Malicious hackers and cyber-attacks have been plaguing the online community recently. Now New York has opted to join in the quest of fighting back. In an attempt to better educate the general public, Albany, NY has jumped on the worldwide bandwagon of holding its own hacking conference.
Hacking conferences are nothing new – local and nonlocal tech geniuses and curious citizens will show up and try to learn something new (or show off what they already know). For example, Canada has been successfully holding annual “Hackfests” for several years now. While hacking conferences aren’t unusual, this will be Albany’s first chance to participate in the hacktivities.
Albany has dubbed their event “ANYCon”. The official website explains that the area of holding is home to a wide array of skilled individuals – from hackers and information security enthusiasts to IT professionals and computer fanatics.
The official website explains the event,
“ANYCon is the first Hacker conference of its kind in Albany NY. Great talks, speakers and events planned – Keynote by Dave Kennedy, and Irongeek joining us – An awesome Capture The Flag competition – Family and children friendly.”
The event is scheduled for June 16th and 17th – tickets are required, so if you’re interested, buy them now. Discussion topics at the event will include “the red side of security and the blue side of security”, as well as educational opportunities and positions. There is, of course, a downside to any hacking conference: the chance that malicious hackers will show up.
Coordinator of ANYCon, Tyler Wrightson, spoke on the matter himself:
“It’s an interesting debate. Learning the offensive side of cybersecurity is absolutely necessary to defend against it. It’s far more important to get the good people together in a crowd. You need to understand things to actually create good, strong defenses.”
In conclusion, it’s no surprise that Albany has decided to host a hacking conference. It’s also only a matter of time before the idea spreads and it becomes more common than not.