![[WSC SoCal WORKSHOP] Adventures in IoT Hacking](https://cdn.stayhappening.com/events2/banners/23ffb1f0-b664-11f0-9d7c-1d24a935f522-rimg-w1200-h675-dc2b6f71-gmir.webp?v=1761920167)
This is a hybrid workshop.
You MUST also register at this WSC website: [https://womenscyberjutsu.org/event/socalhacking25](https://womenscyberjutsu.org/event/socalhacking25)
After you register at the WSC site, you will receive the Zoom information.
Cost: Free for WSC members
Title: Adventures in IoT Hacking
Date: Saturday, November 1 st, 2025
Location: Venture X Coworking and Zoom
10089 Willow Creek Rd #200, San Diego, CA 92131
Time: 11 AM PT - 1:45 PM PT (Pacific Time)
Workshop Level: Beginner 101
Details:
IoT devices exist in every modern home today. Do people know what their IoT devices are saying when no one is listening? This workshop demonstrates how to disassemble a widely available and inexpensive IoT device to discover how the device starts up and communicates out to the world. Take a journey with a Pen Tester (red team) and a Security Operations Engineer (blue team) on a walk-through for a basic lab set-up and demonstration, demystifying components of the device starting from how it is built to how it communicates.
Objectives:
Attendees will have the chance to learn how to use low-cost and free open-source tools to hack their own IoT devices. From there, see how to examine findings, ways to research, extract and investigate the firmware. Learn about each of the component's jobs along with the corresponding software tools to read extracted files and how to pull the data into a lab for analysis. In each step of the process, learn what tools to use for each file and how to translate them into readable form for analyzing using decryption and reverse engineering to find possible vulnerabilities. Presenters will demonstrate and touch on why these devices are inherently insecure. More importantly, attendees will make connections
about how the skills practiced in this workshop are valuable and relevant to the professional job market today from risk and vulnerability management to cyber security research.
Agenda:
This is a two hour workshop to start at 11 AM - 1245 PM PT, 1245 PM - 1PM PT at the end for questions.
1 PM - 1:45 PM - Networking
Technical Requirements:
If attendees would like to follow along with labs, please have a laptop with a virtual machine and kali linux or basic linux, and ability to download class materials from github.
Prerequisites:
A laptop is helpful but not required. basic knowledge of linux commands, networking, and computer.
Instructor: Jennifer Bate
Bio: Jen is a penetration tester, hardware hacking enthusiast, and proud cybersecurity career-changer. She earned her BSEE from the University of Michigan and served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force, where she worked as a hospital engineer—leading a technical team in a mission-critical environment. After taking a career break to raise three sons, she returned to school for IT coursework and quickly discovered the wild world of cybersecurity through her first CTF. Thanks to a scholarship
from the SANS Women’s Immersion Academy, she relaunched directly into penetration testing 5 years ago. She dabbles in hardware hacking as a creative side pursuit. Her favorite part of her 2nd career? Fighting the epic battle of good vs. evil in her pajamas. When she's not studying the latest hacks, she is hiking, cooking, wine tasting or restoring a dollhouse her dad made for her when she was 10.
Instructor: Theresa Pon
Bio: Theresa Pon is an experienced Principal Security Engineer specializing in Cyber Threat Intelligence and Automation and Orchestration platforms, for Cyber Defense Operations at a Top 5 Financial Institution. Her career spans years of expertise in network security infrastructure, security policy frameworks, risk management evaluations, technology lifecycle management, and contingency and disaster recovery for cybersecurity. She holds degrees in Electronics Technology, Organizational Leadership and industry certifications such as Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP). Theresa is a continual learner in keeping pace with cybersecurity evolution, dedicated to protecting digital assets and strengthening cyber defense capabilities. Ask her about skiing, hiking, or escape rooms.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
We extend our sincere thanks to APISEC University [https://www.apisecuniversity.com/](https://www.apisecuniversity.com/) and Venture X Coworking [https://venturex.com/locations/san-diego-scripps-ranch/](https://venturex.com/locations/san-diego-scripps-ranch/) for generously sponsoring this event. We truly appreciate your commitment and partnership.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
San Diego, San Diego, Los Angeles, us
