DEFCON Announcements!

CTF Packet Captures from DEF CON 17!

Sat, 18 May 2013 02:22:59 -0700

Check this out: We have the complete packet captures from the DEF CON 17 Capture the Flag Competition available to download! DDtek has been kind enough to provide them from their years running CTF, and we'll be releasing the PCaps from DEF CON 18, 19, and 20 in the coming weeks for all of you CTF enthusiasts! Enjoy!

Direct Download (~1.25 GB) |
Emule Collection |
Torrent

DEF CON Forums For Contest & Event News

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:25:41 -0700

Wondering what's to do at DEF CON 21? Check out the DEF CON Forums [Official / Unofficial] [Parties / Social Gatherings / Events / Contests] Forum, where there is quite a lot going on of late!

For example, You may learn that the DEF CON Short Story contest has just under two weeks left to submit. Project 2 has posted some things you need to know about the contest. Details on the DEF CON Cycle_OverRide have recently been posted. You could browse the latest news on the Unofficial DEF CON Shoot.

And hey, if you have something in mind that might be cool at DEF CON 21, discuss them with your peers in the New Ideas section to see if they might get traction!

It's all happening now, so give it a look!

DEF CON 21 Speaker Page Live!

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:21:14 -0700

Rejoice! The DEF CON 21 Speaker Page is now live, and you can peruse the first round of poppin fresh talks, listed below! Keep an eye on our Twitter, Facebook, and RSS Feed for all the latest updates!

MITM All The IPv6 Things
Scott Behrens & Brent Bandelgar

Evil DoS Attacks and Strong Defenses
Sam Bowne & Matthew Prince

Home Invasion 2.0 - Attacking Network-Controlled Consumer Devices
Daniel "unicornFurnace" Crowley & Jennifer "savagejen" Savage

I Can Hear You Now: Traffic Interception and Remote Mobile Phone Cloning with a Compromised CDMA Femtocell
Doug DePerry & Tom Ritter

JTAGulator: Assisted Discovery Of On-Chip Debug Interfaces
Joe Grand aka Kingpin

The Dirty South – Getting Justified with Technology
David Kennedy & Nick Hitchcock (nick8ch)

PowerPreter: Post Exploitation Like a Boss
Nikhil Mitta

The Road Less Surreptitiously Traveled
pukingmonkey

Stalking a City for Fun and Frivolity
Brendan O'Connor

De-Anonymizing Alt.Anonymous.Messages
Tom Ritter

Bruce Schneier Answers Your Questions
Bruce Schneier

Hacking Wireless Networks of the Future: Security in Cognitive Radio Networks
Hunter Scott
Predicting Susceptibility to Socialbots on Twitter
Chris Sumner & Randall Wald

DEF CON 21 Call for Parties Updated with FAQ!

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:34:52 -0700

If you're thinking about throwing a DEF CON 21 party in our pub crawl, we've put together a list of frequently asked questions to clarify what's what in running one! You can also find the submission form if your ready to take the plunge! There's plenty of room left for your group to make their mark on DEF CON 21, so get those submissions in and make our party row a reality!

DC21 CTF Quals Registration is Now Open!

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:52:13 -0700

In case you haven't heard, as of May 1 you can now register for the DEF CON 21 Capture the Flag qualification round! Get that team together and pop on over to https://legitbs.net/ for all the details and to sign up! The Quals will happen June 15, 2013!

The DEF CON 21 Short Story Contest is Underway!

Fri, 03 May 2013 08:36:29 -0700

The DEF CON 21 Short Story Contest has officially opened! Exercise your wordsmithing talents for the chance to win free admission to DEF CON 21! All of the pertinent details can be found at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13334! Good Luck!

The DEF CON 21 Website is Now Live!

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:54:56 -0700

The DEF CON 21 site is up and running! Check it out for all the latest info on this year's con. Keep checking back for news and developments for DEF CON 21 as they occur!

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to our RSS feed!

DEF CON 21 Call for DJs/Performers is about to close!

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:27:26 -0700

If you have long dreamed of the glory of performing live at DEF CON, there's only a few days left in the DEF CON 21 Call for Music/Performers! Check out https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13225 if you are interested, and get your self applied by April 30!

DEF CON 21 Awards nominations!

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:14:05 -0700

Weigh in your picks for the 2013 DEF CON Awards! We are currently accepting nominations for the following categories:

1. Worst coverage of security/hacker related issues by a media person or media outlet (Any Media).
2. Best coverage of security/hacker related issues by a media person or media outlet (Any Media).
3. Best privacy enhancing technology for the last 12 months (Since DEF CON 20).
4. Worst privacy enhancing technology for the last 12 months (Since DEF CON 20).
5. Best security or hacker related Twitter feed.
6. The "Nit-Twit" award for the worst security or hacker related Twitter feed.
7. Best project by an approved DEF CON Group. Include a link to project information.
8. Worst / Most Meaningless security or hacker related buzzword for the last 12 months (Since DEF CON 20).
9. Biggest law enforcement of legal system blunder, related to computer security/hackers. (Since DEF CON 20).
10. The "Security Charlatan of the Year" award.

Nominations must be submitted no later than midnight, Las Vegas time, on June 31st, 2013, to be considered for inclusion. Thanks!

DEF CON 21 Vendor FAQ is Live!

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:49:42 -0700

Are you a past DEF CON vendor or interested in peddling your wares at DEF CON 21? The Vendor Area FAQ and Application are now live! Check it out at https://defcon.hackingyour.net/faq!

DEF CON 21 Pin Giveaway!

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:03:46 -0700

Kallahar, a long time DEF CON Goon, has started a project this year to manufacture and give away a free DEF CON 21 pin. Their goal is to raise enough donations to give everyone one for free. Read more about it and see how you can help here: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13309

CODAME at DEF CON 21!

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:55:37 -0700

We're excited to have CODAME this year at DEF CON 21! If you're not familar, here's what they're all about (from codame.com):

Non-profit Festivals & Events covering tech challenges with emphasis on artistic expression and creativity.

Bringing together independent artists, coders, game developers, creators, performers and musicians celebrating Art and Technology.

CODAME exists to incubate and support artists, technologists and designers that push the boundaries of hardware, software, and physical/digital mediums. At the intersection of ART+TECH, CODAME is accelerating the way we interpret and express our rapidly changing world.

They are having a call for artists for this event! Check it out at: http://codame.com/post/46882234348/can-hackers-be-heroes-excited-to-be-bring-codame

DEF CON 21 CTF Quals Announced!

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:44:36 -0700

The DEF CON 21 CTF Quals and schedule have been announced! Check out https://legitbs.net/ for all the details!

DEF CON Video Deals at The Source of Knowledge!

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 22:50:07 -0700

The Source of Knowledge has some specials on DEF CON 20 Videos and an early bird special for the DEF CON 21 talks! you can check them out at http://tsok.net/defcon21/index.html. Offers good through June 30.

The Call For Def Con Capture The Flag Organizers Is Now Complete!

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 00:31:22 -0700

On behalf of all the hundreds of staff, volunteers, and community that make DEF CON happen I would like to thank all of the teams, groups, and companies that submitted their vision of how they would run Capture the Flag at DEF CON 21 and beyond.

It was very hard to for us at DEF CON World Domination HQ to decide on which vision, and ultimately which team, would have the responsibility of seeing the great CTF tradition into the future. With a record number of five well thought out submissions there were many things that went into our final decision from size of team, resources needed, and the look and feel of the contest. Ultimately the following factors weighed heavily:

- Past experience running or participating in high pressure and large scale CTFs
- Past experience of organizers in being respected by the community and having skillz
- A clearly articulated vision for how CTF would evolve under their direction
- A focus on gameplay and describing the scoring system with an eye toward observer education
- Increased transparency

Thank you again to the five teams that did not get selected, we wish you the best of luck and success in your future contests.

And now without any further ado we would like to announce the new organizers!

Legitimate Business Syndicate http://legitbs.net/

Here's Your Big Shot!

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 03:21:02 -0700

Many often ask how they can be involved in DEF CON. After all, The thing that makes DEF CON great is the contribution of the community. If you're so inclined, here are a few ways you can get involved with DEF CON 21!

HHV Call for Volunteers https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13228

DEF CON Call for Music https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13225

DC101 wildcard speaking slot https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13230

A ton of opportunies just like these will be popping up over the next weeks and months, and a great place to keep watch for them is the DEF CON Forums. Keep your eyes peeled if you're looking for a way to help out!

The DEF CON 21 Call for Papers is Open!

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 03:47:44 -0800

The time has arrived, friends. The DEF CON 21 Call for Papers is officially open! Get yourselves over to https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-21/dc-21-cfp.html for the official announcement, and if you choose to submit, good luck!

New DEF CON Badge page!

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:05:37 -0800

We have a new page up for you DEF CON badge tinkerers out there, The DEF CON Badge page! It has links to some of the mods people have done, badge firmware, the puzzle game walkthroughs, and threads from the Parallax Forums dealing with getting started.

It also has a handy link to HackerStickers.com, where you can purchase more badges to control and power your diabolical plots, gear up a workshop at your local DEF CON Group or Hackerspace, or just pick one up for posterity!

For now it has the DEF CON 20 badge, but we are hunting down resources for the past badges as well, so keep your eyes on it for updates! Happy badge hacking!

Want to Help?

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 23:59:23 -0800

Do you want to help at DEF CON? Do you want to see other people have a good time and learn the ropes, willing to run around the convention like a gopher? You gotta start somewhere, consider applying with Highwiz for a position helping out with DC 101. https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13193

The DEF CON FAQ has been updated!

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 04:18:35 -0800

Check out https://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-faq/dc-faq.html

This year DEF CON 21 will be $180, instead of $200 like last year, sticking to what Dark Tangent said about the price increase for 20 being temporary.

The CFP will be opening at the end of the month so start planning your research!

Run the DEF CON CTF!

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:07:22 -0800

Calling all hacker groups! Only one month left to put in your applications to be the next DEF CON Capture the Flag Organizers! Do you want the fortune, glory, and challenge of running the DEF CON CTF competition? Check out the call at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13160!

Reserve a Room for DEF CON 21!

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:58:13 -0800

Just for you early planners, the DEF CON 21 room reservation link is now live! The current rates start at $104 Sun-Thurs and $118 Fri-Sat. You can also call 1-888-746-6955 and reference group# SRDEF13. Get that room squared away, space is not unlimited!

A Call from DC4420

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:41:31 -0800

A message from our friends at dc4420.org, Subject: DC4420 - 2013 CFP

Hey! I know it's a bit late, but Happy New Year!

I've posted the dates for 2013 meetings on dc4420.org but you'll notice there is very little else! That's because we still need talks!

For those that are yet to join us for our monthly gathering, the format is we meet in a private room in a pub, we have a 1 hour talk and a 20 minute talk on *any subject*, but hopefully something that is interesting to the 'hacker' community.... in the past we've had everything from reverse engineering Windows DEP to building your own Thermic Lance, so when I say any subject, I really do mean any subject that is either interesting or amusing or preferably both...

You will be speaking to a small crowd (normally between 60 and 100), so if you want to practice a talk that you're thinking of submitting to a 'real' conference, or you've already given it somewhere that a small section of London is unlikely to have attended, or you have an idea that you can cover in just 20 minutes and never really though of turning it into a talk, or you've never done any public speaking before then this is the place... you will be most welcome and someone may even buy you a nice warm beer!

We have the one-hour slot filled for January, but all others are currently open so don't be shy - send your submission to talks@dc4420.org...

All other details are here: http://dc4420.org/

I hope to see you there!

Cheers,

DEF CON Groups on Facebook!

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:01:54 -0800

Interested in the DEF CON Groups? Blakdayz has fired back up the DEF CON Groups Facebook page, and it's a great place for updates and announcements on what is going on with the DCG scene in general.

Also recently updated are the General FAQ and the POC FAQ as well as the Domestic DCG listing. International groups should be updated soon!

So have a look, and learn about DEF CON Groups in your area!

DEAF CON?

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 04:15:54 -0800

Discussions like this are what makes the DEF CON community great, and often lead to kind of innovative solutions you can only get from our attendees! Any ideas?

From Deviant Ollam on the DEF CON Forums:
...I know for a fact that I'm not the only hacker with deaf friends, family, loved ones, etc. How many of you have deaf or hard-of-hearing people in your lives who might want to experience DEF CON?

What I am proposing in this thread is not a segregated or special area of any kind, a la DEF CON Kids, but simply I'm sort of putting out the call that "if you know deaf people who have thought about coming to DEF CON before, let's all try to make 2013 the year that they DO come for sure!"

Read on at: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13183

DEF CON Documentary Sneak Peek!

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:08:49 -0800

This is a look at what's to come when DT releases the full documentary in a couple months. This should get you excited for what's to come!

Check out https://media.defcon.org/

The links for downloading the 20 minute preview in 720p and 1080p with both bittorrent and eMule are right at the top under the hacker documentary section.

As usual please keep seeding the files to help out your fellow hackers!

CTF Call for Organizers Reminder

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:42:44 -0800

Does your group have what it takes to be the new DEF CON Capture the Flag Organizers? There are still a couple of months left to apply, the call ends Feb 28, 2013.

Instructions on how to apply at: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13160

Cyber Monday Sale at Hackerstickers.com!

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:45:02 -0800

DEF CON & Cyber Monday Sale - Check out the special savings (Up to 60% OFF) site-wide on HackerStickers.com! Use coupon code 'FREESTICK' for free sticker with purchase!

DEF CON 20 P2P Collections of Speeches!

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 21:32:49 -0800

Happy Turkey Day! As a special Thanksgiving treat, we have posted eMule Collections and Torrents of the complete Audio and Slides Video Collections from DEF CON 20! You can find the links at https://media.defcon.org/index.html#dc20. Leech away and give thanks for all that hacking goodness!

DEF CON 20 Slides Video and Audio is Live!

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:09:40 -0800

The long-awaited moment has arrived, and you can now grab all of the DEF CON 20 Video (slides only) and Audio presentations from the DEF CON 20 Archive page! We have also posted a Slides Video RSS and an Audio RSS for those who prefer to grab them that way! We will soon be posting Torrent and eMule links for the complete collections at media.defcon.org Enjoy!

Call for CTF Organizers!

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:08:51 -0700

The call for new DEF CON Capture the Flag organizers is live on the forums! Does your group have what it takes to carry the torch with the infamous DEF CON CTF?

https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=13160

DEF CON 20 Artwork for Download!

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:52:02 -0700

If you enjoyed the artwork at DEF CON 20 on the floors, signs, swag and elswhere, we have put together a little package for you! It contains high res jpg files and is free for personal, non-commercial use! Print it out for your walls, make some computer wallpapers and enjoy! You can find it at:

DEF CON 20 Hacking Conference Art (Zip file)

Keep an eye out for more art from past DEF CONs in the future!

DEF CON 20 Hacker Pyramid and Hacker Jeopardy Video!

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:56:12 -0700

We now have, for your viewing delight, video from Hacker Jeopardy and 10k¢ Hacker Pyramid at DEF CON 20! This year's Hacker Jeopardy was Winn's last, so check out all the surprises he had in store! Enjoy!

Hacker Jeopardy: eMule | Torrent

Hacker Pyramid: eMule | Torrent

You can also download them individually:
DEF CON 20 Hacking Conference - Hacker Jeopardy 1
DEF CON 20 Hacking Conference - Hacker Jeopardy 2
DEF CON 20 Hacking Conference - Hacker Jeopardy 3
DEF CON 20 Hacking Conference - Hacker Jeopardy Final
DEF CON 20 Hacking Conference - Hacker Pyramid 1
DEF CON 20 Hacking Conference - Hacker Pyramid 2

DEF CON 20 Updated DVD!

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:47:32 -0700

We've updated the DEF CON 20 DVD with some extra stuff! Updated presentation materials are now on the DVD image, as well as badge firmware, and the missing textfiles in the Extra Bonus Features section!

Direct Download (4.5GB)

DEF CON 20 SE CTF Report!

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:00:53 -0700

Social-engineer.org has released a detailed report of the findings from DEF CON 20 Social Engineering CTF – Battle of the SExes!

http://www.social-engineer.org/?p=3106

Tamper Evident MacGyvers!

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 11:59:35 -0700

the following YouTube video is a pretty awesome show of ingenuity, by one of the Tamper Evident Contest teams in the MacGyver category at DEF CON 20. Using only items in their hotel room, they attempt to defeat a number of tamper evident devices. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUzPwXPzfHQ

DEF CON Behind the Scenes: Zebbler Encanti Decor!

