Darling, I’m back on tour! 💼🦩💻

Currently flapping through London with my bestie @rnbwkat en route to BSidesBUD—and I couldn’t be more beak-cited! Last year I fell in love with Budapest (and so did my feathers). We jogged along the Danube, got cultured at the ballet, and yes, I may have tried to sneak on stage. This Friday we’re going again, and get this—it’s A Streetcar Named Desire… as a ballet. 🔥💃 Confused? Intrigued? Same.

But first: BSidesBUD tomorrow! I’ll be strutting the halls, posing for pics, and possibly solving cyber mysteries between pirouettes. If you see a blur of pink and glitter, that’s probably me.

#BSidesBUD #FeathersAndFirewalls #StreetcarWithSwanLakeVibes #FlamingoSec #SecurityOnPointe

@BSidesLuxembourg Kat's a vegetarian. Any alternatives for her?

@BSidesLuxembourg I mean, I'm just a silly flamingo.

@BSidesLuxembourg oops, I fly out to #BSidesBUD tomorrow. So many awesome cons. Sorry for confusion. 🦩🦩

I'll be posting some #homelab tips in the next few days. Keep a look out!! #cybersecurity #BSidesTampa

WOW!! My relatives are HUGE in #Tampa!
Time to head home before I head out again to @BSidesLuxembourg tomorrow!
#BSidesTampa12

🌴✨ Well darlings… TAMPA, YOU SLAYED. ✨🌴

It’s me, Sasha the Dancing Flamingo, still recovering from the nonstop fabulousness of BSidesTampa💃💅

You rolled out the red carpet (well, metaphorically), served up wall-to-wall brilliance, and gave me more photo ops than a flamingo at a fashion show. 📸🦩 The talks? 🔥 The people? 💖 The vibes? UNMATCHED!!

I saw hallway convos that could launch startups, CTFs that made feathers fly, and security pros who reminded me why I love this quirky, glorious community. Tampa, you didn’t just host a con—you created a memory I’ll be squawking about all year.

And to everyone who snapped a pic, shared a smile, or whispered “is that THE Sasha?”—yes, it was, and you made my pink little heart soar. 🫶🦩

Now back to Chicago, where I’ll be prepping for our turn to dazzle on Oct 31–Nov 1. Your move, Windy City. 💨✨

#SashaWasHere #BSidesTampa #BSidesChicago

Hanging out at #BSidesTampa12 #bsidestampa

Just hanging out at #bsidesnola

Laissez les bon temps flapper! 💃🦩
Guess who’s strutting her feathers all the way to BSidesNOLA on May 13th?
*cough cough*

It's me. Sasha. The fabulous flamingo with opinions on SIEM configs and subpar ACLs.

While @rnbwkat untangles the sequined mess of modern Security Theater in her talk;
“Containers Won’t Fix Your Code: Unraveling the Elaborate Fabric of Security Theater”

I’ll be backstage throwing beignets at anyone who says “we fixed it with Kubernetes.” 🍩💻

#neworleans get ready. I pack light, dance hard, and debug faster than your CI pipeline.

#BSidesNOLA #SashaOnTour #cybersecurity

Guess who just got their web debut? Moi.

My human @rnbwkat finally wrote Part 1 of our story: how we built a fake company, confused a bunch of hackers, and served up just enough cyber bait to keep things spicy. Spoiler: it involves VLANs, deception, and me, Sasha the Flamingo, showing up in logs where no bird should be. #honeypots

Waddle on over and read Confound and Delay: Planting the Trap—the first in a multi-part series about our #honeypot company adventures. No feathers were ruffled (well, maybe a few threat actors’).

Read it here: https://bsideschicago.org/kat-skratches/

#CyberDeception #SashaSeesAll #FlamingoOps #Wazuh #ConfoundAndDelay

Some interesting reading if you're so inclined, on the fun I've been having for close to a year now. #honeypots #cybersecurity @sashatheflamingo

https://bsideschicago.org/kat-skratches/

Have you ever wondered why we flamingos stand in these fabulous, chaotic flocks? It's not just because we look SPECTACULAR together (though we do). It's because we're smarter than you think!

In the wild, we flamingos know something crucial: survival depends on our differences! Some of us spot predators from above, others sense vibrations in the water, some warn with loud squawks, others use subtle head movements. Different skills, one flock, total protection!

I've been flapping around security conferences for years now, and let me tell you a secret: the best security teams look EXACTLY like flamingo flocks! Different backgrounds, different thinking styles, different paths into cybersecurity—all standing tall together!

Last week, I watched in my sparkly flamingo glory as a team of #cybersecurity humans tackled a super tricky incident. Know who saved the day? Not the human with the most fancy certificates! It was the quiet one with the unconventional background who approached the problem from a completely different angle!

