BSides Ballarat 2026

Cybersecurity is a fascinating and rapidly expanding field with a scope the includes enthusiasts, commercial security and national security. While many conferences are held in the capital cities, regional areas often miss out. BSides Ballarat aims to build the cybersecurity community in Ballarat, especially in younger age groups. BSides Ballarat will focus on the following cybersecurity topics.

Getting started in your cybersecurity career,
Practical cybersecurity projects,
Cybersecurity games,
Understanding security architectures,
Understanding the cyberworld of attackers and defenders,
Capture the Flag contests.

Date & Venue

28/02/2026 - 01/03/2026 (Sat - Sun)
Emerging Technologies Hub,
Technology Park,
106 Lydiard Street South,
Central Ballarat.

Registration

Tickets for BSides Ballarat 2026 are available from Eventbrite (CTF)

Capture the Flag

Join us for the BSides Ballarat 2026 Capture the Flag contest! Following last year's success, we're back with a new challenge: signs point to an underground bitcoin mining operation stealing power from local businesses. Can you track them down and shut them down? Designed for beginners, and with surprises for seasoned players. We'll have prizes throughout the conference for progress and completion. Form a team or go solo!

Conference Badge

This year, we will have the BSides Ballarat 2026 Conference Badge. Designed and produced by Firnsy at the Ballarat Hackerspace. This badge provides a fun, interactive experience, featuring badge-to-badge communication, ESP32 processor, screen and controls. The badge also supports the SAO add-on standard, so bring your own from previous conferences, or get an SAO on the day. The badge will also tie into the Capture The Flag, here's the teaser:

It wasn’t meant to fall into your hands. The Underground Badge is black-market hardware built by the rogue miners themselves. A device humming with hidden logs, encrypted comms, and fragments of their operation. They use it to track power siphons, hide their crypto flow, and stay one step ahead. Now it’s your job to break it. As you do, the badge spills another secret: coordinates of a tunnel, methods of leeching power, whispers of who’s behind it all. Those who possess this badge hold the enemy’s own playbook — an alternative path to the truth. It won’t give up its secrets easily. But if you can decipher it, you’ll uncover the full story of the underground… and maybe shut them down for good.

Keynote Speakers:

Name	Organisation	Topic
Nick Bruyn	eManaged

Speakers:

Name	Organisation	Topic
Christian Azuero	BMM	Hacker Escape Room: A Capture the Flag and Escape Room Experience
Darren Arnott	Trusted Impact	L'affaiire du Telegraphe: The Bordeaux Hackers of 1834
Daniel Cross	Tilt Renewables	An Introduction to Critical Infrastructure Security
George Doucas	MACS / Federation University	My eTrainer Research
George Ferres	DUCA	Building a Home Lab on a Student Budget
Simon McAloon	Vitrafy	Post-Quantum Encryption in Healthcare
Purvi Mehta	ICSL	Building an AI Powered Cyber Training Range
Rue Maharaj	Melbourne Water	An Introduction to Cybersecurity Defence Management
David Mulraney	The Repair Group	The Young Persons Guide to Smartphone Internals
Kenneth Yu	Cyberknowledge	Beneath the Surface: Exploring the Dark Web and It's Cybersecurity Implications