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 11:58:41 -0700

Cool video on the making of DEF CON 20 decor for the music events!

http://vimeo.com/49428863

CTF Archives updated for DEF CON 20!

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 16:18:17 -0700

Capture the Flag at DEF CON is a legendary contest of hacking skill, and has grown considerably over the past few years. 20 teams competed for the coveted title this year, and we've updated our CTF Archive page to include as many write-ups from the competion and qualification rounds as we could find. We've also included torrents of the raw pcaps and system image from the DEF CON 20 CTF team ACME PHARM on media.defcon.org, courtesy of @phaktor!

These resources and write-ups are meant to not only preserve CTF history, but allow you to dig in and see what the contest is all about! Enjoy!

DEF CON 20 Music Compilation Release!

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:20:02 -0700

Those that were at DEF CON 20 received a music CD along with the Con DVD. This music compilation featured incredible tracks by some extremely talented artists, written especially for this years show. We have now teamed up with Gravitas recordings to release the music comp as a digital download for free, or pay what you want, with all proceeds to benefit the EFF! Here is the Press release from Gravitas:

For Immediate Release

Contact:

John@40HzMedia.com [mailto:John@40HzMedia.com]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gravitas Presents DEF CON Compilation
Free Download ft. Mochipet, MC Frontalot, Minibosses, Cryptex, and more!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

File Under: Electronic / Rap / Glitch Hop
Release Date: August 2nd, 2012
Downloadable MP3s:[Please feel free to blog/share]
Various Artists - DEF CON XX Compilation

DEF CON, one of the worlds largest and longest running hacking conferences, celebrates it's 20th year with an energetic and appropriately themed compilation, entitled "XX". Founder and head of the conference Jeff Moss, also known as Dark Tangent, tasked DEF CON "goon" and Muti Music artist Great Scott with curating the talent filled track selections; acknowledging that music can be pure hacker fuel. Glitch-hop producers AMB, Mochipet and Cryptex play alongside a myriad of other genre-gurus - including nerd-rockers Minibosses, tech-electro wizard High Sage, and nerdcore rap professionals MC Frontalot and Dual Core. Listening to this mix of hacker artists is like riding a wave of concentration as you find yourself zoning out to the ambient tones or letting the determining beats direct your fingers across the keyboard.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sales go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit agency that advocates digital rights and fights for the first amendment against egregious government bills like SOPA and the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. We urge you to purchase the DEF CON XX Compilation and spread the word to your friends and family.

Release artwork by DEF CON resident artist: Neil Kronenberg.

Tracklist:
1. AMB - On the Run
2. Minibosses - Sports!!!
3. Dale Chase - SSH to Your Heart featuring Shannon Morse
4. Zebbler Encanti Experience - Data Mind
5. MC Frontalot - Secrets From the Future (Crimson Death Remix)
6. Mochipet - Domo's Bass Station
7. ytcracker - Hacker War
8. Great Scott - gr33tz
9. Royal Sapien - In Chicago in the Time of the Fair (Royal Sapien fork for DEF CON XX)
10. REGENERATOR - Slave (DEF CON Discipline Mix by Mach)
11. Dual Core - Fear and Chaos
12. Cryptex - Error
13. High Sage featuring Katy Rokit - Stuck on Ceazar's Challenge (KEW QEIMYUK QEIMYUK QEIM AYM)
14. bil bless - grimjaw (the hunt for the)

Cover Art:
http://40hzmedia.com/images/dc20-album-art.jpg

Links:
http://gravitasrecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/gravitasrecordings
http://www.defcon.org/

Download/Stream Widgets:
http://gravitasrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/DEF CON-xx-compilation

Let the Updates Begin!

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 11:29:04 -0700

Greetings all! That was quite an event, wasn't it? We here at DEF CON HQ and our staff all around the country and the world are still reeling. Now that we've had a minute to catch our breath, we'll start posting all of the contest results, media, press, and more that have come out of DEF CON 20.

Let's start with a round-up of some of the news that came from this years show. We've also started receiving contest results.

Keep an eye peeled for more updates in the coming days and weeks!

Thanks, Everybody!

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 11:27:35 -0700

DEF CON 20 is winding down, and it's been another great show. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their summer to attend, whether you're an old-timer or someone here for your first time. It takes a lot of dedicated people to pull off an event of this magnitude, and I want to take a moment to officially thank the crew made this for you. Show 'em a little love - there's no better team anywhere.

DEF CON 20 Entertainment Schedule is Now Live!

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:03:45 -0700

Dope beats are essential to a healthy immune system and a sparkly brain. FACT.

Information retention is vastly increased by combining DJ sets with contained bodies of cool, chlorinated water. FACT.

The entertainment schedule for DEF CON 20 is up for your perusal, and it's pretty packed. There tons of bands, DJs and even an area to just chill and rest your weary neocortex. Music until the wee hours, from Thursday through Sunday. You can check out Minibosses, or Frontalot, or REGENERATOR or Mochipet. It's like one of those outdoor music festivals, but with enough sense to come inside.

Face it. Where else do you get to see Keith Myers versus Zack Fasel in a battle of hacker DJs? Or a band composed entirely of DEF CON Goons? Or the ever-awesome Miss DJ Jackalope rocking the same party as Crystal Method?

As always, planning is key - so go check out the schedule and schedule in your Recommended Daily Allowance of rhythm

DEF CON Swag Has a New Online Home - Welcome Hackerstickers.com!

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:27:37 -0700

Hackerstickers.com is now the official online retailer of DEF CON merchandise. They carry the whole line, from T-shirts to Zippos. And also stickers. All that and they also carry picksets and a wide variety of caffeine delivery devices. If you're in the market for hacker swag, check out Hackerstickers. Tell 'em DEF CON sent ya.

DT's Tamper Evident Contest is Live!

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:27:53 -0700

The world is full of 'tamper-proof' packaging. You're expected to trust it, but how strong are those measures, really? This is a contest about defeating these physical measures in a documentable, elegant fashion that leaves no trace of your attack. You can enter alone or with a team, and you can even enter the 'Unlimited 'class that allows you to use any tools or gear you can get your hands on.

Registration is open in the Tamper Evident Signup Forum Thread.

To learn the rules and get a feel for the contest, go to the Tamper Evident Contest Thread.

Space is limited, so if you think this is a contest for you, get yourself signed up!

Short Story Contest Winners!

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:51:26 -0700

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's Short Story Contest. It's cool to see how much literary talent is bubbling under the surface of the DEF CON community. This year's winners are:

-People's Choice Winner - DEF CON Unbound by John McNabb

-First Place - A Silent, Private Place by Davien

-Second Place - DEF CON Unbound by John McNabb

-Honorable Mention - DEF CON - The Beginning of the End by Siobahn Morrison

To read the winning stories, and all of the participants, you can head over to the DEF CON Forums Short Story Contest thread.

Congratulations to the winners!

DEF CON Art Contest Returns!

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:52:56 -0700

This year's DEF CON art contest is going to be just a little different.

First, you'll only have a few weeks to submit your masterpiece. All entries must be submitted by July 6th. That's a lot less lead time, but we're pretty sure pressure sharpens the mind.

The theme is also going to be a little different. Since this is DEF CON's 20th anniversary, we're asking for poster-style artwork that imagines DEF CON 20 years from now. What do you think we'll be sharing with each other at DEF CON 40? What will hackery look like in 2032? You're free to share your vision, whether you tend toward kittens and lollipops or brutal post-human hellscapes. We'll share the best pieces with everyone through Facebook and the DEF CON website, and we'll post the winners in a prestigious spot at the con. So don't be shy - fire up your favorite digital artmaker and give your right brain a workout.

Submission Deadline:

All submissions must be received by July 6, 2012
Submit entries to: neil [at] defcon dot org
Submission info to include: Real name (your identity must be
verifiable to collect a prize) and desired nick/handle if any; and a
title and description of your piece.

Additional Specs:

Maximum poster size 11"x17". Final entries
should be in 300pi minimum .tif or .jpg format. Vector entries can be in .ai or .eps format. Delivery is the responsibility of the entrant, if the entry is too large to email you may post it online for download.

Prizes:
Entries will be judged together this year, with prizes for the top three finishers.

1st Place: Two Free admissions to DEF CON 20, and a $200 credit at the DEF CON Swag Booth.

2nd Place: Free admission to DEF CON 20, and a $100 credit at the DEF CON Swag Booth.

3rd Place: Free admission to DEF CON 20, and a $50 credit at the DEF CON Swag Booth.

Capture the Packet is Back!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:22:01 -0700

"Search Network Traffic, Locate Clues, Solve Puzzles and Score"

Capture the Packet returns for a third year, and this time there's a Black Badge up for grabs!

You can sign up your team (2 players max), learn the rules and read the FAQ by heading over to the DC20 CTP express sign-up page.

CTF Write-up Round-up!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:00:07 -0700

As promised, here are some links to write-ups of the past weekend's hot CTF qualification action.

The biggest list of links I've seen is at the Deva [Me, Myself and InfoSec] blog. That's a good first stop. A few more links below.

From the VSzA Techblog, write-ups of the grab bag 300 and urandom 300
From the Security Black Swan blog, a write-up of b 100, b 200 and urandom 300.
If you can read Chinese, Insight Labs has a writeup of Forensics 300 and b 300

If you know of an especially good writeup that's not on the list, let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

CTF Quals Results Are In!

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:28:50 -0700

The CTF qualifications are complete, and it's time to announce the victors. The teams listed below have earned your respect and the opportunity to fight it out in Vegas.

#|Score|Team
1 4900 Hates Irony
2 4800 PPP
3 4400 侍
4 4400 sutegoma2
5 4400 Shellphish
6 4400 TwoSixNine
7 4200 European Nopsled Team (DC 19 winner)
8 4100 More Smoked Leet Chicken
9 4100 our name sucks
10 4100 ACME Pharm
11 4100 WOWHACKER-PLUS

We'll be scouring the Intertubes to bring you write-ups of the action, so watch this space. Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations to the winners. The game is afoot.

Vote for DC Recognize Awards!

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:55:39 -0700

DEF CON is proud to announce the 2nd annual DEF CON awards ceremony, renamed the DC Recognize Awards. These awards are given to deserving individuals in the community, industry, and media. For DC20, we've shaken things up and included 7 different categories for your voting pleasure. Nominations will be held online, at SurveyMonkey, until July 10th. From July 11th until the conference, the DEF CON Awards Selection Committee will review all the nominations for validity and evidence. The top group of nominations that meet the nomination criteria, have the best justification, and are generally worthwhile will be presented for voting during the DEF CON Recognize Awards Ceremony at DEF CON.

All nominated individuals will be invited to the ceremony to receive their award in person, and provide a short "Thank you!" or "justification". To ensure your nomination is not discarded, include as much vital information as possible for your nomination. Links to stories, articles, media, or other evidence (product information, blogs, etc) should be included. Be sure to attend the DC Recognize Awards Ceremony at DEF CON to vote for your choice in each of the 7 categories!

Your hosts again this year will be Jericho, Jeff Moss, and Russ Rogers.

You can get your nominations in at the DEF CON Recognize Award Nomination Form!

Check Out Our New Vendor Page!

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:41:02 -0700

The DEF CON Vendor Area never disappoints. There's always an eclectic mix of merchandise to paw through, from cutting-edge reading material to mutant hardware custom-made for the apocalypse. This year we'll be featuring the vendors on a page of their own, so that you can get to know them before the Con. We'll update as the list grows, so keep an eye peeled.

Check the DEF CON 20 Vendor Page .

Social Engineering CTF Contest for Kids!

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:29:57 -0700

Running to find the clues... racing to pick the locks, cracking codes, breaking ciphers and frantically fighting against the clock? This is not the theme of the latest Mission Impossible movie. No, this it the theme of the DEF CON 20 Social Engineering Capture the Flag for Kids - Return of the Schmooze.

Here is the Cliff's Notes version. If you:

are 6-16 years of age
think outside of the box
enjoy challenges that will test your limits
want to race the clock to solve mind-bending puzzles
want to learn how to pick locks, solve ciphers, break code and use
social engineering in your everyday life
enjoy cool prizes

This competition will give you all the tools and instruction you need to learn these skills and many more. Although the contest will challenge you, it will be fun, entertaining and very educational.

Then you have no choice, grab your parents and head over the registration page below and fill out all the details. Then it's time to get your brains ready for RETURN OF THE SCHMOOZE!

DEF CON 20 Documentary and Call for DEF CON History!

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:27:27 -0700

As you may have heard, in honor of our 20th anniversary, we have a DEF CON Documentary in the making by none other than Jason Scott of textfiles.com! Jason has made an announcement about it on his blog at ascii.textfiles.com, so go check out what it's all about!

Near the end of the post, he asks for your help finding various pieces of DEF CON history, lore and artifacts. So if you have any of the footage or pictures listed, please help him out!

DEF CON 20 Speaker Page is Live! First round posted!

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:33:37 -0700

The first round of Speakers is now live on the DEF CON 20 Speaker Page for your perusal! Enough said, now go and check 'em out!

Welcome & Making the DEF CON 20 Badge + Special Presentation by Jason Scott
The Dark Tangent, LosT, and Jason Scott

DEF CON 101

Movie Night With The Dark Tangent: "Code2600" + Q&A With the Director
Jeremy Zerechak

Movie Night With The Dark Tangent: "Reboot" + Q&A With the Filmmakers and Actors
Joe Kawasaki, Sidney Sherman, and Actors To Be Announced

Movie Night With The Dark Tangent: "21" + Q&A With "MIT Mike" Aponte
"MIT Mike" Aponte

Owning Bad Guys {And Mafia} With Javascript Botnets
Chema Alonso and Manu "The Sur"

atlas

Overwriting the Exception Handling Cache PointerDwarf Oriented Programming
Rodrigo Rubira Branco, James Oakley, and Sergey Bratus

Tenacious Diggity: Skinny Dippin in a Sea of Bing
Francis Brown and Rob Ragan

Exploit Archaeology: Raiders of the Lost Payphones
Josh Brashars

Panel: Meet the Feds
Panelists To Be Announced

Life Inside a Skinner Box: Confronting our Future of Automated Law Enforcement
Greg Conti, Lisa Shay, and Woody Hartzog

DEF CON Awards

Hacking Humanity: Human Augmentation and You
Christian "quaddi" Dameff, Jeff "r3plicant" Tully

Sploitego - Maltego's (Local) Partner in Crime
Nadeem Douba

Post Metasploitation: Improving Accuracy and Efficiency in Post Exploitation Using the Metasploit Framework
Egypt

Post-Exploitation Nirvana: Launching OpenDLP Agents over Meterpreter Sessions
Andrew Gavin, Michael Baucom, and Charles Smith

More Projects of Prototype This!
Joe Grand and Zoz

Crypto and the Cops: the Law of Key Disclosure and Forced Decryption
Marcia Hofmann

Black Ops
Dan Kaminsky

Owning One to Rule Them All
Dave Kennedy and Dave DeSimone

Detecting Reflective Injection
Andrew King

An Inside Look Into Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Technical Security Controls: How Private Industry Protects Our Country's Secrets
James Kirk

TBA
Moxie Marlinspike

Skype VoIP Software Vulnerabilities: Advanced 0Day Exploitation
Benjamin Kunz Mejri

Defcon Comedy Jam V, V for Vendetta
David Mortman, Rich Mogull, Chris Hoff, Dave Maynor, Larry Pesce, and James Arlen

Cortana: Rise of the Automated Red Team
Raphael Mudge

Panel: The Making of DEF CON 20

Hacker + Airplanes = No Good Can Come Of This
RenderMan

MegaUpload: Guilty or Not Guilty?
Jim Rennie and Jennifer Granick

Spy vs. Spy: Spying on Mobile Device Spyware
Michael Robinson and Chris Taylor

Bruce Schneier Answers Your Questions
Bruce Schneier

Can You Track Me Now? Government And Corporate Surveillance Of Mobile Geo-Location Data
Christopher Soghoian, Ben Wizner, Catherine Crump, and Ashkan Soltani

Can Twitter Really Help Expose Psychopath Killer Traits?
Chris "TheSuggmeister" Sumner

Twenty Years Back, Twenty Years Ahead: The Arc of DEF CON Past and Future
Richard Thieme

Safes and Containers: Insecurity Design Excellence
Marc Weber Tobias, Matt Fiddler, and Tobias Bluzmanis

TBA
Paul Vixie

Elite Force is Playing DEF CON 20!

