Black & Gold Badge
DEF CON has the Black Badge for the world's elite hackers. We're Pittsburgh. We're black and gold! The BSides Pittsburgh Black & Gold Badge is awarded to Pittsburgh people that we feel have gone above and beyond for the local security community.
2022: Our Black & Gold Badge recipient for 2022 is Justin Forbes. Justin started the virtual infosec meetup during the pandemic called BarSides to bring our community together on a regular basis. This later turned into a monthly in-person event with weekly activities and Discord community.
We did not offer a Black & Gold Badge during our 2021 event. Our 2020 event was canceled due to CoVid.
2019: Our Black & Gold Badge recipient for 2019 is John Franolich. John has been active in InfraGard, the SANS Pittsburgh community, and the ISC2 Pittsburgh Chapter. He’s additionally taught courses at the University of Pittsburgh, helping to found the Pitt Cybersecurity Club, and at Slippery Rock University.
2018: Our Black & Gold Badge recipient for 2018 is Kevin Cody /@KevCody. Kevin has been a repeat BSidesPGH speaker and most recently revived the OWASP Pittsburgh chapter.
2017: Our Black & Gold Badge recipient for 2017 is Kevin Gennuso / @KevvyG. Kevin has been a long time Pittsburgh evangelist, contributing/speaking at dozens of events over the years.
2016: Our inaugural Black & Gold Badge recipient is Dan Klinedinst / @DKlinedinst for his instrumental work founding and developing the BSides Pittsburgh conference.