Some humans seem determined to make all security teams look and think exactly alike. BORING! And dangerous! My flamingo wisdom says: the weirder your security flock, the stronger your defense!
So while some parts of the tech world try to chase away diversity, this flamingo is doubling down! Because nothing confuses predators more than a defense they can't predict!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go knock over my human's sugar free redbull to help them discover that vulnerability they've been missing. It's called "flamingo chaos engineering" and it WORKS!

#DEI
#DiversityInCyber #StandingTallTogether @bsideschicago @rnbwkat

@tg9541 It's meant to be pre-configured with all the honeypot examples and tests. That's why you should not deploy this on a public network.

🦩✨ Sasha’s Step 2: Now With Extra Chaos ✨🦩

So, you built a #honeypot. You watched a few bots faceplant into your fake SSH server. You got a taste of deception and now you're craving MORE.

Let me introduce you to your next obsession: ADHD (Active Defense Harbinger Distribution) from the fine humans at Black Hills InfoSec.

💻 It’s a full Linux distro pre-loaded with tools for:
🎣 Honeypots
🚨 Honeytokens
🪤 Tarpits
🧃 Credential bait
⚠️ And general attacker frustration

ADHD is like a honeypot buffet—with all the weird sauces already installed. Want to frustrate attackers with Endless SSH? Drop them in a Maze. Want to play with Kippo, Glastopf, or Artillery without building from scratch? ADHD says, “Come on in, the traps are fine.”

BUT LISTEN: This is not something you drop on your public-facing VPS or neighbor’s Comcast router. This is #homelab territory only. Sandboxed. Segmented. Safe. (Or Sasha will give you The Look™.)

Download it here:
👉 https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/tools/adhd/

Flap wisely, my friends.
#Honeypots #CyberDeception #SashaTheDancingFlamingo #InfosecFun @rnbwkat

🦩✨ So You Wanna Build a #honeypot Let’s Flap Into It. ✨🦩

Thinking about getting started with honeypots but not sure where to begin? Here's a Sasha-approved starter recipe:

🍓 1 Raspberry Pi (even a 3B+ will do)
🌐 1 home internet connection (or DMZ setup if you’re fancy)
💣 1 exposed service—SSH, HTTP, or even something weird like Telnet
📦 Cowrie or HoneyDB for that sweet deception magic
📈 Wazuh.com to see those bad actors in action

Stick your Pi outside your firewall (or in a well-logged DMZ), name it something extra boring like “old-admin-backup,” and wait. They will come. Oh yes, they will.

Start small. Watch. Learn. And remember: you don’t need a threat intel budget to mess with bots.

🕵️‍♀️ Got questions? Ask me—I’ve got strings in the game!

#InfosecLearning #RaspberryPiProjects #homelab #SashaTheHackingFlamingo #Cybersecurity

Back for another round of cyber shenanigans and sticker distribution @bsidesseattle 🕵️‍♀️💃

Yesterday was a whirlwind of honeypot chats, hugs, and posing for photos like the true feathered icon I am. Today? More ops, more ops, more ops.

I’m sneaking into hallway conversations, and making sure the flamingo representation at security conferences remains fabulous and functional.

If you see me flapping around, come say hi—I still have a few flamingo stickers left and possibly some terrible security puns.

#BSidesSeattle #SashaTheHackingFlamingo #FeathersAndFirewalls @rnbwkat

BSidesChicago has officially flown across the pond! 🛫🦩

I'm here in Lancaster for #BSidesLancashire, which means Chicago’s in the house— @sashatheflamingo and all! 💃🧠

At BSides, we rise together. Whether it’s across states or continents, we show up for our fellow events. Because community is everything, and this one? It flocks together!!

To our UK crew—cheers for the warm welcome!

To our Chicago crew—next year’s already in the works and trust me, the robot flamingos have plans...

#BSidesChicago #BSidesLancashire #FlamingoUprising #HackThePlanet #CyberSasha

Helloooooo Lancashire! Sasha here, freshly flapped across the pond from Chicago for #BSidesLancashire 💂‍♀️✨

That's right— @bsideschicago is in the building, and technically, so am I. I packed my best feathers, strutted through customs (no passport needed for fabulousness), and landed in the UK to support my fellow BSides fam. Because when one con rises, the whole flock lifts off. 🛫🩷

Already scouting for flamingo-friendly tea spots, lockpicking villages, and humans who know how to appreciate a sparkly beak. Got tips? Send them my way.

Catch me in the big room, in the halls, or in someone's selfie. You know I can't resist a photo op.

See you all tomorrow, 16-Apr-25 (because that's the proper way to write dates)!!

#BSidesChicago #BSidesLancashire #FlamingoOnTour #HackLikeAFlamingo #InfosecMascotGoals #NoOnePutsSashaInACorner @rnbwkat

It's been awhile.
But I do get around. @rnbwkat and I are in Dublin this week.