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:20:58 -0700

We have another major addition to the Saturday night DEF CON White Ball music line-up alongside The Crystal Method! DEF-CON is excited to bring renowned breaks+tech-funk act Elite Force to resonate your ears and chest cavity. Recently most well known for his RE:VAMPED series re-working such artists as Aphex Twin, Propellerheads, Meat Katie, Datsik, and many many others, Elite Force has been an established hacker friendly act for years. In fact, you may have heard of him through one of his earlier projects: Lunatic Calm (with the hit song "Leave You Far Behind," featured on movie soundtracks like The Jackal, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, and The Matrix).

Official Website: http://www.eliteforcemusic.com/
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/elite-force

Videos:
1) Elite Force - Society Suicides: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nceAGqfdykQ
2) Elite Force - Captain America: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWkJ7nYE0cU
3) Elite Force - Law of Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWnjVRobf0w
4) Elite Force - Mainframe Wrekka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3d6MMp9Gjk
5) Lunatic Calm - Leave You Far Behind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maP6q3D4Hf0

DEF CON Extended Room Block at Rio is almost SOLD OUT!

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:48:04 -0700

Peak nights Friday and Saturday are almost gone. You can still save money and be at Rio by booking the nights available at our discounted rate and then paying the Rio rate for any nights that are no longer available in our Block.

When Friday and Saturday are sold out in our block the Rio rate of 7/27 at $299 and 7/28 at $329 will show up on your reservation.

These rates are subject to change based on availability.

Or we have rooms at Bally's

Starting on May 4th we will have overflow rooms at Bally's. There is a shuttle between Bally's and Rio That runs all day and into the evening.

Rates at Bally's are as follows:
Wednesday 7/25 $70.00
Thursday 7/26 $70.00
Friday 7/27 $150.00
Saturday 7/28 $150.00
Sunday 7/29 $70.00

To book at Bally's, use this link: http://www.totalrewards.com/hotel-reservations?propCode=BLV&groupCode=SBDEF2
Or call 1-800-358-8777 and reference group code SBDEF2

More Rooms at the Rio!

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:01:57 -0700

Limited additional room block open at Rio for DEF CON attendees. Save $100.00 per night for the weekend nights!

Wednesday night $138.00
Thursday night $158.00
Friday & Saturday nights $178.00

Act now before they are gone!

If you made your reservation during the time our block was filling up and you paid a higher rate for one or more nights the Rio has already adjusted your rate to the new current / lower rate.

Press Registration for DEF CON 20!

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:56:01 -0700

Journalists! Want to register as press for DEF CON 20? Check out the new Press Registration page for the rules and how you can apply for a press badge at DEF CON!

Reminders and New Pre-con Calendar

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:20:40 -0700

As DEF CON 20 planning revs in to high gear, we thought it might be useful to have a central location for important pre-con dates and deadlines. Enter the Pre-con Calendar, a new page for keeping track of just such dates! Have a look, and if you have a contest or event, with deadlines before con, that could use an entry on the calendar, send it to neil {at} defcon }dot{ org. Check back there frequently for new dates!

Here are some of the upcoming dates you may want to remember:

April 15 - Vendor Application Opens
April 30 - Call for Music Closes
May 1 - Contest & Event RFI Closes
May 28 - Call for Papers Closes
June 1-3 - CTF Quals
June 8 - Printed Program Materials Due

DEF CON 20 CTF Updates!

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 02:00:45 -0700

News from the CTF front! The announcement of the DEF CON 20 CTF Quals was recently announced, and will take place June 1-3, 2012. You can find the details at ddtek.biz! We have another recent qualifying team to announce, team LeetChicken has won the Codegate 2012 YUT Challenge, which automatically qualifies them for DEF CON 20 CTF! Congratulations to them!

You can find all kinds of CTF info on the DEF CON 20 CTF Page, and tons of CTF links an write ups in the CTF Archive!

DEF CON 20 Site is Live!

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:58:53 -0700

If you're looking for a central location for all the latest info on this year's DEF CON, you're in luck! The DEF CON 20 site is now live at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-20/dc-20-index.html!

200 for 20

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:27:47 -0700

We'd like to announce that the price for DEF CON 20 will be $200 USD. What will we do with our ill-gotten gains, you may ask? We're going to make the 20th anniversary of DEF CON one to remember. More special swag, great live music, help for the contests to grow, 20 teams for CTF, special speakers, and numerous other secret stuffs. Believe us when we say it'll be the most epic DEF CON ever!

Want to get involved in making DEF CON 20 even more k-rad? Participate on the forums https://forum.defcon.org/

The Crystal Method at DEF CON 20!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:55:53 -0700

As part of our 20th anniversary celebration, DEF CON is ecstatic to announce the headlining act for our Saturday evening White Ball: The Crystal Method! These guys are pioneers in the electronic music scene, with soundtrack appearances on movies like Spawn, Blade, The Replacement Killers, and many others.

Here are some samples to tide you over:

Drown in the Now feat. Matisyahu

Comin Back

Sine Language feat. LMFAO

Which Past Shirts Should We Re-print for DEF CON 20?

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 01:38:37 -0700

We're thinking of doing a limited run of a few past shirts for sale at DEF CON, but which ones should we do? You can help us decide by checking out the gallery of past shirts on our Facebook page, and then voting for your favorite in our survey also on Facebook, or at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/defconshirts

Reboot Sneak Preview at DEF CON 20!

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:43:49 -0700

We are very excited to announce an Exclusive Sneak Preview screening of the film Reboot at DEF CON 20! Here is a peek at the premise from an article on the film:

"Set within a dystopian world that is a collision between technology and humanity, "Reboot" touches upon many of the current social and political concerns that arise from becoming more and more intertwined with the virtual.

In contemporary Los Angeles, a young female hacker (Stat) awakens from unconsciousness to find an iPhone glued to her hand and a mysterious countdown ticking away on the display. Suffering from head trauma, and with little recollection of who she is or what is happening, Stat races against time to figure out what the code means, and what unknown event the pending zero-hour will bring."

We are also excited that the filmmakers and lead cast members will be on hand at DEF CON for a Q&A session along with the screening! We'll have more info as this solidifies.

If you are looking for a fun gaming challenge, Reboot has a cool alternate reality game in which you can participate as well! Find more info at http://www.rebootfilm.com/scoreboard.

Watch the Trailer!

Special Music Events at DEF CON 20!

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:20:17 -0700

Exciting news that is first in a series of many! DEF CON is officially announcing some big musical guests this year, the first of whom is breakcore/glitch/hip-hop all-star Mochipet! You'll be able to catch him at the DEF CON 20 official opening Thursday night pool party!

Here are a few examples of Mochipet in action:

Whomp-a-saurus Sex

Mochipet Godzilla New Year Video by Savage Henry

A Milli Girls - Mochipet (pseudo-NSFW)

CODE 2600 Showing at DEF CON 20!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:40:18 -0700

DEF CON is happy to announce Code 2600 will be showing at DEF CON 20! We will be the first hacker con to have the film shown and we are pretty excited about it. Like the CODE 2600 Facebook page for more info!

About the film:

CODE 2600 documents the rise of the Information Technology Age as told through the events and people who helped build and manipulate it. The film explores the impact this new connectivity has on our ability to remain human while maintaining our personal privacy and security. As we struggle to comprehend the wide-spanning socio-technical fallout caused by data collection and social networks, our modern culture is trapped in an undercurrent of cyber-attacks, identity theft and privacy invasion. Both enlightening and disturbing, CODE 2600 is a provocative wake-up call for a society caught in the grips of a global technology takeover.

The Cast:

Bruce Schneier,
Chief Security Technology Officer, BT

Jeff Moss,
Founder Def Con and Black Hat

Marcus Ranum,
Chief Security Officer, Tenable Security

Jennifer Granick,
Civil Liberties Director, EFF

Dr. Bob Lash,
Original Member of the Homebrew Computer Club

Eric Michaud,
Founder, Pumping Station One

Gideon Lenkey,
Security, CEO RA Security Systems

Lorrie Cranor,
Cylab, Carnegie Mellon University

Phil Lapsley,
Phone Phreaking Expert, Author

Robert Vamosi,
Computer Security Journalist, Author

Wallace Wang,

Author, "Steal This Computer Book"

DEF CON 20 Contest & Events!

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:13:10 -0700

We wanted to take a minute and point out some of the buzz around contests and events that are brewing on the DEF CON Forums and elsewhere. As you know, LosT @ Con Mystery Challenge will be returning for DEF CON 20, it looks like LosT may or may not already be seeding clues on Twitter (@1o57). The Unofficial DEF CON Shoot is looking pretty active in the planning stages. Other contests and events that have active forums are:

10,000¢ Hacker Pyramid
Capture the Flag
Project 2
Scavenger Hunt
Schemaverse
DEF CON 101
Goon Band
Hardware Hacking Village
Skytalks
Wireless Village
HackBus
Toxic BBQ

So head over to the Forums and see what's up! You can also keep up with all the updates as they occur on the DEF CON Twitter, The DEF CON RSS Feed, and the DEF CON Facebook Page!

New Speaker's Corner!

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:04:48 -0800

We have a brand spanking new Speaker's Corner for you, where Nikita gives her speaker liaison insight into what makes your CFP submission stand out! A must read for the aspiring or seasoned DEF CON submitter!

DEF CON 20 Contest & Event RFI

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:07:22 -0800

The DEF CON 20 Contest & Event Request for Information is live! If you already run or want to run a contest or event at DEF CON 20, it's where to find all of the info you need to get your contest or event on the map! Check it out at: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-20/dc-20-contest-rfi.html

Book a Room at the Rio for DEF CON 20!

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:41:41 -0800

You can now book a room at the Rio for DEF CON 20 at our group rate! Do this one of two ways: Go to http://www.totalrewards.com/hotel-reservations?propCode=RLV&groupCode=SRDEF12, or call the hotel directly at 888-746-6955 and reference group code SRDEF12.

The nightly rates are split up as follows:
7/22 through 7/26 is $104
7/27 and 7/28 is $118
Then 7/29 through 7/31 is again $104

Get on it soon! Space is limited!

The DEF CON 20 Call for Papers is Open!

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:06:20 -0800

It's time again, friends, for the DEF CON Call for Papers to Open! Read the CFP announcement and fill out the CFP form to have the chance to present your ninja research at DEF CON's 20th Anniversary!

DC20 CTF Announcement!

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:43:36 -0800

Exciting news regarding the Capture the Flag Competition at DEF CON 20! Check out the announcement here.

New Speaker's Corner!

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:17:29 -0800

Paul Renda discusses the elements of what could make a successful doomsday worm in this new Speaker's Corner entitled "A Prima On An Internet Doomsday Worm."

Merry Christmas from DEF CON! Here's a Special Gift!

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:04:55 -0800

It seems Santa has been in our servers, (I don't know how he does it, he must be 1337) and has left you a special gift! The Speaker & Slides video, as well as the the Audio from DEF CON 19 is now live and awaiting your downloading pleasure. You can find them on the DEF CON 19 Archive page, or on the following RSS Feeds:

https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-19-video.rss
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-19-audio.rss

As 2011 winds down, we're working hard behind the scenes for a spectacular 20th anniversary of DEF CON in 2012! So keep your eyes on the DEF CON Facebook, Twitter, RSS Feed, or defcon.org for all the info as it happens! Enjoy!

Welcome New DEF CON Groups!

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:29:31 -0800

We'd like to welcome the following new groups to the DCG fold!

Domestic
DC317 - Indianapolis, IN
DC614 - Columbus, OH
DC765 - Lafayette, IN
DC909 - Pomona, CA

International
DC00497151 - Stuttgart, Germany
DC00977 - Lalitpur, India
DC02139 - Kiev, Ukraine
DC110006 - Delhi, India
DC15033 - Casale Monferrato, Italy
DC560001 - Bengaluru, India
DC636 - Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
DC700077 - Kolkata, Westbengal, India
DC880 - Dhaka, Bangladesh
DC91022 - Mumbai, India
DC91361 - Guwahati, India

You can find out more about DEF CON Groups on the DCG FAQ, or follow DCG happenings on Facebook!

Christmas Deal on DEF CON 19 DVD Sets From TSOK!

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:38:02 -0800

If you're looking for the perfect Hacker gift, you can purchase the full DVD sets from DEF CON 19 from The Source of Knowledge at discounted prices up through Christmas Eve!

Hacker Jeopardy, Hacker Pyramid and Closing Ceremonies Video!

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:25:37 -0700

Even though Halloween has come and gone, we have some tasty video treats for your viewing pleasure! Check out the videos from 10,000¢ Hacker Pyramid, Hacker Jeopardy, and the DEF CON 19 Closing Ceremonies, and you can enjoy or re-live some of the fun we had at DEF CON 19!

10,000¢ Hacker Pyramid and Hacker Jeopardy - Friday Night
10,000¢ Hacker Pyramid and Hacker Jeopardy - Saturday Night

DEF CON 19 Closing Ceremonies

DEF CON 19 Video is Live!

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:26:57 -0700

At long last, we would like to present the DEF CON 19 video presentations (slides w/ audio of the talk) for your viewing enjoyment! You can access them on the DEF CON 19 Archive page, or on the RSS Feed at https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-19-slides.rss!

Welcome New DEF CON Groups!

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:47:49 -0700

A big welcome to the most recent additions to DEF CON Groups!

Domestic
402 - Omaha, NE
410 - Baltimore, MD
509.1 - Spokane, WA
702 - Las Vegas, NV
801 - Salt Lake City, UT
805 - Thousand Oaks, CA

International
003348 - Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Chaco, Argentina
0101 - Bogata, Columbia
0131 - Casale Monferrato, Italy
0497 - Kerala, India
303002 - Jaipur, India
6221 - Jakarta, Indonesia
9180 - Bangalore, Karnataka, India
91824 - Mangalore, Karnataka, India
941 - Colombo, Sri Lanka
9663 - Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

To find the DEF CON Group in your area check out the DCG Listing Page. If there isn't one, you can start one! Check out the DCG Point of Contact FAQ for details.

Download the DEF CON 19 DVD!

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:56:14 -0700

We have posted the DEF CON 19 DVD content on media.defcon.org in two .iso images, one is the original DVD distributed at the show, and the other contains all the same content, but with the updated slide decks from the speakers. Download them at the following links:

https://media.defcon.org/dc-19/defcon-19-dvd-original.iso (~1.6 GB)
https://media.defcon.org/dc-19/defcon-19-dvd-updated.iso (~1.7 GB)

Enjoy!

Press Page updated for DEF CON 19!

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:32:22 -0700

Check out the DEF CON Press Archive or the DEF CON 19 Archive page to see what the top stories of DEF CON 19 were all about! We hear we will be receiving the audio and slide video from DC19 soon, so keep your eyes on our Twitter and Facebook pages for the heads up when we get it posted!

Contest Results Page is Up!

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:17:24 -0700

Check out the results of many of the innovative and challenging contests that occurred at DEF CON 19. If you ran a contest and would like the results posted, email them to neil [at] defcon ]dot[ org and we'll get them up!

New Presentation Materials RSS Feed

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:44:20 -0700

Many of you know about our Archive Page, recently we uploaded all the presentation materials from DEF CON 19. The thought occurred to us, what if you want to download them all at once and in an attractive RSS? So we made one. Not all presentations have PDF enclosures but we wanted to be complete and list every abstract and Bio we had for our speaker roster. As soon as we can encode and post the Audio and Video RSS we will, in the meantime, enjoy the DEF CON 19 Materials. Join the discussion thread on the DEF CON Forums: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=611. Don't forget to join our Facebook page www.facebook.com/defcon to get involved as well.

The DEF CON 19 Archive Page is up, slides posted!

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:01:02 -0700

Head on over to the DEF CON 19 Archive page, where you can find the slides submitted for this year's talks! You can also download a copy of the Program guide. Keep an eye on this page for updates in the coming weeks, including press, video, audio, music and other great stuff from DEF CON 19!

Thanks for a Great Con!

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:44:11 -0700

Well another DEF CON has come and gone, and was it ever a great one! We'd like to give a huge shout out to all of you who attended and made it all worthwhile! Big thanks to all of the speakers, workshop instructors, contest/event & village organizers, and vendors who provide so much awesome content for this con! Not to mention the multitudes of goons who make it all run like a well-oiled machine, as well as the fantastic staff at the Rio who went above and beyond for this unknown (to them) and crazy group of 11-12 thousand hackers! We are still reeling that the first year in a new hotel ran so smoothly!

