Join BSides Exeter this April to uncover how “curiosity built the cyber pro”

 BSides Exeter is readying to open its doors on the 24th and 25th April 2026 at The Forum, University of Exeter. The BSides team hopes to show you how a love of retro computing and people’s paths into cyber are a big part of this year’s events.

Friday 24th April will see a series of workshops delivered for current and aspiring cyber security professionals to raise money for Children’s Hospice South West. Each workshop is priced between £20-40, with sessions around:

• Pre-emptive security

• Introduction to web application security

• Red Teaming

• Cyber risk quantification for business leaders

Workshop tickets for the Friday are available now.

Saturday 25th April sees the main event with a host of talks across various cyber security disciplines and knowledge levels, with keynotes being delivered by Paul Watts, Harriet Sharma and Keri Lewis. Talks for 2026 will cover a range of topics across purple (defensive and offensive), blue (defensive) and red (offensive) tracks of cyber security, with talks scheduled on issues like buffer overflows in the era of Gen-AI, stopping account takeovers, security in cloud and containers, and much, much more.

Alongside talks, several “villages” will be set up across The Forum inviting attendees to interact with. This year, BSides Exeter features the following villages:

• Battlebots

• Car Hacking

• Lock Picking

• Retro Computing

BSides Exeter 2026 is focused on showing the innumerable paths into cyber that makes the sector the vibrant, accepting space that it is today. Bringing together people from a diverse range of backgrounds, BSides Exeter is an inclusive platform for both current and aspiring cyber security professionals.

General admission tickets for Saturday 25 April are now on sale.

Next Gen Sessions return

Also happening on Friday 24th April is an event for younger aspiring cyber professionals, with Next Gen Sessions. Aimed at students, teachers and parents, Next Gen looks to help attendees engage with cyber professionals and be curious about a future career in cyber security. Tickets for Next Gen are free but are offered on a first come, first served basis.

BSides Exeter fans are also encouraged to pre-order our charity t-shirt for the year, with all funds raised going to Children’s Hospice South West.

Curiosity built the cyber professional

BSides Exeter’s 2026 theme “curiosity built the cyber pro” explores how every cyber security and digital forensics professional started the same way—curious, determined, and probably told to “get off that computer!” or “you’ve been online too long!”

Organised by Adam Langley, Liam Glanfield, Peter Jones, and Stuart Baker, alongside a supporting cast of volunteers, the 2026 event aims to offer professionals across the South West, career changers and students the opportunity to connect with the south west cyber community, businesses and organisations both regionally and nationally.

Peter Jones, co-organiser of BSides Exeter, said: “We’re looking forward to opening up the doors to this year’s event later this month. Now, more than ever, we hope that we can show people, no matter their backgrounds, the growing importance of securing UK businesses, public bodies, and charities against cyber threats, and that there’s more than one way into a cyber career.”

Get involved: How you can participate

Individuals and organisations interested in attending, sponsoring, or contributing to BSides Exeter 2026 are encouraged to visit https://bsidesexeter.co.uk for more information.