For the month of July, we want to do a social event with a little bit of business upfront at Twisted Track Brewpub on July 13th. To start, we want to take a short amount of time to introduce some changes for RISE.  Afterwards, let’s kickback and enjoy the summer with some brews and banter.

We’re talking about the perfect fuel for brainstorming and beer-sampling adventures! So, bring your witty banter and a thirst for craft beers as we celebrate and enjoy an evening of great times. Also remember to invite colleagues or friends who might be interested in joining the RISE community. The more, the merrier!

It would be helpful to us if you fill out a quick survey on what you’d like to see at future RISE events: https://forms.gle/74MyWCcAqUBeoCMr5.  The results from this survey will be used to inspire and balance out future RISE events.

If you are interested in speaking, please let us know at: https://forms.gle/VnVBpZDzNgBzM2qn6. 

We look forward to seeing you in person on July 13th at Twisted Track Brewpub.

Meeting info:
July 13th, 5:30pm
523 Shenandoah Ave NW
Roanoke, VA 24016
https://goo.gl/maps/2iFxmSNrp7bmuFoMA

In our last meeting we had ChatGPT do some things that it wasn’t really designed to do.  In our next meeting we are going to expand on this by looking at the malware script that ChatGPT wrote and see what it really does.  Ben Eldritch has volunteered to dissect the written script and share his findings with us. Did ChatGPT really write malware?  Is ChatGPT able to create deployable badness?  Let’s find out together.

We will be meeting at Virginia Western Community College on April 13^th in the Hall Family Business/Science Building.   Take the stairs to the left and go to the second floor and go to CyberSecurity lab in room M302.  

We have something special planned for the month of March.  RISE is going out on the town!  This month we will are going to meetup at Twisted Track to hang out.  I am attempting to get us a conference room with the hope of bringing up ChatGPT and seeing what insightful thoughts this new AI has on IT Security, cyber risk and other areas of interest.  Perhaps we may even play stump the chump or in this case stump the AI. 

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

March 9^th, 2023 @5:30pm

Ever wonder how computers can interpret programs? Are you interested in looking at random bytes on a screen and reading them like the Matrix? Do you always get stumped on “easy” reverse engineering CTF challenges? Then join us for a night of learning binary analysis! 

This talk will focus on looking at binaries/executables for interesting strings, compiler information, linked DLLs with dependencies, and even a basic overview of Assembly – the lowest level language we can program in! This discussion will also include commonly used tools, methods, and even utilizing AI to interpret a binary! Following the talk, we will statically analyze a simple piece of custom malware and be able to decipher just what devious tasks it may be doing! Laptops/personal machines recommended but not required (use whatever OS you want!)

BIO:

Ben Eldritch, Vulnerability Assessment Analyst for Raytheon Technologies

Current Certs: GICSP, OSCP, Pentest+, CySA+

Ben holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance from WGU and an associates in Engineering from DMACC. His interest in security started when he began tinkering with his GameBoy and messing with in-memory data via a GameShark. From there, he started writing prankware for his friends and eventually learned the ins and outs of penetration testing. When not breaking into things (with permission of course!), Ben enjoys taking long mountain hikes and observing all the different kinds of creatures of the world. 

Date & Time:

February 9th @ 5:30pm

Location

The RAMP Building
709 S. Jefferson Street Roanoke,
VA 24016

Parking and entrance are in the rear of the building

Our December RISE meeting will be a social event December 8^th at Big Lick Brewery in downtown Roanoke starting at 5:30pm.   We want to take this opportunity to kick back, talk and share ideas about upcoming events and provide feedback on past events.  RISE can’t happen without you, so we look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas as we get ready for 2023.   We have a table reserved at Big Lick starting at 5:15pm with a seat ready for you so don’t miss out. 

Note: RISE will not be providing beverages or food for this event (I mean common man, I can’t pay for everyone), but I am currently searching for a sponsor that might be able to assist so stay tuned. 

We look forward to seeing you all in person on Dec. 8^th at Big Lick Brewery

It’s finally here! BSides Roanoke is live and we are ready bring you the best and most exciting security talks in the Roanoke Valley and beyond. We are actively working to bring you the talks that you want and are relevant to you. More content is being added daily so please be patient as we continue to work and mold this event to be the best one yet.

BSides Roanoke 2023 will be held at Virginia Western Community College on May 20, 2023 in the Whitman Theater located in the Hall Family Business/Science Building.

Get your BSides Roanoke 2023 tickets now!

Click Here For Tickets

Want to learn more about BSides Roanoke go to BSidesRoa.org

Penetration Testing Certifications: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
aka: Acronym Acrobatics

Wanting a career pivot or to level up your skill set can be intimating. The seemingly endless offensive security certifications out there today can be overwhelming.  How do you know which to choose?  Join RISE Thursday, Nov 10th with Ken Nevers at ECPI as this self proclaimed cert junky will share his honest opinions on which certs to go for and which to avoid along your journey.”

Bio:

Ken Nevers, Principle Security Consultant

Current Certifications: OSEP, OSCP, CRTO, CRTE, CRTP, PAWASP

Ken holds an Associate degree in Computer and Information Science with a major in Cyber and Network Security from ECPI University in addition to several red teaming and penetration testing certifications. In his free time, Ken co-organizes BSides Roanoke, co-leads the Roanoke Information Security Exchange, is a member of the Roanoke Linux Users Group, and volunteered on the security teams for HackRedCon and DerbyCon, plays guitar and tells dad jokes.

Hall Of Fames (security acknowledgements):

Oracle, Rackspace, Dell, TripAdvisor

Location

ECPI Roanoke
5234 Airport Rd NW #200
Roanoke, VA 24012

Date and Time

November 10th
5:30pm

The RBTC Capture the Flag is here, and we are ready.   For those that aren’t aware we are doing something a little different for the month of September.  Instead of meeting on the second Thursday of the month we are meeting on the second Wednesday of the month (Sept. 14^th) in Blacksburg, VA at the VTCRC Training & Event Center at 1691 Innovation Drive, #1025, Blacksburg, VA for a Capture the Flag (CTF) event.  This will be a great opportunity for both new and veteran IT Security focused individuals.  I encourage everyone that can make it to attend.  This is an open event and those that are not familiar with a CTF should not feel intimidated.  There will be several folks available for consultation and assistance.  For those that are familiar with CTF’s we have you covered as well.  We have a great selection of prizes such as Bash Bunnies, Flipper Zeros and Raspberry Pi’s. 

Lastly, there will be pizza and beverages provided so come hungry and learn some new skills.

The Deets:

• This is a bring your own laptop and power supply event. You must bring a laptop to participate.
• The Virginia Cyber Range has challenge ready VM’s available for use but you need a laptop to access them.
• If you choose to use your own laptop for the challenges know that a KALI like image works best.

CTF registration details will be sent in a email to the RISE email distribution list. Please subscribe to the distribution list if you are already a member.

Time and Location Information:

Sept 14^th @ 5:30pm

VTCRC Training & Event Center

1691 Innovation Drive, #1025,

Blacksburg, VA.