We're back in the saddle now after a little much needed R&R, so you can expect the content, press, contest results, and highlights to start rolling in over the next few days and weeks. In fact, it seems like the planning crew is already psyched and bursting at the seams with great ideas for next year, our 20th anniversary! Expect it to be epic!

Keep your eyes on the DEF CON RSS, Twitter and Facebook pages for the latest updates as they roll in. Also check out the DEFCON 19 and Beyond Forum on the DEF CON Forums for all of the disussions about this year's show!

Huge Speaker Update!

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:58:35 -0700

Here are 46 more reasons to be at DEF CON 19! Read On...

DEF CON Workshops are Live!

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:43:47 -0700

New for Def Con 19, Workshops extends the experience of learning to the classroom. Take your time and get it right by getting some hands-on time with hardware, software, and picking the minds of some of the most interesting hackers in their fields. Bring your thinking cap and get ready to be schooled. Read On...

The DEF CON Awards!

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:45:51 -0700

New, for DEF CON 19 - the DEF CON Awards! DEF CON introduces the DEF CON Awards to recognize people/projects/companies for their competence (or lack thereof) in the hacking or security world. Nominations will be accepted for the categories below until July 6th, 2011. Voting will be conducted online for three of the categories from July 8th - July 29th, 2011 (voting link will be provided at a later time).

Do you have a favorite hacker oriented author that best represents the hacker lifestyle and scene? Do you have inside knowledge of the most interesting malware to hit the net this year? Or was there a media outlet that best represents the WORST in coverage of real news concerning hackers or security topics? Now's your chance to have a voice. Get your nominations in today, and give credit where credit is due. Be sure to provide supporting information, such as links to websites, news articles, or software.

Turn in your nominations here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2JDHC23

So Many Speakers!

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:36:32 -0700

Take a minute to peruse this fantastic set of additions to the DEF CON 19 line-up!

Fingerbank — Open DHCP Fingerprints Database
Olivier Bilodeau

PacketFence, The Open Source Nac: What We've Done In The Last Two Years
Olivier Bilodeau

Kinectasploit: Metasploit Meets Kinect
Jeff Bryner

Metasploit vSploit Modules
Marcus J. Carey and David Rude

Look At What My Car Can Do
Tyler Cohen

VDLDS — All Your Voice Are Belong To Us
Ganesh Devarajan and Don LeBert

Don't Drop the SOAP: Real World Web Service Testing for Web Hackers
Tom Eston, Josh Abraham, and Kevin Johnson

Handicapping the US Supreme Court: Can We Get Rich by Forceful Browsing?
Foofus

Strategic Cyber Security: An Evaluation of Nation-State Cyber Attack Mitigation Strategies
Kenneth Geers

Smartfuzzing the Web: Carpe Tuorum Foramina
Nathan Hamiel, Gregory Fleischer, Justin Engler, and Seth Law

Economics of Password Cracking in the GPU Era
Robert "Hackajar" Imhoff-Dousharm

Battery Firmware Hacking
Charlie Miller

Big Brother on the Big Screen: Fact/Fiction?
Nicole Ozer

Archive Team: A Distributed Preservation of Service Attack
Jason Scott

Insecurity: An Analysis Of Current Commercial And Government Security Lock Designs
Marc Weber Tobias, Matt Fiddler, and Tobias Bluzmanis

DIY Non-Destructive Entry
Schuyler Towne

Seven Ways to Hang Yourself with Google Android
Jacob West and Yekaterina Tsipenyuk ONeil

Key Impressioning
Jos Weyers

Phishing and Online Scam in China
Joey Zhu

Vanquishing Voyeurs: Secure Ways To Authenticate Insecurely
Zoz and Andrea Bianchi

New Talks

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:08:06 -0700

Here's another bundle of talks to whet your appetite for DEF CON Madness! More to come in the next couple days! (Read on...)

Talks Keep on Coming!

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:53:07 -0700

Another batch of fine DEF CON content has been added to the mix! Check out newest additions to our line-up!

The Art and Science of Security Research
Greg Conti

Internet Kiosk Terminals : The Redux
Paul Craig

Introduction to Tamper Evident Devices
datagram

Earth vs. The Giant Spider: Amazingly True Stories of Real Penetration Tests
Rob Havelt and Wendel Guglielmetti Henrique

Sounds Like Botnet
Itzik Kotler and Iftach Ian Amit

Panel: Is it 0-day or 0-care?
Jake Kouns, Brian Martin, Steve Christey, Carsten Eiram, Art Manion, Dan Holden, Alex Hutton and Katie Moussouris

Vulnerabilities of Wireless Water Meter Networks
John McNabb

Blinkie Lights: Network Monitoring with Arduino
Steve Ocepek

My password is: #FullOfFail! — The Core Problem with Authentication and How We Can Overcome It
Jason M. Pittman

Mobile App Moolah: Profit taking with Mobile Malware
Jimmy Shah

Weaponizing Cyberpsychology and Subverting Cybervetting for Fun, Profit and Subterfuge
Chris "TheSuggmeister" Sumner and alien

Staring into the Abyss: The Dark Side of Crime-fighting, Security, and Professional Intelligence
Richard Thieme

DC19 CTF Quals Update!

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:57:13 -0700

Another DEF CON CTF Qualification round has passed, and with it 12 teams will ascend to their slots in the DEF CON 19 Capture the Flag Competition. The qualifying teams have not been posted just yet, so keep an eye on ddtek.biz for the winners, and we'll announce them as well when we have the results. For now, we have collected as many write-ups as we could find from this year's Quals for your consumption! (Read on...)

CTF Qualification Round Begins Tomorrow!

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:24:02 -0700

You only have a few scant hours left (00:00:00 UTC) to register for the DEF CON 19 CTF Quals, which begin tomorrow at 19:00:00 UTC. This is the event that separates the hackers from the kiddies, to send the top 12 teams to battle for the glory that comes with winning a DEF CON Capture the Flag Competition.

New Contests and Events!

Tue, 31 May 2011 18:56:29 -0700

Check out a few of the new contests and events coming to DEF CON 19!

DEF CON Beard & Moustache Championships
Due to the growing number of awesome beards at DEFCON and the (popularity?) of the shitshow that is beardsmanship, it's time that folks were recognized for letting their unix beards fly.

DEF CON Radio
Defcon Radio will be streaming live radio action 24/7 during the con. Speaker interviews, news, party coverage...correspondants will crawl the trenches of con to bring you entertainment. Are you not entertained?

DEF CON Bike
Rent bicycles, hire a guide, and endure a 2 Hour bike ride in the Las Vegas heat! Got Water?

Forensics Contest
The Network Forensics Puzzle Contest is a challenging mystery requiring contestants to forensically analyze packet captures (and more!) to uncover an evil plot.

DEF CON 19 Artwork Contest and Short Story Contest is Open!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:06:38 -0700

The DEF CON Artwork Contest is again underway! This year's theme is reminiscent of those 60's and 70's spy movies and TV shows like "The Man from U.N.C.L.E", "Our Man Flint", and "James Bond", with a hacker angle and a little grit. We have dubbed this theme "Haxploitation". (Read on...)

For the writers, the DEF CON 19 Short Story contest is also open, and similar themed. Find out about it at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=12153

Time Grows Short.

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Thu, 19 May 2011 18:19:10 -0700

Hola friends! This is just a reminder that deadlines are looming. The Call for Papers ends May 27th, so if you're planning to submit a talk you have just over a week to put that proposal together! Find the CFP Announcement at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-19/dc-19-cfp.html, and the Call for Papers form at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-19/dc-19-cfp-form.html.

Also looming is the deadline for the DEF CON 19 Contest/Event RFI. June 1st is when you need to have your proposal for the latest great or time tested contest or event submitted to Pyr0. You can find the RFI at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=12113.

Good luck and remember: DEF CON is what you make it.

New DEF CON 19 Site, Speakers Up.

Fri, 06 May 2011 06:38:29 -0700

Check out the spankin new site for DEF CON 19! Have a look around, see what's new, and while you're at it, check out the first batch of Speakers!

Deceptive Hacking: How Misdirection Can Be Used Steal Information Without Being Detected
Bruce "Grymoire" Barnett

Abusing HTML5
Ming Chow

Mamma Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Pen Testers - (a.k.a. Everything Your Guidance Counselor Forgot to Tell You About Pen Testing)
Dr. Patrick Engebretson and Dr. Josh Pauli

Getting F*cked On the River
Gus Fritschie and Mike Wright

Jugaad – Linux Thread Injection Kit
Aseem "@" Jakhar

Black Ops of TCP/IP 2011
Dan Kaminsky

Hacking Your Victims Over Power Lines
Dave Kennedy (ReL1K)

DCFluX in: License to Transmit
Matt Krick "DCFluX"

Balancing The Pwn Trade Deficit – APT Secrets in Asia
Anthony Lai, Jeremy Chiu and PK

Covert Post-Exploitation Forensics With Metasploit
Wesley McGrew

VoIP Hopping the Hotel: Attacking the Crown Jewels through VoIP
Jason Ostrom

Getting SSLizzard
Nicholas J. Percoco and Paul Kehrer

This is REALLY not the droid you're looking for...
Nicholas J. Percoco and Sean Schulte

WTF Happened to the Constitution?! The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age
Michael "theprez98" Schearer

Runtime Process Insemination
Shawn Webb

Staying Connected during a Revolution or Disaster
Thomas Wilhelm

Network Application Firewalls vs. Contemporary Threats
Brad Woodberg

As always, stay tuned to our Twitter, RSS Feed, or Facebook page for all the news as it happens!

DEF CON 19 Contest/Event RFI is Live!

Fri, 06 May 2011 06:36:49 -0700

PyrØ Has posted the DEF CON 19 Contest & Event Request for Information on the DEF CON Forums. If you have, or are currently thinking about running a contest or an event at DEF CON, this is the info you need to be considered for space, power and network connectivity! Submit your contest data by filling out the form at the bottom.

Here's a big shout out to Deviant Ollam for being on top of things and being the first to submit an RFI for the Beverage Cooling Contraption Contest!

More DEF CON 19 News

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:26:10 -0700

Things are starting to heat up for DEF CON 19! Here are a few of the recent developments:

DEF CON Scavenger Hunt has SPONSORS!!

ThinkGeek.com and evilmadscientist.com are confirmed sponsors of the scavenger hunt, they will be offering up prizes and special offers. They won't announce specific prizes until at Def con but good news is we know that Think Geek will be offering a discount code, usable for ordering off their website during the convention, limited time offer! The coupon code for ThinkGeek DEF CON attendees will be made available at the Scavenger Hunt table in the contest area and will be announced via our twitter feeds @_Defcon_ and @defconscavhunt.

Here is a throwback to the past! Check out this Scavenger hunt list from 14yrs ago! We hope you enjoy a little nostalgia from DEF CON 5 courtesy of Mike Schrenk!

Skytalks CFP is Open!

From the DEF CON Forums:

TLDR:
Who: You
What: Skytalks IV CFP
When: Now - CFP Closes 23:59:59 MDT (UTC-06) 31 May 2011
Why: Because you've got the warez to share
Where: dcskytalks@gmail.com - WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO POINT AND LAUGH
IF WE CAN'T READ YOUR SHIT IN A TEXT EDITOR. THIS MEANS YOU,
MICROSOFT WORD USERS.
Updates: http://is.gd/5Y8eyM

Back by popular demand, Skytalks returns for its fourth year of technical prowess, side-track talks, and semi-coherent rants by some of the legends of the community. Never mind that we aren't actually IN a skybox this year, we'll still fill it to capacity, have lines running down the hallways for three talks in advance, and we'll recapture that original Defcon spirit and party like it's 1992. (Read on…)

You can track the movements of Skytalks on Facebook and Twitter as well:
Facebook: http://is.gd/0d8skZ
Twitter: @dcskytalks

DC101 Site

You can keep up on what's happening with DEF CON 101 by checking out the the new site at http://defcon.stotan.org/dc101/

DEF CON 19 Vendor Area!

The vendor area at DEF CON 19 is growing by 1000 sq. ft. this year, so all of your favorite vendors will be back and maybe a few new ones!

If you are interested in becoming a Vendor at DEF CON, Roamer has posted the updated Vendor FAQ at: http://defcon.hackingyour.net/vendor-FAQ.html

As always, you can keep up on all of the latest DEF CON 19 news at https://www.defcon.org, the DEF CON RSS Feed, The DEF CON Twitter, or on the DEF CON Facebook Page!

DEF CON 19 Call for Music!

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:27:11 -0700

Are you a Band or a DJ who wants to perform at DEF CON 19? Then answer the Call for Music freshly posted by DJ Great Scott! You can check out the write-up at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?p=119223 as well as download the application!

Hurry up and apply, as the Deadline is Sunday May 15! Good luck!

DEF CON 19 Call for Workshops!

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 13:45:02 -0700

Are you a leader, 'leet hacker, a ninja in your field? Do you have a passion to teach and share your knowledge? Got something interesting you are dying to talk about? We're looking for workshops from people like you. If you are interested in being part of the very first ever DEF CON Workshop team, submit now! (Read on...)

DEF CON 19 News! Pool Hijinks, CTF Quals, and Evidence Tampering

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:49:22 -0700

Here's what's going on in the world of DEF CON:

The Pool Is Open!
Bring your suits and stow your tech, because poolside shenanigans in the wee hours are coming back to DEF CON! This year we will have 24hr pool access to Pool 4 (pictured) at the Rio! We're not even April foolin!

DDTek Announces CTF Quals!
It's that time again, and your first step to joining the ranks of leetness that can only come from a win in the DEF CON Capture The Flag. That's right, DDTek has announced the qualification round for the 2011 DEF CON CTF!

Tamper Evident Returns!
DT's Tamper Evident Contest is coming back this year with some new surprises. It might be time to brush up on your super sneaky methods for opening things you aren't supposed to, and keep your eye on the Tamper Evident Forum for details as they surface.

Stay tuned to our Twitter, RSS Feed, or Facebook page for all the news as it happens!

New Speaker's Corner!

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:41:14 -0700

Feast your eyes on a new Speaker's Corner by Jack Daniel, which gives you some great tips if you are thinking about submitting a talk for DEF CON!

DEF CON 18 Video+Slides returns!

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:41:12 -0800

We have re-loaded the original videos we posted from DEF CON 18 featuring video of the speaker and video of the slides! Check out the Video RSS Feed or on iTunes and enjoy!

The DEF CON 19 Call for Papers is Now Open!

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:10:13 -0800

More exciting than HBGary's email, world's #1 hacker expose or 5up3r $3kret.gov leak, it is time for the DEF CON Call for Papers to open!

What: DEF CON 19 Call For Papers
When: The Call for Papers will close on May 27th, 2011
How: Complete the Call for Papers Form and send to talks at defcon dot org

DEF CON will take place at the Rio in Las Vegas, NV, USA, August 4 - August 7th, 2011.

Read the full announcement at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-19/dc-19-cfp.html

Contests and Events we'll see at DEF CON 19!

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:45:51 -0800

Below you'll find a list of some of the fantastic contests and events that have announced intent to return for DEF CON 19! This is not by any means a complete list, and will be growing as planning continues.

Artwork Contest(s): No Posts
Be The Match Foundation - Bone Marrow Drive: Forum Active

Beverage Cooling Contraption Contest: No Posts
CTP: Capture the Packet: No Posts
Crack Me If You Can: Forum Active
Dark Tangent's Tamper Evident Contest: Forum Active
DC101: Forum Active
DEF CON Geo Challenge: No Posts
DEF CON Shoot: Forum Active
DEF CON Social Engineering CTF: No Posts
Goon Band -- Recognize: No Posts
Hacker Karaoke: No Posts
Ham license exams: No Posts
Lockpicking Contests: No Posts
Open CTF: No Posts
Scavenger Hunt: No Posts
The Summit EFF Fundraiser: No Posts
Toxic BBQ: No Posts
Wall of Sheep: No Posts

In case you didn't know, most of these contests and events started unofficially, with a great idea and some devotion, by attendees who just wanted to do something cool. Yes friend, that means you could be creating the next big DEF CON contest or event! Post your vision to the New Ideas section of the DEF CON Forums, and see what kind of response you get!

Rio Registration is Live for DEF CON 19!

