I am just returning from a very full three days in west London for the annual infosec conference season. I will do my best to name as many of the wonderful people I met throughout all three days, both new and old, but if I miss a namecheck or two, forgive me, let me know, and I will rectify immediately!

Tuesday bought the kick off of InfoSec Europe. After a quick run round to get some schwag  and chat with a few key vendors I had lunch with Cindy (@cindyv), Dwayne (@thatdwayne), Jitender (@jitenderarora), Javvad (@j4vv4d) and Brian (@brianhonan) to chat about RSA Europe and our proposed submissions. This was quickly followed by a couple of panels in the Keynote theatre (one moderated by Javvad) and then some good gossiping with Brian and Neira (@neirajones) before heading off to one the two award ceremonies of the night.

Well goodness, gosh and golly!

It was at this point the evening took a somewhat surreal turn. Having been nominated for Best Personal Security Blog at the inaugural European Security Bloggers Awards, I was both deeply honoured and supremely surprised to win!  I was also very proud to see Javvad pick up two awards as well. To say that the evening started to blur somewhat from that point on would be an understatement, but I am glad to say that the award itself did make it home safely. I did spend quite some time talking with Dwayne and Jack (@jackdaniel), predominantly about the mysogeny that still manages to find its way into infosec trade shows through booth babes that were supposedly banned form this years infosec show (looking at you ForeScout…) and then about possibly spinning up a BSides in India. Jack proved what a class act he was by offering to advise anyone who would be willing to take on this mantle in India, something I am hoping to encourage. I will be posting more on the awards in the next few days but suffice to say a huge thank you to Brian and Jack for making these awards happen.

Wednesday bought BSidesLondon. Whilst I was very disappointed not to have been able to speak it did take the pressure off considerably and I was able to enjoy a few good talks

Javvad and his heroes

(javvad and Stephen Bonner, @stephenbonner) and some great conversations with friends and colleagues. Max (@hoolers) if you are reading this, I apologise unreservedly for not getting around to having the chat I promised! I also managed to meet my “rookie” for the Rookie Track, Gavin (@gavinholt), as well as a great chat with Leron (@le_rond). Halfway through the afternoon I had to head back to InfoSec for my a panel I was a part of on BYOD and Consumerisation. This went very well, was entertaining and informative in my opinion, and despite two attempts at distracting me by Geordie Stewart and Andrew (@sirjester) completed without incident!

View from the panel

A quick visit to the RANT forum (@rantforum) was followed by a couple of drinks at the BSidesLondon after party and then an early night.

Thursday bought a couple of early meetings including Bruce to discuss the Analogies Project (@analogies) which is always a pleasure. I then formally went on vacation…

The rest of the day was taken up with filming for a project I am involved in with Javvad, Andrew and the very talented Jim (@jimshields) of Twist & Shout. More of that to follow in the coming few weeks but I am incredibly excited at what this project may bring not just to me personally but also to the infosec community as a whole (for instance, a sense of humour…).

After dinner with @secwonk, @gattaca, @turbodog, @anthonymfreed, Cindy, Javvad and Andrew, a weary but very satisfied Mr Langford returned home.

Highlights

• Winning the Best Personal Security Blog Award
• Thursday afternoon (see above)
• ForeScout’s apparent admittance that they needed booth babes to help sell their product

Lowlights

• Missing Gavin’s presentation because of a scheduling conflict
• Not finding myself spoilt for choice for presentations to attend at BSides – I thought the choice was predominantly technical and not as broad as last year. Still a great conference, well run and with a huge amount of talent; just less applicable to me this year.