Don, apologies if this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move.

Guys,

there are lots of events in Europe and in the US, like ChicagoCon, BlackHat, ShmooCon, and more.

However due to work commitments, and financial constraints it might not always be practical or possible to attend such events.

So do any of you guys know of any decent UK based Security Events? Of course there is the yearly InfoSec, but in my opinion this has diminished in quality lately, and its basicly just a big sellers market.

I am looking for events to gain more knowledge, meet like minded people and network.

Thanks again in advance guys.

Thanks for the heads up on the EuSec, I will look into this for next year.
As for the BCS events, I used to be a member about 5 years ago, but never renewed as I really didnt get much benefit, perhaps now is a time to reconsider?

Depends on your local branch I'd guess. I've been a member for around 4 years and have been to around a dozen events. Just depends on your interests and who they've got to speak. Had a really interesting debate when the head of BCS did a talk on professionalism in the industry and basically got attacked very lively debate.

From the perspective of specialist groups, for me they help me keep semi-upto date but the events are all London based (I'm definitely North of the M25 ) so I don't have a great opportunity to attend so can't comment.

The forums (especially security) are, imo, fairly weak. Anything that gets discussed I've usually known about for a while and/or most comments are a re-hash of either the Daily Mail or /. But it's been a while since I've looked, they may have improved recently.

In terms of return on investment, the BCS newsletters/emails usually have a good article or two and I get a free copy of Computing every week. The discounts and special offers have never really helped me, but the new online library could be interesting as it expands.

Biggest benefit I've gained from it is the CV aspect, one more plus I've got over another applicant.

Your mileage may vary, but I'd at least suggest keeping an eye on the websites for your local branches to see if there are any interesting talks. Most are open to non-members anyway.

Just had a look at my 2 closest BCS Location, and they both seem pretty inactive.

The search continues......

Not alot going on to be honest from what I can see.

This is just my personal opinion, but I get the feeling that alot of the people in InfoSec in the UK are not as pasionate as our US friends.
When I looked into setting something up, I had some support from companies, but actually getting some comitment from alot of people was difficult.

I probably could have done a better job marketing it, but its just fitting it all in.

I do have some other ideas that I will post about in the future, at the moment its just making the time.

Agreed, not much dedicated security stuff in the UK unfortunately. But it is possible to find security related content at more general events.

As a starting point you could check for a local 2600 group (http://www.2600.com/meetings/mtg.html). Keep meaning to try my local and check attendance/content but keep forgetting (Friday is bad timing, usually just want to curl up in a ball by the end of the week...)

Go for it, fly the InfoSec flag 

There are a few things going on in the UK, including meetings of the London OWASP group with speakers on various subjects.

http://www.owasp.org/index.php/London

As far as I know the London 2600 meets still take place, but I have not been to one in years.

If there is not one already I think we need a UK calendar of events. I don't think there is a lack of enthusiasm this side of the pond (although I've found many UK events are very dry) but we are far less good at publicity and evangelism.

1. Find events
2. Round up an EH.net posse
3. Eat pizza/drink beer

Jimbob