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:50:27 -0800

Here's something for all of you early birds! The DEF CON 19 group room registration at the Rio is now live! The room rates are $99 Sunday thru Thursday and $112 per night on Friday and Saturday. The group rates are valid Monday August 1 to Friday August 12.

You may either follow this link: http://www.harrahs.com/CheckGroupAvailability.do?propCode=RLV&groupCode=SRDEF11

Or call the Rio toll free at 1-888-746-6955 and refer to group code: SRDEF11

DEF CON Groups News

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:14:30 -0800

Happy 2011 from DEF CON!

DEF CON Groups is undergoing some administrative changes heading into the new year, and we'd like to let you know that long time Goon and friend of DEF CON, Converge, has graciously stepped up to take the reins as DEF CON Groups Coordinator! If you currently run a DCG and want to update your info on the site, or if you are interested in starting a new DCG, you can contact him at dcgroups at defcon dot org.

We'd like to extend a big welcome to the following new groups!

DC334.1 Montgomery, AL
DC808.2 Ewa Beach, HI
DC9723 Tel-Aviv, Israel
DC1020 Eckental, Germany
DC281 Houston, TX

Keep an eye open for more from the DEF CON Groups in 2011!

Stop. Think. Connect. A Special DHS, PSA Contest

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:15:47 -0800

Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cyber Security Coordinator has issued a special PSA Contest. This crowd sourcing campaign is in an effort to alert the general public to Stop, Think, then connect, when it comes to their online presence and responsibility. Good, Bad, or otherwise, I would really like to see what the DEF CON community came up with.

I am confident that our DEF CON community could come up with some pretty interesting feedback in regards to this contest, I'd love to see and hear the creative ways you would advertise to the general public. I can only imagine the hilarity that would ensure in a minute for a video entitled "How to not be a Noob" or "Phishing & Trolling, not what it was in Grandpa's day." Overall, I have had a love for PSA's since I was a kid. A lot of us remember and have a special place in our hearts for the PSA's of our youth, especially ones of the "The More you Know" variety. Who didn't like watching "This is your Brain on Drugs" or GI JOE telling us that bullying is wrong? I know I did, and "Knowing is Half the Battle".

From the contest:

"Keeping the Internet safe is a responsibility we all share. We need to take time to stop and think before we connect to the Internet, share information online, or participate in online communities.
But sometimes, a creative and compelling reminder can help. That's why the Department has kicked-off the Stop. Think. Connect. PSA Challenge – because all Americans have an important role to play in securing the Internet.
We are looking for videos that will help educate Americans about Internet safety and what we can all do to protect ourselves and our families online.
If you know what it takes to get Americans motivated to improve their safety online, then we need your help.
We want videos that inspire Americans to Stop. Think. Connect."

For details on the requirements and how to submit visit the contest page at: http://www.dhs.gov/files/events/stop-think-connect-psa-challenge.shtm

PSAs must include at least one of the following Internet safety tips:
* Keep a Clean Machine
* Protect Your Personal Information
* Connect with Care
* Be Web Wise
* Be A Good Online Citizen

In similar fashion, I'd love to see if anyone out there posts something on:
* Understanding Encryption
* Surfing Anonymously
* Using Proxy Servers or Feed Over Email
* Understanding Copyright, TOS agreements, and Privacy expectations.
* Who and What is a Troll and how to defeat them.

This past year we had a few talks both in the offense and defense perspectives, check them out on the DC 18 archive, there are too many that fit this topic to list, you might find something that inspires you. I hope you guys & gals out there send in a submission, if you don't want to submit to the official contest, can you send us a link instead? These PSAs would be great to show at DEF CON 19, and if we can, we'd probably like to share some of your clips online so we can get the word out to "Stop. Think. Connect" The contest runs until Feb 14th, Valentines day, so send in your love, send us links, let's get this PSA party started.

Good luck!
Nikita

@niki7a on twitter.
Nikita@Defcon.org

New Speaker's Corner!

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:34:51 -0800

Jack Daniel discusses PCI and the hacker community in a new Speaker's Corner entitled "How Did We End Up Like This?"

Video is Back!

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:27:02 -0800

Video is back up and running! These versions differ from the ones we removed, they are video of the slides only with audio of the talk. You can find them on the Video RSS Feed or on the DEF CON 18 Archive Page!

Hacker Jeopardy Slides + Audio

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:40:34 -0700

Here's a tasty morsel for you, slide video with audio of this year's Hacker Jeopardy! We don't often see this, so if you're interested in playing next year or just want to get an idea of what it's about, this is a great resource!

DEF CON 18 Hacker Jeopardy - Friday Part 1
DEF CON 18 Hacker Jeopardy - Friday Part 2
DEF CON 18 Hacker Jeopardy - Saturday Part 1
DEF CON 18 Hacker Jeopardy - Saturday Part 2

New Speaker's Corner!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON 18 Announcements) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:34:54 -0700

Check out the new Speaker's Corner by the Suggmeister, the follow-up to his "Experiences of a First Time DEF CON Speaker" article before DEF CON 18!

Video Update

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:20:11 -0700

The videos have been taken down for a week or two, as we worked a little too fast to get them up and the production company wasn't ready to release them. We will have slides+audio versions of the videos up and online within the next two weeks, once we receive the right versions and process. Thanks for your patience, and stay tuned to our Twitter, RSS Feed, or Facebook page for the announcement when they go back up!

DEF CON 18 Talks - Video is Live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:30:46 -0700

DEF CON 18 talks with the speaker video and slides has been processed and posted! Check 'em out on the Video RSS Feed or on the DEF CON 18 Archive Page!

DEF CON 18 Talks - Audio is Live!

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:41:47 -0700

That is correct folks! You can now listen to all of the awesome DEF CON 18 Talks in .m4b Audiobook format! You can find them on the Audio RSS Feed or on the DEF CON 18 Archive Page!

Video is on the way, look for it soon! You can know about it the minute it goes live by keeping up with the DEF CON Facebook page or @_defcon_ on Twitter!

DEF CON 18 Tools Page Updated!

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:23:31 -0700

Swing by the Tools Released page and have a look at all the tools released at DEF CON 18! There are local copies, if available, for your convenience, and links to the project homepages as well!

DEF CON 18 Music is posted!

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:51:28 -0700

That's right, you can now download the sets from The Cyberpunk Gala and the poolside action at https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-18-music.rss! The Zombie Ball is having some technical difficulties but should be up soon as well! We will also have video of the music sets soon as well, so keep an eye peeled.

DC18 Contest Results and New Speaker's Corner!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:58:49 -0700

Check out the DEF CON 18 Contest results page for the results of the contests we have received so far! If you ran a contest and have results for us, send them in!

We also have a new Speaker's Corner from Schuyler Towne, discussing his secret agenda for locksport!

Music sets from the pools and the balls at DEF CON 18 are being processed, look for it to be posted next week!

More DEF CON 18 Press!

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:46:46 -0700

We've updated the press page with even more DEF CON 18 coverage! Most of the new stuff can be found in the "Other" Category, and in a new category called "Video Coverage" which contains recaps, badge hacks, goon hijinks and more! Check them out on the Press Page, or the DEF CON 18 Archive Page!

DEF CON 18 Press And Early Video!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:03:55 -0700

Hey everyone! The Press Page and the DC 18 Archive Page have been updated with a ton of stories covering DEF CON 18! Not only that, but we have uploaded the first early release video (slides w/ audio) of a few of the talks, including:

DEFCON 18 Hacking Conference Presentation By Joe Grand and Dark Tangent - Welcome And Behind The Scenes Of The DEFCON Badge - Slides.m4v

DEFCON 18 Hacking Conference Presentation By Barnaby Jack - Jackpotting Automated Teller Machines Redux - Slides.m4v

DEFCON 18 Hacking Conference Presentation By David Maynor and Paul Judge - Searching For Malware - Slides.m4v

DEFCON 18 Hacking Conference Presentation By Chris Paget - Practical Cellphone Spying - Slides.m4v

DEFCON 18 Hacking Conference Presentation By Md Sohail Ahmad - WPA Too! - Slides.m4v

Enjoy! The rest of the audio and video will be up in a couple of months, but for now, enjoy these tasty nuggets of DEF CON goodness!

DEF CON 18 Archive Page is Live!

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:19:24 -0700

The DEF CON 18 Archive Page is up and running! Currently, we have all of the presentation slides, white papers and extras posted, as well as the DEF CON 18 Program in pdf format! Coming in the next week or so we'll have contest results, press, and even a few early release videos! So check it out and begin reliving the glory that was DEF CON 18!

DEF CON 18 Post Con Update

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:45:07 -0700

DEF CON 18 was a resounding success! With more contests, events, attendance and talks, this year's show was a fitting end to our years at the Riviera! We'd like to thank the Riv for working with and hosting us for 5 awesome years! We'd also like to thank all the folks who sacrificed time, effort, and resources to contribute to the hacking community, as well as a huge thank you to all the attendees for showing up and learning, growing and participating in all this con has to offer!

We've all had a chance to wind down decompress from all the excitement of DEF CON 18, and all of the results, press, photos, updated materials and other content is rollng in. Starting in the next couple of days and through the next few weeks, we'll be posting all of this info for everyone to enjoy, reflect upon, and learn from. Keep your eyes on defcon.org, the DEF CON RSS feed, our Twitter and Facebook for all the latest updates from the show!

PhD Dissertation Study in the Contest Area

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:19:39 -0700

Take a short survey at the table next to the Info booth in the Contest Area to participate! Here's more info:

The US electricity infrastructure relies on Industrial Control Systems (ICS) for better efficiency and reliability. However, these systems are susceptible to cyberattacks, which may disrupt essential power services. How cybercriminals rationalize target selection and attack technique is vital in offering a more comprehensive picture of ICS vulnerabilities, cybercrimes, and security. This Rutgers School of Criminal Justice PhD dissertation research project will survey both ethical hackers and industry representatives. It will assess their views on cybervulnerabilities of the electricity sector’s ICS to identify any gaps in their perceptions.

New Speakers Corner!

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:58:42 -0700

Craig Heffner discusses hacking millions of routers and his upcoming talk tomorrow in a new Speaker's Corner!

Be the Match at DEF CON

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:22:22 -0700

Be The Match offers the unique opportunity for you to give a life-saving marrow transplant to someone in need. Thousands of patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases depend on the Be The Match Registry, the largest and most diverse registry in the worlds, to find a life-saving donor. The more potential donors that step forward, more resources are available to patients and more lives can be saved.

Description of the donor recruitment drive:
Be The Match will have a booth at DefCon 18 where individuals can register to be part of the Be The Match Registry. All they need to be is between the ages of 18 and 60, meet the health guidelines and be willing to donate to ANY patient in need. At the recruitment drive, you will fill out a consent form with contact information and a short medical evaluation. You will receive more information about what it means to be a donor and then you will swab the inside of your cheeks. Your tissue type will be listed in the Be The Match Registry until your 61st Birthday. If you are a match for someone in need, then you will be contacted for donation.

DEF CON 18 Secure Wifi

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:13:00 -0700

This year we are offering 802.1x/WPA-encrypted wireless access for Internet access. In order to access the "DefCon-Secure" wireless network, you will need to create login information for yourself. We have setup a self-registration website.

https://wifireg.defcon.org

Go to this site to register a username & password.
You can hit it from your phone, WWAN, or the open DefCon wireless.

We have also included a copy of the SecureTrust CA root certificate in case your device does not have it in its default certificate trust chain (many systems do, some do not).

SSID: DefCon-Secure
or DefCon-SecureA for 5.0GHz devices (iPad, newer Macbooks)

Network Authentication: WPA2
Data encryption: TKIP or AES
Authentication EAP Type: PEAP
Authentication Mechanism: EAP-MSCHAP v2

More New Speaker's Corner!

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 00:33:43 -0700

The Suggmeister provides some insight into the genesis of a talk as a new speaker in this new Speaker's Corner!

New Speaker's Corner

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:57:34 -0700

Matt Ryanczak Talks about IPv6 and the future in this all new Speaker's Corner!

Another New Speaker's Corner

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:52:16 -0700

Tips for getting the most out of your DEF CON experience are discussed in this Speaker's Corner by Nicholas Percoco entitled "Packing It All In"!

New Speaker's Corner

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:23:24 -0700

Lockpick shapes are de-mystified in this part one of a new Speaker's Corner by Schuyler Towne entitled "What's This Lockpick For?"!

The Heat is On!

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:40:31 -0700

There's a ton happening leading up to DEF CON 18 in just twelve more days!

The Mystery Challenge is heating up! Check out the Mystery Challenge forum for the latest hijinks!

We have some bad news, unfortunately the Geo Challenge will not be happening this year. You can read more about this on the Geo Challenge forum. Our sympathy goes out to the organizers for what promised to be a great contest. Definitely look for it next year!

There are some exciting new offerings that have surfaced recently! Among them are:

Dark Tangent is busting out the Tamper Evident Contest, in which you debunk the phrase "Impossible to reseal or re-use", and document how you did it!

The Backdoor Hiding Contest, in which you test your skills at hiding and finding backdoors.

Capture the Packet is a cool new network scavenger hunt. Look for clues, solve puzzles and win prizes!

Crack Me If You Can: 53,000 password hashes, 48 hours, nuff said!

PCB PWNage is a mini contest from the Hardware Hacking Village to find out who can design the coolest PCB!

The Twitter Hunt: Follow @TheSuggmeister and watch for the clues that lead to prizes!

For all the latest info on contests and events at this year's DEF CON, check out the DEF CON Forums!

DEF CON 18 Artwork Contest Winners!

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:49:14 -0700

Congratulations to the Winners of the DEF CON 18 Artwork Contest! We had a bunch of great entries this year, But we could only pick a few!

First Place and People's Choice vote win goes to "18 & Legal" by Mar!

Second place goes to "DEF CON Boy" by oshu!

Third Goes to "Her" by emtag!

Congrats to all the winners and a big thanks to all who entered! To view and download all the wallpapers from this year's contest got to the DEF CON 18 Artwork Contest Public Gallery!

Artist pages are live!

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:28:25 -0700

You can now view all the bios and samples from the killer line-up of artists performing at DEF CON this year! Check them out on the Entertainment page.

DEF CON 18 Speaking Schedule is Live!

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:15:05 -0700

Do we need to say much more than that? Check out the DEF CON 18 Speaking Schedule.

The DC 18 Speaker List Is Still Growing!

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:06:09 -0700

Here's another twenty-four hot-n-fresh new DEF CON talks. Feast.

Katana: Portable Multi-Boot Security Suite
JP Dunning

Exploitable Assumptions Workshop
Joe "Crazy" Foley, Eric "Unlocked" Schmiedl, Zoz

The Law of Laptop Search and Seizure
Jennifer Granick, Kevin Bankston, Marcia Hofmann, Kurt Opsahl

Advanced Format String Attacks
Paul Haas

Tales from the Crypto
G. Mark Hardy

Decoding reCAPTCHA
Chad Houck

0box Analyzer: AfterDark Runtime Forensics for Automated Malware Analysis and Clustering
Wayne Huang, Jeremy Chiu

Hardware Hacking for Software Guys
Dave King

These Aren't the Permissions You're Looking For
Anthony Lineberry, Tim Wyatt, David Richardson, Sr.

Multiplayer Metasploit: Tag-Team Penetration and Information Gathering
Ryan Linn

App Attack: Surviving the Mobile Application Explosion
Kevin Mahaffey, John Hering

Searching for Malware: A Review of Attackers’ Use of Search Engines to Lure Victims
Dave Maynor, Dr. Paul Q. Judge

Getting Social with the Smart Grid
Justin Morehouse, Tony Flick

Electronic Weaponry or How to Rule the World While Shopping at Radio Shack
Timothy "Mage" Otto

WiMAX Hacking 2010
Pierce, Goldy, aSmig

Industrial Cyber Security
Wade Polk, Paul Malkewicz, J.Novak

Improving Antivirus Scanner Accuracy with Hypervisor Based Analysis
Danny Quist

Search & Seizure & Golfballs
Jim Rennie, Eric Rachner

pyREtic - In-memory Reverse Engineering for Obfuscated Python Bytecode
Rich Smith

Stratagem 1 - Deceiving the Heavens to Cross the Sea
Jayson E. Street

Breaking WPA-TKIP: Decrypting All Traffic
Mathy Vanhoef

Go Go Gadget Python! : Introduction to Hardware Hacking
Nick Waite, Furkan Cayci

The Night The Lights Went Out In Vegas: Demystifying Smartmeter Networks
Barrett Weisshaar, Garret Picchioni

Panels

PCI, Compromising Controls and Compromising Security
Jack Daniel, Joshua Corman, Dave Shackleford, Anton Chuvakin, Martin McKeay, Alex Hutton, James Arlen

Meet the EFF
Kurt Opsahl, Eva Galperin, Kevin Bankston, Jennifer Granick, Marcia Hofmann,

Voting is Officially Open for the DEF CON 18 Artwork Contest!

