Introduction to Reverse Engineering workshop for women
Blackhoodie is a free, women only reverse engineering workshop.
Monday August 7, 2023 – 0900-1800
- 0900-1300 – Theory
- 1400-1800 – Practice
Course Description
In this course, we will explore the inner workings of software, while equipping you with the tools that you need to unravel its hidden mysteries. We will learn what happens under the hood of compilation, diving into the process of transforming high-level code into low-level assembly language. We will see how to use Ghidra, a powerful tool which can be used to decipher and comprehend disassembled code, empowering you to understand its inner workings. In the lab component of the course, we will apply our newfound knowledge to reverse engineer cryptographic algorithms through practical exercises.
Instructors
Mathilde Venault
Mathilde Venault (@MathildeVenault) is a security researcher at CrowdStrike, specializing in the Windows operating system. While her work mostly focuses on malware analysis and EDR detection capabilities improvements, she also likes reverse engineering undocumented Windows mechanisms. Mathilde has spoken at multiple conferences to share her findings such as Black Hat USA, REcon and c0c0n, for which she is now a review committee member. As a typical French, she’s always up to share a meal with some bread and cheese.
Bea Venzon
Bea Venzon (@0x0bea) stumbled into the world of reverse engineering by pure chance, thanks to a chance encounter at a networking event. Sitting beside a security researcher and getting drawn into a captivating conversation, Bea discovered a passion she never knew she had. Currently Bea is a Security Researcher at CrowdStrike, where she focuses on tracking and analyzing botnets, information stealers, and ransomware. As a self-proclaimed forever student, Bea is pursuing her Master’s Degree in Computer Science at Georgia Tech to expand her knowledge and skills to better combat evolving cyber-threats.
Registration
This is available as an add-on when you purchase your ticket
This workshop it runs in parallel to the conference and you will be missing the talks and villages we recommend grabbing one of the “underrepresented” free tickets!
If you have previously purchased a ticket and wish to add the workshop please do the following:
- Visit our ticket page https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-diana-initiative-2023-tickets-500510499377
- Click “Get Tickets”
- Scroll down to “Purchasing add-on only” and select 1 from the drop down menu
- scroll down to “Blackhoodie – Intro RE for women” and select 1 from the drop down
- Click “check out”
- Please use the same email as you purchased your original ticket with.
- (Sorry we can’t just add to eventbrite orders!)
If you registered for this workshop and can no longer attend, please let us know registration@dianainitiative.com
Why women only:
Because a girl-to-girl conversation is so much more fruitful than a full classroom with only one or two women hiding in the corners. I’ve done so many things in my life where I was the only girl among X other participants, and I promise I’ve been hiding in the corners more than once.
For the gents it might not be that obvious, but it is not easy for young females who haven’t yet found their place in life to walk into a class room, a university lecture, an office or a conference room full of men. Who, generally speaking, very often very well seem to know their place.
I’ve had girls in my classes before, hiding and holding back although I am so certain they would have been capable to be so much better than what their final results showed. So yeah this will be women only, for every female should feel welcomed and encouraged to do her best and get the most out of it.
Prerequisites for most classes
- Born a woman or identifying as a woman
- Computer science background in a sense you understand programming logic, how a processor works and how an operating system works
- A virtual environment setup containing the required tools (Ghidra, Windbg, the SysInternals suite, etc). A tutorial will be provided in the week prior to the workshop to help with the setup procedure.
- Guts 🙂 (Our classes mean learning a lot in a very short time)
BlackHoodie’s Mission
BlackHoodie is a series of technical trainings aiming to attract more women to the field of cyber security
Our events are women-only, except if individual organizers state otherwise
Whether introduction level or advanced, classes are always challenging
All of our events are free to attend
We do not exert any preference in education level, occupation or corporate affiliation of attendees
BlackHoodie is dedicated to serve the community, we aim to integrate, not separate
BlackHoodie is independent, and cannot be leveraged to promote anything but its own mission
We seek quality over quantity, in number of classes and attendees
We also support/encourage attendees to start giving technical trainings thereby providing a platform to build their confidence
The cost of this workshop was sponsored by:
