…and how it’s sparking a whole month of CyberFest in the North East

Saturday morning. The city’s quiet, but restless. On one side of Newcastle, the streets fill with noise and division: fascist and anti-fascist marches squaring off, each chanting into the void. On the other side of the city, in a tucked-away venue, a different kind of gathering unfolds. Hackers, breakers, thinkers and tinkerers are coming together for BSides Newcastle.

It could almost be a school detention, in fact, it feels like a scene straight out of The Breakfast Club.

BSides has always had that vibe: a place where the “naughty kids” of security come together. You know the kind, the ones who never fit neatly into the corporate mould. The ones who stayed up all night, not because they had to, but because curiosity wouldn’t let them sleep.

And this year, they aimed higher than ever — literally. The theme was space. Talks and conversations stretched beyond data centres and firewalls into satellites, orbital comms, and the risks of taking our mischief (and our mistakes) beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

It was playful but profound: because if the naughty kids once hacked dial-up modems, now they’re thinking about what happens when humans hack the stars.

Just like the film, the room was full of archetypes:

• The Hacker — hoodie up, fingers twitching, ready to press “go” on anything not locked down, Earth or orbit.
• The Academic — notebook open, mapping vulnerabilities in satellite systems and imagining attack paths nobody else sees.
• The CISO — past the suit and tie, weighing regulation and risk but still with that twinkle of rebellion.
• The Builder — sketching prototypes, coding tools, talking about how we might one day secure Martian comms.
• The Rebel — cutting through the noise, reminding everyone that whether it’s space or sockets, human failure is the biggest risk.

On paper, they shouldn’t fit together but BSides isn’t about paper. It’s about what happens when the curious, the unconventional, the endlessly questioning come together to learn, argue and build.

Throughout the day, walls fell and titles blurred. Conversations moved from how to break into systems to how to build more resilient ones. From AI mischief to AI ethics. From red-team stories to discussions about space law and orbital sovereignty. Somewhere between the lockpicking table and the last keynote, you could feel it:

The naughty kids have grown up.

Not grown out of who they are — never that — but grown into something more. Many of those faces who once hacked for the thrill now run companies, lead teams, influence policy and teach the next generation. Their scars are their credibility, their curiosity is their compass. What was once rebellion for rebellion’s sake has become rebellion with purpose.

And space was the perfect metaphor, because just like the sky isn’t the limit for satellites, it isn’t the limit for this community either.

From Detention to Festival: Enter CyberFest

What’s happening now is bigger than a conference. BSides is one chapter but around it, something is kicking off that has the promise to reshape how the North East thinks about cyber all year round. That “something” is CyberFest, CyberNorth’s month-long cybersecurity festival.

CyberFest is bigger than ever this year, a full month of exciting and innovative events spanning the North East. From the flagship Community Conference to fringe events in towns across the region, it’s a showcase of cyber talent, creativity and ambition.

And it couldn’t have a better opener than BSides Newcastle. Starting CyberFest with the “naughty kids” sets the tone: unapologetically creative, proudly non-conformist, rooted in community.

Why This Moment Matters

This is more than bragging rights for the North East. It’s momentum.

• It creates gravity: people are now coming here to share, to speak, to learn.
• It provides pathways: students and newcomers see cyber not as abstract theory, but as a career alive in their region.
• It builds resilience: across finance, defence, health, space, and beyond, the conversation is now cross-sector.
• It cements community legitimacy: when CISOs, rebels, students, and academics share the same space, you know it’s real.

And as the day wound down, I couldn’t help but picture that final scene from The Breakfast Club. The rebel walking across the pitch, fist in the air. Not beaten, not tamed — just recognised.

That’s BSides Newcastle.

That’s CyberFest.

That’s the North East.

And in the background? Simple Minds, of course.

“Don’t you forget about me…”

Because you won’t.

Thanks to CyberNorth’s lead for Cyber & FinTech, Jon Holden, for another amazing blog!