political background we are in. That said, these are not the same old Skytalks from Def Con. I am going to reserve judgment here but I wish BSides would have chosen a new name.
Make sure to prepare to get your tokens which will be handed out in the hallways between the separate talks. Your phone should already be in airplane mode entering the parking lot, don’t even take it out of your bag/pocket at these talks.