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:05:02 -0700

Here's what you do: go to the DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest Gallery on pics.defcon.org and pick your favorite. Then head on over here and vote in the poll!

Good Luck to all the fantastic entries!

That's Right.. We're Posting More DC 18 Speakers...

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:15:28 -0700

Here's a new list of speaker adds You're probably not even finished absorbing the last one. That's just how we do. Deal with it.

Mobile Privacy: Tor on the iPhone and Other Unusual Devices
Marco Bonetti, sid77

Who Cares About IPv6?
Sam Bowne

masSEXploitation
Michael Brooks

Google Toolbar: The NARC Within
Jeff Bryner

WRT54-TM, Media Center and Network Sniffer
John A. Colley

IPv6: No Longer Optional
John Curran

Function Hooking for Mac OSX and Linux
Joe Damato

Breaking Bluetooth By Being Bored
JP Dunning

An Observatory for the SSLiverse
Peter Eckersley, Jesse Burns

How Unique Is Your Browser?
Peter Eckersley

Hacker Community (around) the Corporate World - Part II
Luiz "effffn" Eduardo

Be A Mentor!
Marisa Fagen

The Anatomy of Drug Testing
Jimi Fiekert

FOE‚ The release of Feed Over Email, a Solution to Feed Controversial News to Censored Countries.
Sho Ho

Exploiting Digital Cameras
Oren Isacson, Alfredo Ortega

How I Met Your Girlfriend
Samy Kamkar

Bypassing Smart-card Authentication and Blocking Debiting: Vulnerabilities in Atmel Cryptomemory-based Stored-value Systems
Jonathan Lee, Neil Pahl

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges: Hacking
Electronic Door Access Controllers
Shawn Merdinger

Letting the Air Out of Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems
Mike Metzger

Open Source Framework for Advanced Intrusion Detection Solutions
Patrick Mullen, Ryan Pentney

Antique Exploitation (aka Terminator 3: Point One One for Workgroups)
Jon Oberheide

Build Your Own Security Operations Center for Little or No Money
Josh Pyorre

Operating System Fingerprinting for Virtual Machines
Nguyen Anh Quynh

Lord of the Bing: Taking Back Search Engine Hacking from Google and Bing
Rob Ragan. Francis Brown

Social Networking Special Ops: Extending Data Visualization Tools for Faster Pwnage
The Suggmeister

Getting Root: Remote Viewing, Non-local Consciousness, Big Picture Hacking, and Knowing Who You Are
Richard Thieme

INSECURITY ENGINEERING OF PHYSICAL SECURITY SYSTEMS: Locks, Lies, and Videotape
Marc Weber Tobias, Tobias Bluzmanis, Matt Fiddler

Build your own UAV 2.0 - Wireless Mayhem from the Heavens!
Michael Weigand, Renderman, Mike Kershaw

Crawling BitTorrent DHTs for Fun and Profit
Scott Wolchok

More Speakers Added to the DEF CON website!

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:47:49 -0700

DC 18 is getting close and we've added another batch of speakers. Keep tabs on the DEF CON 18 speakers page as we finalize the list.

WPA Too!
Md Sohail Ahmad

Evilgrade, "You Still Have Pending Upgrades?"
Francisco Amato

Exploitation on ARM - Technique and Bypassing Defense Mechanism
Itzhak "Zuk" Avraham

Resilient Botnet Command and Control with Tor
Dennis Brown

Open Public Sensors and Trend Monitoring
Daniel Burroughs

Bad Memories
Elie Burzstein, Baptiste Gourdin, Gustav Rydstedt

Kartograph : Finding a Needle in a Haystack or How to Apply Reverse Engineering Techniques to Cheat at Video Games.
Elie Burzstein, Jocelyn Lagarenne, Dan Boneh

Token Kidnapping's Revenge
Cesar Cerrudo

Hacking Facebook Privacy
Chris Conley

Physical Security : You're Doing It Wrong!
A.P. Delchi

Hacking with Hardware: Introducing the Universal RF Usb Keboard Emulation Device - URFUKED
Monta Elkins

Trolling Reverse-Engineers with Math: Ness... It hurts...
frank^2

Mastering the Nmap Scripting Engine
Fyodor, David Fifield

Live Fire Exercise: Baltic Cyber Shield 2010
Kenneth Geers

Making the DEFCON 18 Badge
Joe "Kingpin" Grand

Legal Developments in Hardware Hacking
Jennifer Granick. Matt Zimmerman

How To Get Your FBI File (and Other Information You Want From the Federal Government)
Marcia Hoffman

The Chinese Cyber Army - An Archaeological Study from 2001 to 201
Wayne Huang, Jack Yu

Ripping Media Off Of the Wire
HONEY

Malware Migrating to Gaming Consoles: Embedded Devices, an AntiVirus-free Safe Hideout for Malware
Ahn Ki-Chan, Ha Dong-Joo

Training the Next Generation of Hardware Hackers -- Teaching Computer Organization and Assembly Language Hands-on with Embedded Systems
Andrew Kongs, Dr. Gerald Kane

ChaosVPN for playing CTFs
mc.fly, vyrus, ryd

FPGA Bitstream Reverse Engineering
Lang Nguyen

Kim Jong-il and Me: How to Build a Cyber Army to Defeat the U.S.
Charlie Miller

Big Brother on the Big Screen: Fact/Fiction?
Nicole Ozer, Kevin Bankston

Practical Cellphone Spying
Chris Paget

Extreme-range RFID Tracking
Chris Paget

My Life As A Spyware Developer
Garry Pejski

Implementing IPv6 at ARIN
Matt Ryanczak

Exploiting WebSphere Application Server's JSP Engine
Ed Schaller

Gaming in the Glass Safe - Games, DRM & Privacy
Ferdinand Schober

You're Stealing It Wrong! 30 Years of Inter-Pirate Battles
Jason Scott

Browser Based Defenses
James Shewmaker

Drivesploit: Circumventing Both Automated AND Manual Drive-by-Download Detection
Caleb Sima, Wayne Huang

Your ISP and the Government: Best Friends Forever.
Christopher Soghoian

Weaponizing Lady GaGa, Psychosonic Attacks
Brad Smith

From "No Way" to 0-day: Weaponizing the Unweaponizable
Joshua Wise

Pwned By The Owner: What Happens When You Steal A Hacker's Computer
Zoz

DEF CON 18 Contest Madness!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:29:36 -0700

Over the past week or two, we've had a flood of announcements for new contests! Check them out below!

Dark Tangent's Tamper Evident Contest
There are various tamper evident technologies out there, including tape, seals, locks, tags, and bags, to name a few. This contest will test your ability to perform "defeats" (Described below) against a range of inexpensive commercial low to medium security products.

Backdoor Hiding Contest
Two in one Backdoor Hiding/Finding Contest (participate in either or both): In the first stage, hiding participants provide a source code hiding a backdoor, in the second stage organizers mix the source codes with non-backdoored (placebos), and then ask finding participants to spot the placebos. Hiding participants get hiding points for being voted as a placebo and finding participants get points for spotting the placebos and negative points for false positives.

KoreLogic's "Crack Me If You Can" Contest
As a part of an authorized penetration test of a large corporate network, you have captured a large number of passwords hashes. The hashes are from Active Directory, UNIX systems, LDAP servers, routers, etc. As part of your analysis, your client has asked for password complexity statistics, what their users are doing right and/or wrong related to generating passwords, and identification of weak passwords. You only have 48 hours to complete this effort.

CTF Quals Official Results!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 11:55:15 -0700

Congratulations to the qualifying teams for DEF CON Capture the Flag 2010! Official Quals info is live on ddtek.biz, so check it out for standings, correct and submitted answers by team and much more!

Qualified teams:
1. VedaGodz (CONFIRMED!)
2. European Nopsled Team (CONFIRMED!)
3. TwoSixNine (CONFIRMED!)
X. Uberminers (deadline expired)
4. lollersk8erz (CONFIRMED!)
5. GoN (CONFIRMED!)
6. painsec (CONFIRMED!)
7. ACME Pharm (CONFIRMED!)
8. Routards (CONFIRMED!)
X. Nibbles (CAN'T PARTICIPATE)
9. shellphish (CONFIRMED!)
10. teambfe (CONFIRMED!)
alt. Plaid Parliament of Pwning (CONFIRMED!)
X. int3pid pandas (CAN'T PARTICIPATE)
alt. HackerDom (CONFIRMED!)

New Speaker's Corner!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:58:36 -0700

Check out the new Speaker's Corner by Shawn Moyer entitled "Kill Yr Idols"!

CFP Closes, More Talks Posted!

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:07:21 -0700

Here's another great batch of talks for DEF CON 18! Stay tuned, we got tons of last minute submissions, so there's a bunch more more coming down the pipe in the next couple of weeks!

Internet Wars Panel
More info to come.

Cyber[Crime|War] Charting Dangerous Waters
Iftach Ian Amit

Seccubus - Analyzing Vulnerability Assessment Data the Easy Way...
Frank Breedijk

Exploiting SCADA Systems
Jeremy Brown

Katana: Portable Multi-Boot Security Suite
JP Dunning

Making the DEF CON 18 Badge.
Joe "Kingpin" Grand

How to Hack Millions of Routers
Craig Heffner

Powershell...omfg
David Kennedy (ReL1K) and Josh Kelley (Winfang)

Like a Boss: Attacking JBoss
Tyler Krpata

Blitzableiter - the Release
Felix "FX" Lindner

Changing Threats To Privacy: From TIA To Google
Moxie Marlinspike

Attacking .NET Programs at Runtime
Jon McCoy

Securing MMOs: A Security Professional's View From the Inside
metr0

Wardriving the Smart Grid: Practical Approaches to Attacking Utility Packet Radios
Shawn Moyer and Nathan Keltner

The Games We Play
Brandon Nesbit

ExploitSpotting: Locating Vulnerabilities Out of Vendor Patches Automatically
Jeongwook Oh

Sniper Forensics - One Shot, One Kill
Christopher E. Pogue A.K.A "Big Poppa ReverShell"

Toolsmithing an IDA Bridge, Case Study For Building a Reverse Engineering Tool
Adam Pridgen

A New Approach to Forensic Methodology - !!BUSTED!! Case Studies
David C. Smith and Samuel Petreski

Web Application Fingerprinting with Static Files
Patrick Thomas

VirGraff101: An Introduction to Virtual Graffiti
Tottenkoph

An Examination of the Adequacy of the Laws Related to Cyber Warfare
Dondi "SpookDoctor06" West

Reg Open For Social Engineering Contest!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:58:11 -0700

The folks at social-engineer.org have taken the reigns of the DEF CON 18 Social Engineering Contest, and Registration is Open! This promises to be an exciting addition to this year's DEF CON, and has some pretty cool prizes, including an iPad and a spot on the Social Engineer Podcast for 1st place. Check out the contest description and official rules at http://www.social-engineer.org/blog/defcon-social-engineering-contest/.

DEF CON 18 CFP Closing Soon!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON 18 Announcements) — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:59:52 -0700

Only a few more days to submit your CFP to speak at DEF CON 18! Call for Papers will officially close Tuesday June 1, so get those submissions in to share your cutting edge hacking research with the world!

Check out the official announcement for details, and then fill out the Call for Papers Form.

New on defcon.org: CTF Archive and Speaker's Corner!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:53:38 -0700

We've got a couple of new sections on defcon.org, the first of which is the Capture The Flag Archive, a page dedicated to collecting accounts, walk throughs and other resources of Capture the Flag at DEF CON over the years, not only for history's sake but so the uninformed and/or interested can better grasp the epic journey that teams must face on the road to DEF CON CTF victory! We Just collected a bunch of the walkthroughs, video, and write-ups from this past weekend's CTF Quals so check it out!

The second new section of defcon.org is called Speaker's Corner, where we will be posting short stories, talk teasers, technical info and words of wisdom from our DEF CON speakers past & present. The first post is by DEF CON 17 Speaker Jayson E. Street, and is entitled "Trying to Be a Wise Man at DEF CON", and thanks to Jayson for being the first to jump onboard!

We hope you enjoy these new additions to the site and will help them to grow and be useful to all!

Minibosses at theSummit

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:27:10 -0700

For immediate release:

MiniBosses (http://www.minibosses.com/) have signed on as an official act to perform at theSummit on Thursday July 28th during DEF CON . They are the second act to confirm a performance spot at this years Fundraiser. At ShmooCon in February, DualCore announced that they will return again for this years event for the 4th consecutive year and 3rd year as the headlining act.

Follow Us on Twitter for Event and Feature Guest Updates:
www.twitter.com/effsummit
Coming to event? Make your presences known on the Facebook Event Page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112161832149640

About Mini Bosses:

Four mid-20's guys from Phoenix got togeather for one common cause...Recreate the NES hits you all know and love in real-time on stage for everyones enjoyment pleasure. They consider all Bossies to be their groupies from the costs of Toyko to the midlands of Michigan. If your into 8-bit power cords, get ready to ride the midi wave of Awesome!

About EFF:

Blending the expertise of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists, EFF achieves significant victories on behalf of consumers and the general public. EFF fights for freedom primarily in the courts, bringing and defending lawsuits even when that means taking on the US government or large corporations.

About Vegas 2.0:

A transient, a local or a weekend Vegas Warrior, however you peg us, we are THE Las Vegas InfoSec group. Our members are long time DEF CON and Computer Security Industry avant guards. When we are not planning theSummit, we spend are free cycles conjuring up Social Engineering, Web and Windows attacks. We are always looking for new locals to Las Vegas OR frequent visitors to stop by our labs conveniently located in North Las Vegas for a beer and some InfoSec foo!

Contest & CFP Action Required!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:30:15 -0700

The vortex is swirling folks. There's sense of urgency in the air, you can't quite put your finger on it, but it's beginning to make you a little nervous and a little excited. Can you feel it nagging the back of your mind? That little voice saying, ever so quietly, "Less than 2 weeks left to submit a talk!", and "CTF Quals reg ends tomorrow!". Or maybe you hear, "write a short story", "Figure out LosT's puzzles" or "enter the Art Contest".

That voice is actually us reminding you that all of these things are coming up or going on within the next two days to three weeks. So if you want to participate, you better get moving! Keep up on current events, as always, on the DEF CON Twitter, DEF CON Facebook, DEF CON RSS Feed and here on defcon.org!

DEF CON 18 Artwork Contest is Open!

Fri, 14 May 2010 16:59:08 -0700

It’s time again my creative friends, for another year of the DEF CON Artwork Contest! Get out your GIMP or Windows Movie maker and give a shot at making some awesome DEF CON Artwork!

This year we’re putting the art contest back in the digital realm. There will be three types of entries, none of which are the standard shirt, sticker, poster designs of the past. This time around we want you to think about themes, desktop wallpapers and animation/motion graphics. You may draw inspiration from past DEF CON art or go in a whole new direction. Check out all the rules at: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=11342

More DEF CON 18 Speakers!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:29:16 -0700

Here's another fresh batch of delicious Speaker goodness for you! Enjoy!

Exploiting Internet Surveillance Systems
Decius

The Search for Perfect Handcuffs... and the Perfect Handcuff Key
Deviant Ollam

Jackpotting Automated Teller Machines Redux
Barnaby Jack

The Power of Chinese Security
Anthony Lai, Jake Appelbaum and Jon Oberheide

Repelling the Wily Insider
Matias Madou and Jacob West

You Spent All That Money And You Still Got Owned...
Joseph McCray

Cyberterrorism and the Security of the National Drinking Water Infrastructure
John McNabb

HD Voice - The Overdue Revolution
Doug Mohney

DEF CON Security Jam III: Now in 3-D?
David Mortman, Rich Mogull, Chris Hoff, Rsnake, Dave Maynor, and Larry Pesce

"This Needs To Be Fixed" and Other Jokes In Commit Statements
Bruce Potter and Logan Lodge

Airport Body Scanners and Possible Countermeasures
Paul F. Renda

Injecting Electromagnetic Pulses Into The Electric Grid
Paul F. Renda

SHODAN for Penetration Testers
Michael "theprez98" Schearer

SMART Project: Applying Reliability Metrics to Security Vulnerabilities
Blake Self, Wayne Zage and Dolores Zage

Hacking Oracle From Web Apps
Sumit "sid" Siddharth

So Many Ways to Slap A Yo-Ho:: Xploiting Yoville and Facebook for Fun and Profit
strace

Attack the Key, Own the Lock
Schuyler Towne and datagram

Balancing the Pwn Trade Deficit
Valsmith, Owner, Colin Ames and Anthony Lai

Keep your eyes on the DEF CON 18 Speakers Page and the DEF CON Twitter for new speaker announcements!

