Presented at
DEF CON 33 (2025),
Aug. 10, 2025, 10 a.m.
(45 minutes).
One year after launch, the DEF CON Franklin returns to the Mainstage with partners from the Cyber Resilience Corps with updates on their mission to empower local communities through cyber volunteering and grassroots defense. We'll share key lessons learned from running on-the-ground volunteering programs and future plans for scaling civic cyber defense by joining forces. From helping small towns respond to ransomware to building rapid-response volunteer teams, this talk will highlight how hackers and technologists are stepping up to protect the public good—one community at a time.
References:
- [link](https://cltc.berkeley.edu/program/cyber-resilience-corps/)
- [link](https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/civilian-cyber-corps-a-model-law-for-states/)
- [link](https://cltc.berkeley.edu/2025/03/31/cyber-resilience-corps-plenary-session-2/)
- [link](https://cltc.berkeley.edu/2025/02/11/cyber-resilience-corps-plenary-session-1/)
- [link](https://www.mwe.com/insights/creating-a-cyber-volunteer-force-strategy-and-options/)
- [link](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3657054.3657083)
- [link](https://cltc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Digital_Safety_Technical_Assistance_at_Scale.pdf)
- [link](https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_planning-considerations-cyber-incidents_2023.pdf)
- [link](https://therecord.media/ransomware-attack-new-york-blood-center-forces-workarounds)
Presenters:
-
Sarah Powazek
Sarah Powazek is the Program Director of Public Interest Cybersecurity at the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), where she leads flagship research on defending low-resource organizations like nonprofits, municipalities, and schools from cyber attacks. She serves as Co-Chair of the Cyber Resilience Corps and is also Senior Advisor for the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics, advocating for the expansion of clinical cyber education around the world. Sarah hosts the Cyber Civil Defense Summit, an annual mission-based gathering of cyber defenders to protect the nation’s most vulnerable public infrastructure. Sarah previously worked at CrowdStrike Strategic Advisory Services, and as the Program Manager of the Ransomware Task Force. In her free time, she serves as Deputy Director of DistrictCon, a hacker conference based in D.C.
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Jake Braun
Jake Braun is the Executive Director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and Co-Founder of Cambridge Global Advisors, a national security consulting firm. He most recently served in The White House as acting Principal Deputy National Cyber Director. Prior to that role, Mr. Braun was appointed by The President as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Braun is the author of Democracy in Danger: How Hackers and Activists Exposed Fatal Flaws in the Election System (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).
In addition to his role at the University of Chicago, Mr. Braun co-founded the DEF CON Voting Machine Hacking Village. In that capacity he co-authored two award-winning reports on the cyber security of our election infrastructure: the DEF CON 25 and 26 Voting Village Reports. Most recently, he partnered with DEF CON to launch “Franklin,” a program to memorialize the most innovative and impactful findings from DEF CON in the annual “Hackers’ Almanack.” “Franklin” also recruits cyber volunteers to support underresourced critical infrastructure.
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Adrien Ogee
Adrien spent his career in various cyber crisis response roles in Thales, the French and European Cybersecurity Agencies (ANSSI and ENISA), and the World Economic Forum. At the Institute, he oversees the provision of cybersecurity assistance to vulnerable populations. Adrien holds an MEng in telecommunication and information systems, an MSc in Global Security and has an MBA.
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