I always thought about how local security community in Vilnius / Lithuania could be more lively, active. When you think about it, one way to make the scene more lively could be more meetups and events, but what kind of events are best fit for this purpose?

From 0 to 1

Last December, while lurking in the local infosec Discord channel, I noticed some invites to meet for drinks. One meet after another and this is how I met a wonderful bunch of local security folks. As it turns out, the idea to organise Security BSides in Vilnius was in the air already for some time. It clicked for me: this is the kind of event that the local community was missing. Security BSides seemed the perfect franchise - even though I don't like using that word - to me, it's more like a format, a framework for an event. Of course, by using the BSides "brand", you get more credibility and attention as a side effect. It's a perfect combination of casualness, hacker culture and a quality event with a great hospitality and networking opportunities. I went from a bit skeptical "oh, organizing a security event? That could be challenging" to "can you just explain to me, how come nobody organised BSides in Vilnius before?" - in a pretty short period of time. I did not hesitate to offer my help.

Days later, we sat down, sketched a plan for organizing the event, and started doing stuff. It's amazing what a group of motivated, passionate, experienced and resourceful people can do in a short period of time. I was blown away by the speed and quality of the organisational activities we did. Some of the folks already had experience in participating or helping / volunteering at BSides events in other cities, which definitely helped. We also scheduled a few calls with some of our neighbours and reached out to the official BSides themselves.

Fast forward two months and BSides Vilnius already has its first sponsors, a venue, and an open call for participation (or papers, or proposals - whatever you want to call it). Surprisingly, there has been a very positive response from some of the local businesses and willingness to support and sponsor the event. Six sponsors are already announced and potentially, more to come.

The Trust Credit

Organising an event for the first time has its challenges. Understandably, not all folks even in the security field know what BSides is about. No one, including the organisers, know how is it going to turn out or how many people will turn up. Soon it becomes obvious that the best way is to meet with potential sponsors face to face and explain the concept of the event: by the community and for the community, non-profit, no salaries are involved, non-commercial. Once the concept and goals of the event are clear, there is more reason for mutual trust.

Spirit of BSides

To me, and the whole team, the following principles are important:

• Event is by the community, for the community
• Sponsors get the ability to showcase their brand, but they sponsor the community - not the event organisers
• The talks should be interesting, relevant and of high quality. They are selected and voted for by the community representatives - not just the BSides Vilnius crew

My personal motivaton consists of a few things. I'm happy that we're making local cybersecurity community more active and vibrant. As a side effect, it's just so fun to help to organise a security event - and so much to learn during the process. Finally, some of the best thing that came out of this is meeting people - I've met so many wonderful people during the process so far.

Here We Go

Save the date (May 16) and watch for updates as the tickets will be annoucend soon. The website is live, with all the information available on it:

https://bsidesvilnius.lt

See you there!