BSides Ballarat & MRE 2026

Feedback from BSides Ballarat was overall very positive, people really enjoyed attending a cybersecurity conference in Ballarat, and after considering the options, we decided to run the Malware and Reverse Engineering (MRE) conference as a second stream of BSides Ballarat 2026.

The BSides Ballarat conference will be held in the Emerging Technologies Hub (ETH), the same great presentation space the we used for BSides 2025, and the MRE stream will be held in the Seminar Theatre which is close to the ETH. Each venue can seat 150 people, giving a combined capacity of 300 people for BSides Ballarat 2026.

Stream 1 of BSides Ballarat will be focused on topics for students and early career cybersecurity analysts, while the MRE stream will be focused on reverse engineering, malware analysis, and exploitation techniques. People will be free to sit in either venue as far as seating permits.

Stream 1 - Cybersecurity

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, expecially in the younger age group.

Stream 1, General Cybersecurity will focus on the following key areas:

• 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.

Stream 2 - Malware and Reverse Engineering

The malware and reverse engineering stream is focused on the deeper topics of cybersecurity, which can be summarised as, are we under attack, how did they get in, what is the malware doing, and how can we kick the attackers out?

Stream 2, Malware and Reverse Engineering will focus on the following key areas:

• AI Security
• Automated Cyber Operations,
• Reverse engineering and compiled program analysis,
• Exploit analysis,
• Behavioural and attribution analysis of malware,
• Incident response
• Critical infrastructure protection,
• Threat Intelligence.

Date & Venue

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

Registration

Tickets for BSides Ballarat and the MRE stream will be available later in the year.

Stream 1 - Cybersecurity Speakers:

Stream 2 - MRE Speakers