DEF CON 18 Speakers Posted!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:12:40 -0700

Here we go! Here is the first of many batches of DEF CON 18 talks to be posted! Expect more early in the week!

FOCA2: The FOCA strikes back

Chema Alonso and José Palazón "Palako"

Connection String Parameter Attacks

Chema Alonso and José Palazón "Palako"

SCADA and ICS for Security Experts: How to avoid cyberdouchery

James Arlen

Web Services We Just Don't Need

Mike "mckt" Bailey

Our Instrumented Lives: Sensors, Sensors, Everywhere...

Greg Conti

Cloud Computing, a weapon of mass destruction?

David "VideoMan" M. N. Bryan

The keys to running a successful DEF CON Group by DC612
David "VideoMan" M. N. Bryan and Jared Bird

Programmable HID USB Keystroke Dongle: Using the Teensy as a pen testing device

Adrian Crenshaw

Constricting the Web: Offensive Python for Web Hackers

Nathan Hamiel and Marcin Wielgoszewski

Hardware Black Magic: Designing Printed Circuit Boards

Dr. Fouad Kiamilev, Corey 'c0re' Lange and Stephen 'afterburn' Janansky

DCFluX in: Moon-bouncer

Matt "DCFluX" Krick

Air Traffic Control Insecurity 2.0

Righter Kunkel

"This is not the droid you're looking for..."

Nicholas J. Percoco and Christian Papathanasiou

Malware Freak Show 2: The Client-Side Boogaloo

Nicholas J. Percoco and Jibran Ilyas

Build a Lie Detector/Beat a Lie Detector

Rain and j03b34r

Keep your eyes on the DEF CON 18 Speakers Page and the DEF CON Twitter for new speaker announcements!

New DEF CON 18 Site!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:56:35 -0700

Check out the new site for DEF CON 18! It's got the most basic info for now, so keep your eyes peeled as all of the great talks, contests and events solidify!

You can expect the first round of accepted speakers to be posted very soon! We're also working on a page to guide those new to DEF CON where to look for pertinent information. You will be able find all of the scheduling and entertainment info here as well as it becomes available, so be sure to follow us on the Twitter or Facebook feeds to stay up to the minute as we post new data!

Wander around, get familiar, and be sure to check back for frequent updates to the madness that is DEF CON 18!

DEF CON 18 Updates

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:04:15 -0700

Do your hear it? The whir of the gears of DEF CON planning reaching operating speed? All around us events are springing into action!

HighWiz has stated intention to bring back DC101, a primer for those new to attending DEF CON. Not many details yet, but you can stay tuned to DC101 on the DEF CON Forums to stay up to date with details as they become available!

We've also noticed that The Summit will be back this year, hosted by Vegas 2.0 to benefit the EFF! You can find details on the Summit Facebook page!

We also can't fail to mention recent activity on LosT's Mystery Challenge. He says it's going to be the last year, so you better pay attention if you want to participate! You can follow the Mystery Challenge Forum and the Official Mystery Challenge Site at ten-five-seven.org.

There is also a new forums based contest, called "What's in Neil's Pants", wherein Nikita asks a trivia question every week for the chance to win fabulous prizes from the things Neil leaves in his many pockets when he throws his pants in the hamper.

You can also look for the DEF CON 18 Website to launch by the end of the month with an announcement for the DEF CON 18 Artwork Contest to be released in early May!

As always, keep your eyes trained on the DEF CON Twitter for Updates as they occur!

New DEF CON 18 Short Story Contest!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Sat, 01 May 2010 01:14:56 -0700

This contest is new this year and we are hoping it goes over well. Lots of you out there are avid writers and some just have an incredible imagination that when put to paper it blows your mind. Speaking from several years of reviewing white papers and slide decks, you guys are hilarious. We'd like to see your flair for creative writing put to another use and reward you for a (*cough*troll*Cough*) job well done. Good Luck! Check out all the details on the Short Story Contest Forum

EFF Proudly Presents the First Annual Defcon Getaway Fundraising Contest!

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:23:24 -0700

From EFF.org:

As the winter snows begin to melt, revealing a landscape full of promise and hope, a hacker’s thoughts turn to flights of fancy: specifically, the thought of being in Las Vegas during the last weekend in July.

If you’re one of those hackers and you love digital freedom, EFF would like your help spreading the word about our efforts to protect and defend coders’ rights by encouraging your friends and neighbors to join you in supporting us. In return, EFF wants to help the best EFFvangelists enjoy Defcon 18 in style! Read more...

DEF CON 18 Event/Contest Update!

feeback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:11:05 -0700

Contest and event planning is starting to heat up! A few more have surfaced and some others have begun conversation! Check out your favorite DEF CON Contest or Event link below for more info!

10,000¢ Hacker Pyramid: Call for Help
Artwork Contest: Coming in May
Badge Hacking Contest: Forum Active
Be The Match Foundation - Bone Marrow Drive: NEW! Forum Active
Beverage Cooling Contraption Contest: Forum Active
Cannonball Run: Forum Active
Capture the Flag: Quals Announced
DEF CON Shoot: Forum Active
Geo Challenge: Forum Active
Social Engineering Contest: No Posts
Goon Band — Recognize: Forum Active
Forum Meet: Forum Active
Hacker Jeopardy: Forum Active
Hacker Karaoke: Forum Active
Hardware Hacking Village: Forum Active
Lockpicking Contests: Forum Active
Mystery Challenge: Forum Active
Official DEF CON DJs, Music, and Events: Call for DJS, Forum Active
Open CTF: New Organizers, Forum Active
QueerCon: No Posts
Scavenger Hunt: Forum Active
Spot the Fed:Forum Active

Keep your eyes on the DEF CON Twitter, DEF CON Facebook, DEF CON RSS Feed and defcon.org for updates!

DEF CON 18 CTF Quals Announced!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:35:52 -0700

From the DEF CON Forums:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1 APRIL 2010

DEFCON CTF QUALIFIER ANNOUNCED

Defense Diutinus Technologies Corp (ddtek) is pleased to announce the round of qualification for DEFON 18 CTF.

Stock up on Red Bull, put the pizza delivery on speed dial, polish up your fancy shellcodes, and replenish the duct tape supply. The competition for these coveted spots will be held over 55 non-stop hours 21-24 May. When the dust clears only the 10 best will be invited to join us this summer in sin city for the annual DEFCON deathmatch.

In historical fashion VedaGodz will be automatically be permitted contest entry. However, we wish to point out that real ninjas would still attempt to qualify.

The qualification round will again be in the style of game board, but answers need not be in the form of a question. Categories will require teams to demonstrate the superiority of hacking across a vast realm of security. This isn't CTF like your mama used to make. Level 1 questions make CISSPs turn red, Level 2 make SANS Fellows cry in frustration, Level 3 are typically only answerable by sheep of above average barnyard intelligence, you get the idea.

Pause your atari emulator and hop over the ddtek.biz to register. Only those that pre-register are permitted to play.

Registration site: http://ddtek.biz/register.html
Registration opens: 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 UTC
Registration ends: 20 May 2010 00:00:00 UTC

Qualifications open: 21 May 2010 19:00:00 UTC
Qualifications ends: 24 May 2010 02:00:00 UTC

More information that will follow via your registered email address.

Those with SANS certs need not apply. CISSPs are right out.*

Vulc@n
Difensiva Senior Engineer
Diuntinus Defense Technologies, Inc.

DEF CON 18 Open CTF: DC949 Passes the Torch

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:17:36 -0700

DC949, the creators of the Open CTF Contest (formerly Amateur CTF), after five long years have decided to step down as organizers. DEF CON would like to thank them for all of their hard work over the last five years in making a contest that was not only fun, but also open to all who'd like to test the waters of Capture the Flag type competition.

They have passed the torch to a team that has competed in their contest many times, TubeWarriors. Welcome TubeWarriors, we wish you luck!

You can read more in the Open CTF thread on the DEF CON Forums, as well as DC949's Farewell Thread.

DEFCON 18 Badge Call-for-Integration

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:06:28 -0700

With the electronic DEFCON badge now in its fifth incarnation, we've decided to try something different. We're opening our kimono (just slightly) for DEFCON attendees, groups, villages, or contest organizers who want to integrate some piece of information or hide some piece of data in the badge to help further their cause during the con. For example, maybe your contest wants to hide a clue on the badge and then contestants have to find it in the code or press a certain button to reveal it... Read more on the DEF CON Forums. Submissions are due by April 1, 2010.

Be The Match Foundation - Bone Marrow Drive @ DEF CON 18

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:51:03 -0700

As some of you may know, One of our speakers Thomas Wilhelm was recently a bone marrow donor from the Be the Match program. He contacted us about setting up a registry drive at Defcon 18. We like that Idea and are going to do what we can to make sure they have the space they need in order to grow their donor registry. You can Read More on the DEF CON Forums, and keep your eye on that forum for further details as they develop.

Want To Be A DJ or Band At DEF CON 18?

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:14:10 -0700

The Artist Bookings for DEF CON 18 Bands and DJs are currently open! If you are a DJ or a Band that would like to play at the Black and White Balls, by the Pool, in the Chill Out area, or various other DEF CON events, now is the time to submit your application! DJ Great Scott will be accepting submissions up until May 3rd, 11:59pm (23:59) CST (US CENTRAL). You can find his post announcing this on the DEF CON Forums and fill out the application form. Good Luck!

Pics from DEF CON 17 on Facebook!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:17:16 -0800

Head on over to the Official DEF CON Facebook Fan Page and if you're not already, become a fan! We've uploaded pictures taken by the official DEF CON 17 photographer, ETA. Also some pics from Nikita, Dark Tangent, and other Goons who sent them to us.

While you're there, start a discussion or leave us a comment, and Let us know where your DEF CON pics are!

Book your room for DEF CON 18!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:44:56 -0800

Get your room for DEF CON 18 booked early on the Riviera Reservation page for DEF CON 18! Rates are $99/night for the first two people! Additional fees may apply for more than 2 people per room.

DEF CON 18 Call for Papers is Open!

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:36:08 -0800

More exciting than the latest 0-day in Acrobat or Internet Exploder, it's time for the DEF CON CFP to open! Check out the DEF CON 18 CFP Announcement for all the details!

Confirmed Contest and Events for DEF CON 18!

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:04:36 -0800

The following Contests and Events have announced their intention to return for DEF CON 18! The ones that already have post activity are marked below. If you have an idea for a new contest or event, you can check out the New Ideas forum and see what kind of response you get!

10,000¢ Hacker Pyramid: No Posts
Artwork Contest: No Posts
Badge Hacking Contest: No Posts
Beverage Cooling Contraption Contest: Forum Active
Cannonball Run: No Posts
Capture the Flag: No Posts
DEF CON Shoot: Forum Active
Geo Challenge: No Posts
Social Engineering Contest: No Posts
Hacker Jeopardy: Forum Active
Hacker Karaoke: No Posts
Hardware Hacking Village: Forum Active
Lockpicking Contests: Forum Active
Mystery Challenge: No Posts
Official DEF CON DJs, Music, and Events: Call for DJS, Forum Active
QueerCon: No Posts
Scavenger Hunt: No Posts
Spot the Fed:Forum Active

We'll post updates as they happen on the DEF CON Twitter, DEF CON RSS Feed and here on the site!

DEF CON Archives Complete!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:53:11 -0800

DEF CON 9-11 music is now live, with RSS feeds for each. This completes the conversion of the DEF CON Archives for your enjoyment!

You can find the RSS feeds at:

DEF CON 10
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-9-music.rss
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-10-music.rss
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-11-music.rss

DEF CON 17 Merch at J!NX

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:54:20 -0800

Was the swag line at the show too long for you? Just didn't get a chance to pick up a shirt? You can now find all of the remaining DEF CON 17 Merchandise at J!NX! There's even some shirts left over from DEF CON 16, Check it out!

DEF CON Archives Nearing Completion!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:07:56 -0800

DEF CON 10 and 11 presentation audio and video are now converted and live on their respective archives pages, and we have also posted RSS feeds for each. This makes the presentation archives complete! All that remains is to finish the DEF CON 9-11 Music RSS feeds, and the archives will be whole and up to date!

You can find the RSS feeds at:

DEF CON 10
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-10-audio.rss
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-10-video.rss

DEF CON 11
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-11-audio.rss
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-11-video.rss

Or check out the DEF CON Media Archives Page! Updates will be posted here on defcon.org, media.defcon.org, and the DEF CON Twitter, so keep watch!

Pricing for DEF CON 18

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:40:10 -0800

As the CPU cycles of DEF CON 18 Planning begin to rise toward 100%, we wanted to inform you that the price of admission will be rising slightly for DEF CON 18 to $140 USD due to price increases in the cost of doing business in Las Vegas and Washington State. The economy is in a slump, but don't tell the tax crazy cities that!

I can't afford that, you say? You could offset this modest bump in price if you were to save an extra 10¢ per day from now until con. That's what, one can of Jolt Cola per week? For almost four days of some of the most groundbreaking talks, contests, events and hacker social funtime around? Check the newspaper coin returns, look under your couch cushions, keep your eyes on the ground for change! You'll find that extra $20, and it'll be worth it!

We are planning to make DEF CON bigger and better than previous years, with a new "No Drama Badge™" to keep you out of lines and in action. So keep watch on defcon.org and the DEF CON Twitter for news of the surprises we have in store!

Happy New Year from DEF CON!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:20:06 -0800

As 2009 fades away into the memory back ups, we'd like to wish you all happy hacking in 2010! At DEF CON World Domination HQ, we are wrapping up the last of the archiving and moving to get into DEF CON 18. We have some new surprises in development to make this year's show even better. So stay tuned to the DEF CON RSS Feed and the DEF CON Twitter for the latest updates as we release past content and announce new events and contests!

We'll be opening the DC 18 Call for Papers some time in February, and now is a great time to start thinking about new ideas you may have for DEF CON 18. You can follow and participate in the Planning and New Ideas sections of the DEF CON Forums.

Happy New year to all from the DEF CON Team!

DEF CON Archives Pages Up and Running!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:24:50 -0800

Gone are the days of the 10 mile deep DEF CON archives page! The new and improved archives pages for DEF CON 1-10 are now all up and running to match the 11-17 archives posted earlier this year. There is still a bit of audio left to transcode, and a few more RSS feeds coming, so keep your eyes on the archives and our twitter feed for those developments as they occur. You can also check out media.defcon.org for the list of of the most current updates to the media from past shows.

DEF CON HQ Update

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:11:01 -0800

Hey Hackers, we just wanted to let you know what's going on here at DEF CON World Domination HQ! DT, Nikita and myself are grinding away at the DEF CON Archives working on the bestest New Year's gift ever, filling in the gaps and re-encoding all of the content from all of the past cons! We're also making audio and video RSS feeds for years that don't have them, and trying to pull some SEO magic to make everything ultimately more findable. SO, keep your eyes on the DEF CON Archives for all of the great stuff from the past 17 years that you forgot you wanted to know. If you don't already follow, the DEF CON Twitter feed is a great place to get the freshest announcements on what we are doing!

By the way, the buzz for DEF CON 18 is already humming on the DEF CON Forums, and a few of the contests have planning threads and announcements open. Now is a great time to start thinking about new ideas that you might want to propose for this year's DEF CON, so post them there if you've got a great new idea!

Dark Tangent to Keynote Virtual Event

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:49:30 -0800

Jeff Moss (Dark Tangent) to keynote Black Hat/Dark Reading virtual event December 9th. Visit https://www.blackhat.com/html/virtual2009/virtual2009-home.html for info.

Early Christmas! DEF CON 17 Video and Audio Now Online!

feedback@defcon.org (DEF CON Announcements) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:01:00 -0800

That's right kids! Whether you've been naughty or nice, all of the audio and video from DEF CON 17 is now available for download! You can get it by heading to the DEF CON 17 Archive Page, and check out all of the awesome talks you want. You can also get them straight from the iTunes store or from the following RSS Feeds:

Speaker & Slides contains video of the speaker and their slides.

