Blackhoodie at RECon 2025

Meet us in Montrèal for two days of fun reverse engineering!

TL;DR:

What: Breaking Down Binaries: Introduction to Reverse Engineering & Malware Analysis

When: June 25th-26th, 9am to 4pm

Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Who: Women

Registration: fill form here (registration open until we reach capacity)

Fees: The training is free; food, travel and hotel is responsibility of attendees

Agenda

Teachers: Chritina Johns (@), Suweera De Souza (@sud0suw)

Topic: This hands-on workshop will dive into the fascinating world of reverse engineering and malware analysis. The workshop will provide participants with fundamental concepts of x86 assembly and low-level programming, before progressing into reversing some actual malware in a controlled environment.

Prerequisites:

• Laptop with VMs installed:
  • Remnux (https://docs.remnux.org/install-distro/get-virtual-appliance)
  • Windows (Optional - for debugging)
• Familiar with programming basics
• class materials will be hosted on github.

Day 1

• Reviewing x86 assembly and other low-level basics
• Learn how to statically analysis files in a disassembler of your choice (Ghidra/IDA)
• Learn how to use a debugger

Day 2

• Learn the Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) of a malware
• Learn how to triage malware
• Reverse some actual malware!

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?

One qualifies to attend an in-person bootcamp either if born and raised female, or if one 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.