14/09/2025
Yesterday felt like a mini adventure. I hopped over to North Carolina State University for BSides RDU, my first time attending a conference in another city, and it turned out to be an absolute blast. From the moment I stepped inside, it felt like I had entered a buzzing security village filled with ideas, energy, and curiosity.
I spent the whole day drifting from one fascinating talk to another. Different sessions were running in parallel, which made the atmosphere even more exciting as people moved from room to room to catch their favorite topics. Adelia Ibragimova opened my eyes with AI for the Blue Team, Lisa and Luke took me through the thrill of digital forensics and incident response, Nimish showed why serverless is not a silver bullet, Trey shared purple team cheat codes like secret moves in a video game, and Christopher Lopez delivered the one that stole the show for me, The Beauty of Reverse Engineering macOS Malware. Each session felt like discovering a new world, and by the end of the day, my notebook was full of ideas for future projects.
Beyond the sessions, the people made the day even better. I met professionals from different organizations and had the chance to network with them, exchanging stories, ideas, and plans for collaboration. I also spent time with Chuck Kesler and the organizing team, and we brainstormed ways to collaborate and bring fun ideas to BSides Dhaka (Cybersecurity Meetup) and BSides Cox's Bazar. The conference floor was lively, with CTF challenges running rampant and a lock-picking challenge corner drawing curious crowds. It felt like a playground for security enthusiasts, with something new to try at every turn.
I am already planning to turn this experience into a small series, each topic becoming its own story, so I can share the gems I picked up. Overall, it was an inspiring day with new friends, new lessons, and fresh ideas buzzing in my head. Huge kudos to the organizers and speakers for putting together such a fantastic event.
