Blackhoodie at Teardown 2025
Hardware Hackers, it is happening! I couldn’t be more excited to announce our very first BlackHoodie workshop at Teardown this year :) We’re offering a 1-day free training, for women, by women, at the highly expected event by all hardware folks around the globe. Join us to tear open an embedded device and learn how to tap directly into them, bypassing security controls and gaining access to its Operating System!
Note: This training is taking place on Thursday before Teardown in Portland, OR - in the same venue.
TL;DR:
What: Hardware Hacking 101
When: June 19th, 2025
Where: Portland, OR, United States
Who: Women
Registration: fill form here. We have 15 seats, we will close when the seats are taken!
Fees: The workshop is free; travel, accommodation, and all the other costs are responsibility of attendees!
Agenda
Hardware Hacking 101
Trainers: Morgan Whitlow (@SynapticRewrite) & Thaís Moreira Hamasaki (@barbieauglend) assisting
Topic: During this workshop of hardware hacking, attendees will get to tear open an embedded device and learn how to tap into them directly in order to bypass security controls, while gaining access to the target operating system in the process. Topics will include common tools and techniques such as using a serial adapter to connect to a device over UART, dumping its firmware and getting a root shell through the bootloader.
Prerequisites: a laptop with USB ports and administrator access. Hardware hacking tools such as logic analyzers and serial adapters will be provided.
What is BlackHoodie?
BlackHoodie is a free, women only reverse engineering workshop and community. More information can be found here: https://www.blackhoodie.re/about/
Why women-only?
Blackhoodie in-person bootcamp are intended for people who are either born and raised female, or identifies as a woman. This concept of women-only has no intention of putting up walls or feeling exclusive. Blackhoodie is about creating space in an industry that’s very competitive. It is a comfortable place, where attendees feel encouraged to grow skills without pressure. We do what we do, not to create women-only bubbles, as contradicting as it might sound, but to enable a minority to enter the security space, learn skills that are otherwise expensive to learn, find their interests and grow a professional network.
And, it works. BlackHoodie alumnae have gone far beyond being successful in the classroom since the workshop series started. They ventured out to start community projects and collaborations, got themselves new jobs in the security industry, went to speak at major security conferences, joined review boards and become influencers in our community. Many went on to mentor others after they had found their spot, came back to BlackHoodie to give trainings on their own or are now conference trainers and teach classes to the community.
Finally, why does the security industry need more women at all? The industry is growing and facing a talent shortage. More importantly, jobs are typically well paid, come with certain privileges, and are challenging and often fulfilling. And we do firmly believe our society as a whole can only benefit from having more women with money, independence and confidence. Likewise, the tech sector has grown in size and influence, and with great power comes great responsibility – responsibility best shared among a diverse body of decision makers.