BSides SF 2025 Scholars
In Spring 2025, Women in Security and Privacy (WISP) proudly partnered with BSides San Francisco to offer 10 scholarships for the annual BSides SF conference, held in San Francisco, CA, on April 26–27, 2025.
Through this partnership, WISP continued its mission to advance women and underrepresented communities in the fields of security and privacy by providing access to high-impact professional development opportunities. The scholarships covered full conference registration and gave recipients the chance to attend one of the cybersecurity community’s most respected and technically rich events.
BSides SF is a grassroots-driven conference known for its welcoming atmosphere, diverse speaker lineup, and deeply technical content. For many scholars, this was a rare opportunity to engage in real-world conversations on everything from vulnerability research to security leadership — all while networking with professionals, hiring managers, and potential mentors in the industry.
We asked the scholarship recipients to share what they hoped to gain from the opportunity. Here’s what a few had to say below.
WISP is incredibly grateful to BSides SF for their continued commitment to building a more inclusive and accessible security community. Together, we’re opening doors for the next generation of cybersecurity professionals to grow, lead, and thrive.
Yaretzy
Yaretzy was exited to attend the Bug Bounty, AI, and Cloud Villages and participate in sessions to build upon security engineering, cloud security, and GRC at BSides SF!
Chaunda Dallas
@HealthHackHer
Chaunda was interested in Healthcare threat intelligence—she was eager to dive into attack patterns targeting medical systems and how to harden IoT/connected devices (like infusion pumps and patient monitors) against ransomware. 2. Sports tech security— she wants to explore vulnerabilities in athlete wearables, stadium IoT, and fan-data ecosystems to prevent breaches that could compromise safety or privacy. 3. Cloud security for critical infrastructure—Mastering AWS/Azure protections for healthcare and sports orgs will let her bridge her clinical ops experience with cutting-edge cyber defenses!
Ria Bhatt
Ria was excited to meet other women in security professions, learn about cutting edge advancements in the field of cybersecurity, and explore the vast number of backgrounds and paths in cybersecurity.
Ingrid Fuentes
Through this scholarship, Ingrid was excited to learn more about threat detection and learn hands-on techniques for combating cyberattacks. She was also eager to explore the latest trends in information security, especially how emerging technologies like AI are reshaping the field. Most of all, she can’t wait to connect with like-minded people and industry experts to gain fresh insights and build lasting relationships in the cybersecurity community.
Anuja Shah
Anuja was excited to learn all about varied security products and how to build such products that people will actually buy; she was looking forward to attend the workshop on LLM Mayhem - given the rapid growth of ChatGPT, DeepSeek etc; She looked forward to networking with like minded peers who are considered about protecting privacy in today’s age of rapid technological advancement!
