You Just Might Find, You Get What You Need: How MS Became My Unlikely Success Story
Emily Harden
BSidesSF 2026 · Day 1 · AMC Theatre 02
Emily Harden's presentation at BSides SF, titled "You Just Might Find, You Get What You Need: How MS Became My Unlikely Success Story," offered a profoundly personal and unexpectedly poignant departure from the typical cybersecurity conference agenda. From the outset, Harden clarified that "MS" in her title referred not to Microsoft, as many in the tech sphere might assume, but to **Multiple Sclerosis**, the chronic autoimmune disease that profoundly reshaped her life and career trajectory. This talk was a raw, honest, and often humorous account of her journey through diagnosis, adaptation, and ultimately, finding a new sense of purpose within the tech community.
AI review
Personal resilience talk about living with MS that found its way onto a BSides SF stage. Harden is authentic, the story is real, and it's the right kind of human-element break from back-to-back vuln research — but the content is thin enough that it lives or dies on whether the conference intentionally programmed a wellness/community slot, which BSides sometimes does.