Posts Tagged ‘defcon’
Defcon 2012
Last month I was one of 15,000 people that attended the Defcon computer security convention in Las Vegas. It was a fantastic four day event with presenters talking about their findings and projects in regards to all things security.
Upon paying the $200 entry fee we were given our badge required for entry. This year’s badge was electronic and a puzzle in a way. Through onboard lights and light sensor the badges would communicate with each other as they past by. Also via a USB port we were encouraged to program some hacks so that they behaved differently.
Defcon 2012 Badge
One of the most interesting events in Capture The Flag where teams are set against each other to hack into their opponents servers and capture so called flags. Each team would harden their own servers before beginning to attack others. From what I could gather they do this non-stop throughout the event and the team who has gathered the most flags is deemed the winner.
My highlights were sitting in on talks by Kevin Mitnick on social engineering and Kevin Poulsen discussing the exploits he used to get up to in his past. Having read books by both presenters I was keen to see what they had to say.
I would love to attend again next year. Anyone feel like sponsoring my trip?