Submissions are now closed!!!

BSidesAberystwyth solicits submissions in the form of a short abstract.

For the purposes of example, we use the case of a password manager. We do not want 20 submissions on password manager related subjects, but it serves here as an example.

No aspect of Cyber-security should be considered out of scope, too technical or not technical enough.

Full talks (20 minutes)

This is technical content on a novel aspect of Cybersecurity. This may be a new technology, an explaination of a novel bug or attack method. We define novel as new to the vast majority of the audience, rather than new to research.

Using the password manager example, a full talk may consider a novel exploit or a design flaw of modern password managers.

Deep dive (20 minutes)

A deep dive talk will examine an area of a subject in more detail. It assumes a basic knowledge of the subject.

For example, passkey support in modern password managers. Presenters may assume those attending know how to use a password manager already and the principles by which they operate.

101 (15 minutes)

This is an introductory talk aimed at equiping audience members who are new to the subject with enough knowledge to go off and have their own adventures or even just decide if the subject interests them.

In the case of a password manager, a 101 talk will explain why they are a good idea, some common pitfalls to avoid and where to get started.

Workshop

You spend a fair part of the day sitting in the foyer helping people understand your chosen technology on a 1:1 or 1 to few basis.

For example, you would help install a password manager, set it up for their use case and answer questions or concerns they may have.

Posters

Make a poster about something you have done in the area of CyberSecurity, learned or found exciting. Posters will be displayed during the breaks and gives you an opportunity to share your enthusiasum. This category is aimed at those getting involved in events such as BSides for the 1st time.

A.I. Policy

We assume that the submitter is responsible for the substance of their own submission. We also assume that A.I. tools have been used to improve the wording, grammar and to remove typo’s. When you submit your abstract you are telling us that it was your own idea and that you wrote the substance of the abstract. If you are, for example, using ChatGPT to overcome some aspect of dyslexia, then please be upfront and it will be taken into account. If we suspect that a submission is mostly A.I. generated, we will contact you to set us straight. We will reject submissions which turn out to be A.I. generated in substance.

We don’t expect all talks to be relevant to all members of the audience. We assume for the purposes of judging relevance that the audience is composed in equal parts of established cyber-security professionals, interested locals, early career or aspirational cyber security professionals and computer science students.

We are cool with a talk that as a side effect benefits an individual or a company’s profile, but it must only be a side effect and not the core feature of the talk.

Original submission is compared to other talks submitted. If there are 15 talks submitted on secure coding and large language models, those 15 will score lower to help avoid too concentrated a programme.

We are also open to submissions to run a Capture The Flag competition. Much as the organisers would like to be involved in this, we can’t run the event and a CTF, so you would be on your own on the day itself.

While the organiser will know who has submitted each proposal, the panel of submission assesors will not, so the final decisions will be on balance blind.

Submissions are open until the 22th of October 2025.

The submission should take the following format and be emailed to bsidesaberystwyth.cfp.2025@gmail.com

Title

Abstract of your proposed talk (max 300 words)
– What are you going to talk about, why is it interesting and why attend.

Explain why you will be good at delivering this talk/workshop (max 150 words)
– This could be your research, reflections, experience, a happy accident or just that you are really interested. Its also OK if you previously knew nothing about the subject, but just really wanted to present at BSides and that motivated you to dig in and share what you learned.

What concerns you about presenting at BSides (100 words).
– This is NOT considered part of the decision. If you need a little help we are then aware from the start. This can be blank if there are no concerns.

You are welcome to email bsidesaberystwyth@gmail.com if you are new to presenting or writing abstracts and want to run you idea past us. We will give feedback, but we won’t write the abstract for you.