Slides contains video of the slides with speaker audio.

Audio for those you just want to listen to.

We're also considering posting them soon for one massive download over torrent and peer to peer, so stay tuned, and enjoy!!

Re-encoded Past DEFCON Content!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:10:31 -0700

Dark Tangent has been busy this past weekend, re-encoding the Audio from DEFCON 1 through 6 into iPod friendly m4b format! While he was at it, he decided to also re-encode the Hacker Documentaries in the archives to m4v format for your viewing pleasure! The audio from 1-6 can also be downloaded straight from iTunes! Also check out media.defcon.org for peer-to-peer links and links to all of the past media we're working on!

DEFCON 1 Audio Links | DEFCON 1 Audio RSS
DEFCON 2 Audio Links | DEFCON 2 Audio RSS
DEFCON 3 Audio Links | DEFCON 3 Audio RSS
DEFCON 4 Audio Links | DEFCON 4 Audio RSS
DEFCON 5 Audio Links | DEFCON 5 Audio RSS
DEFCON 6 Audio Links | DEFCON 6 Audio RSS

Re-encoded Hacker Documentaries
Hacker Documentary - 1994 - Unauthorized Access by Annaliza Savage
Hacker Documentary - 1995 - Hackers 95 by Phon-E and R.F. Burns
Hacker Documentary - 1997 - Hacks by Christine Bader
Hacker Documentary - 2000 - Commodore 64 Cracks by Iron Feather

DJ Event Videos from DEFCON 17!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:15:43 -0700

For your visual and auditory pleasure, check out the following videos of the fantastic sets recorded from some of the DJ Events at DEFCON 17! Special thanks to Liquid8or for recording and providing these videos! Download and enjoy!

Corrupt Data
DJ Njntrubl - End of BW Ball
DJ Felix 1 - Pool Party
DJ Felix 2 - Pool Party
DJ Felix Mix
DJ Great Scott 1 - BW Ball
DJ Great Scott 2 - BW Ball
DJ Great Scott 3 - BW Ball
DJ Great Scott 4 - BW Ball
DJ Great Scott and Sailor Gloom - BW Ball
DJ Jackalope - BW Ball
DJ Jackalope - End of BW Ball
DJ Kricz Klink - BW Ball
DJ Pepse - Pool Party
DJ Pepse and Felix - Pool Party
DJ Reeves - NSB
DJ Sailorgloom and Kricz Klink - BW Ball
DJ Simo Sleevin - NSB
DJ Simo Sleevin and Scritch - NSB
DJ Undecided 1 - BW Ball
DJ Undecided 2 - BW Ball
DJ Undecided 1 - NSB
DJ Undecided 2 - NSB
DJ Undecided and Jackalope - BW Ball
Video from NSB 1
Kricz Klink and Njntrubl - BW Ball
DJ Jackalope Mix Clip

DEFCON 17 Early Release Videos!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:54:32 -0700

Check out some of the hot presentations from DEFCON 17! We'll be releasing all of the videos for free a few months out, but for now we've chosen a few we think you might enjoy! If you'd like to purchase the entire DVD collection of the DEFCON 17 presentations, you can do so at The Source of Knowledge website.

Failure
Adam Savage
Video | Audio

"Smart" Parking Meter Implementations, Globalism, and You
Joe Grand, Jake Appelbaum, and Chris Tarnovsky
Video and Slides | Slides | Audio

More Tricks for Defeating SSL
Moxie Marlinspike
Video and Slides | Slides | Audio

The Day of the Updates
Itzik Kotler and Tomer Bitton
Slides | Audio

Advancing Video Application Attacks with Video Interception, Recording, and Replay
Jason Ostrom and Arjun Sambamoorthy
Slides | Audio

DEFCON 17 CTF Packet Captures & Binaries Available!

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:59:43 -0700

The DEFCON 17 CTF packet captures and binaries are now available via bittorrent. Enjoy!

DEFCON 17 Press Page Updated!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:44:22 -0700

Head on over to the DEFCON Press Page and check out the news from this year's show! You can also find the press listed on the DEFCON 17 Archives Page! If you've come across a good article on DEFCON 17 that you think should be up there, don't hesitate to send it to neil {at} defcon }dot{ org for posting!

DEFCON 17 Archives Page is Live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:08:19 -0700

You can now peruse the DEFCON 17 Archives Page, which contains links to all of the presentation materials and code available, including all updated materials we have recieved! We'll have the printed program and press links up soon, and down the road you will be able to download all of the audio and video of the the talks for free! We're working on getting a few early release videos up next week to tide you over!

Upload all of your DEFCON 17 Photos to pics.defcon.org!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:39:07 -0700

Help to preserve and share those DEFCON 17 memories on pics.defcon.org! If you have a DEFCON Forums account, you already have a pics account, just use the same login information. While you're at it, submit your galleries to defconpics.org as well!

Follow the Post-Con discussion on the DEFCON Forums

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:37:58 -0700

Get over to the DEFCON Forums to join in on the post-con buzz from DEFCON 17! You can find out what people thought, content links, and it's never to early weigh in on next year's show. Remember, DEFCON is your con, and the best way to get involved is to get in on the discussions posted at forum.defcon.org. Have an idea for a new contest or event? It's the best place to start!

Autographed, White "I Hack Charities" Shirts Listed on Ebay

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:33:04 -0700

Up for Auction: THREE "I hack charities" White Signed T-ShirtS. All of the proceeds from these auctions except the ebay auction cost will be donated to "Hackers for charities" http://johnny.ihackstuff.com/

These Shirts were Signed by Most of the Big names at Defcon 17. Anyone that Attended may have seen these shirts displayed at the "Hackers for Charities" booth on sunday. Everyone online and at defcon has seen the Black "I hack charities" T-shirts. But not many have seen the white ones. Well that is because there were only 4 white shirts printed!! Johnny Long has 1 and the other 3 were all signed by the people below for these auctions. Each shirt is unique with the location of the signatures and the quotes written by the signers.

These shirts were signed by:
• Johnny Long
• Dan Kaminsky
• Jeff "The Dark Tangent" Moss
• Kevin Mitnick
• Joe "$Kingpin$" Grand
• Bruce Potter
• Nikita
• Priest
• The Entire 2009 CTF winning team
• and many others.

Listing URLs:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120458285523

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120458285993

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120458286499

DEFCON 17 Receipt Posted, Aaaand We're Spent...

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:33:00 -0700

We'll we've made it back to our respective homes, with another awesome DEFCON on the books! We are now in recovery mode, and normal updating will resume next week! The DEFCON 17 Receipt of Admission is now posted! Thanks to all for making this a fantastic DEFCON!

Don't miss NIST's Hack the Quantum at DEFCON 17!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:55 -0700

Hack the Quantum

Presented by the Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, and the Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore

With a hands-on Bell-o-meter for entangled photons you can convince yourself that there are quantum effects beyond classical physics: a real qubit is offered to the participant who achieves the strongest violation of a Bell inequality. We also present a fresh attack that breaks many current quantum crypto systems, and demonstrate a photon-based quantum randon number generator.

Find it in Capri 114 /115 Friday-Sunday at DEFCON 17!

The Community Delivers Great Mobile Options for DEFCON 17!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:51 -0700

There has been an outpouring of mobile ready and mobile friendly options from the DEFCON community this year to make your DEFCON scheduling easier!

First there is a full blown (and very cool) unofficial iPhone app that has been submitted to the Apple store for review, made by Johnnie "Jedi" Pittmann (@dtjedi) and Todd Kimball (@tkimball). As of this posting, This app is not yet available from the Apple store. They have opted, pending acceptance from Apple, to make the app available via ad-hoc distribution, and will be accepting requests by email until Wednesday, July 29th at 9am PDT. The method, contact info, and possible risks are clearly outlined at http://www.group6.net/AdHoc.html

From their site on http://www.group6.net/Defcon_App.html:
After years of misplaced, begged, borrowed, stolen Defcon schedules, we decided to do something to help. Introducing the Defcon 17 iPhone app. Get all the up to date details on the con on your iPhone/iPod Touch. In addition to that, you can view the offical Defcon RSS feed and #defcon Twitter posts. Talk and event calendars, speaker and dj bios, and a map of the venue.

Features
- Talk Calendar
- Event Calendar
- Speaker/DJ Biographies
- Defcon RSS Feed Reader
- Twitter #defcon

Not to mention the great efforts of Darth Null to bring you an extremely useful web-based iPhone/mobile ready schedule and map application! You can find his fantastic work at http://www.darthnull.org.

There are also a couple of Google calendars out there, one for events, thanks to JonM, and a full schedule at http://defcon.starthan.net/

All of these folks are coordinating together for updates, to bring you the freshest info from DEFCON 17! A huge thank you all of them for contributing!

Keep Up On What's Happening At DEFCON 17!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:48 -0700

You can go to the DEFCON Qik Feed or our Qik group and check out we and group members are doing at con! Use the #defcon hashtag on Twitter to search for and make defcon related tweets easier to find!

Metasploit Track at DEFCON 17!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:45 -0700

Check out all the Metasploit goodness you can absorb in the Metasploit Track at DEFCON 17! It all takes place Saturday in Track 2!

10:00 - 10:50
Breaking the "Unbreakable" Oracle with Metasploit
Chris Gates & MC

11:00 - 11:50
Using Guided Missiles in Drive-Bys: Automatic browser fingerprinting
and exploitation with Metasploit
egypt

12:00 - 12:20
WMAP: Metasploit goes Web
Efrain Torres

14:00 - 15:20
MetaPhish
Val Smith, Colin Ames, David Kerb

15:30 - 16:00
MSF Telephony
I)ruid

16:10 - 16:40
Metasploit Evolved, Meterpreter Advances, Hacking the Next Internet
HD Moore

16:50 - 17:20
MSF Wifi
Mike Kershaw

17:30 - 18:00
App Assessment the Metasploit Way
David Maynor

18:10 - 18:40
Macsploitation with Metasploit
Dino Dai Zovi

18:50 - 19:20
Metasploit Autopsy: Recontructing the Crime Scene
Peter Silberman & Steve Davis

Badge Hacking Buzz!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:42 -0700

Check out the Badge Hacking Contest threads on the DEFCON Forums to see what everyone is talking about bringing/using to Hack the badge this year. It might give you some inspiration!

The Summit at DEFCON 17

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:38 -0700

Don't forget to attend The SUMMIT Fund Raiser for the EFF (www.eff.org), 50+ Speakers attending, 3 Djs, VIP event, Monaco Tower (TOP FLOOR), Top of the RIV , 8:30pm Thursday Night. See Forum for more info. Add to your social calendar. $30/$15 Student.

DEFCON 17 Badge Pre-release Info!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:35 -0700

Joe Grand has posted some pre-release info on the DEFCON Forums to get you started for the badge hacking contest this year. Go check it out at:

https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=10655

DEFCON 17 Events/Contests Posted on Schedule Page!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:32 -0700

The specific info for events and contests has been posted in the DEFCON 17 Schedule Page! If you have an event or contast that is not posted please send hours of operation and location to neil at defcon.org, and we'll get them up!

DEFCON 17 Google Calendar

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:29 -0700

JonM has been so kind as to begin to start populating a Google calendar of the events for DEFCON 17! More events will be added as the times and locations come in!

DEFCON 17 CTF Quals Cartoon Write Up

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:23 -0700

Check out this awesome write-up of the CTF Quals from one of the qualifying teams, the Sapheads! Clever and educational, it provides a great perspective on the thought processes behind solving the B300 section of the qualification round. Sounds like they plan to do more, so we'll keep an eye out!

http://hackerschool.org/DefconCTF/17/B300.html

Hacker Jeopardy is Looking for Team Sign Ups

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:20 -0700

From G Mark on the DEFCON Forums:

THE PROPER (AND ONLY) WAY TO SIGN UP A TEAM FOR HACKER JEOPARDY

Okay, just to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity, here are the directions to sign up your team. Don't do something else (like post a reply to Winn's thread, since it might not get read in time -- we had this problem last year.)

1. Open an e-mail to "hackerjeopardy@gmail.com"

2. Include your TEAM NAME and the real names and handles of your three (3) team players. (Privacy policy: we protect your identity unless a Fed or someone with a whole bunch of cash wants it.)

3. Explain why you are 31337 enough to play this year. Brag like you're trying to get lucky.

4. Include at least one cellphone number so we can contact you to notify if you're playing or there's a problem with your entry.

5. Send the e-mail as soon as possible, but absolutely no later than 90 minutes before the scheduled start of the round to be played. In case of any dispute, you're wrong (unless you are an entity described in #2 above.)

Alternate slots for ninjas... LosT @ Con Mystery Challenge

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:16 -0700

There are still alternate slots open for teams considering trying to register. There *may* be a way for alternate teams to knock teams from their spots on day one of the contest this year.

Check out the official Mystery Challenge site at http://ten-five-seven.org

CannonBall Run is Back!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:13 -0700

The 5th Annual CannonBall Run is set to start Thursday July 30th 2009 with the fist car leaving at 11:00 AM. We will start in Redondo Beach and arrive yet again at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

website: http://moloch.org/cannonball/
DEFCON Forum: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=474
twitter: http://twitter.com/dccannonballrun
qik: http://qik.com/tommee

Team Fortress 2 Tournament - Only Two Days Left to Sign Up for Quals!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:09 -0700

Qualifiers - July 17-18
Get your teams together and mark your calendar. Qualifiers will be the evenings of July 17-18. As teams sign up, we'll work with the team captains to finalize scheduling. Also, we'll group the individual reg's together into teams for the quals as well.

If you haven't signed up, please do so sooner rather than later. NOTE you don't need a full team to sign up a team. If you've got 4 or 5 friends you want to play with, register a team and we'll fill the blanks up with individual reg's later.

Sign up at: http://www.nomoose.org/dctf2/

Coffee Wars Call for Beans

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:05 -0700

http://www.coffeewars.org/CallForBeans.shtml

From shrdlu on the DEFCON Forums:

Information for those hoping to win on our momentous Tenth Year of celebrating caffeine.

You can submit your beans before Friday morning, by various arcane methods, none of which will be posted here (but email to Foofus might help). You *MUST* submit them before 10AM (or close to it), since that's when we start brewing and drinking and judging. We'll send the occasional messenger out into the massed and frightening horde if you are trying to bring it Friday morning.

Coffee Wars only takes place on Friday morning. We're usually done by 11-ish, and vanished completely by Noon. You can spot most of the judges the rest of the day due to the slight vibration of their entire body (except me; I *like* that much caffeine).

DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest Winners!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:02 -0700

Congratulations to the winners of the DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest!

People's Choice: "Watchmen Parody" by Mar
T-shirt Category: "Floppy" by JesseK
Poster Category: "DEFCON 17" by Steve Andrus
Bumper Sticker Category: "Tailing The Elite Hacker" by downtownDB

Honorable Mention goes out to "DT Has a Posse" by Mar!

Thank you to all of the entrants for their great work!

DEFCON 17 Speaking Schedule is Live and Final Speakers are Posted!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:58 -0700

That's right! The DEFCON 17 Schedule is now live! It may experience a few minor changes before all is said and done, but it is pretty much good to go! Events will be posted on the schedule page as exact times roll in, so keep your eyes peeled for updates! If you are a speaker and see any discrepancies, pass them along to talks at defcon dot org.

Go have a look, and while your at it, check out the last batch of awesome speakers we have lined up for you this year:

Preparing for Cyber War: Strategy and Force Posture in the Information-Centric World
Dmitri Alperovitch, Marcus Sachs, Phyllis Schneck and Ed Skoudis

Hello, My Name is /hostname/
Endgrain, Dan Kaminsky and Tiffany Rad

Dradis Framework - Sharing Information will get you Root
etd

0-day, gh0stnet and the Inside Story of the Adobe JBIG2 Vulnerability
Matt Richard and Steven Adair

Three Point Oh.
Johnny Long

Reverse Engineering By Crayon: Game Changing Hypervisor Based Malware Analysis and Visualization
Danny Quist and Lorie M. Liebrock

Cracking 400,000 Passwords, or How to Explain to Your Roommate why the Power Bill is a Little High
Matt Weir and Sudhir Aggarwal

Catching DNS Tunnels with AI
Jhind

Perspective of the DoD Chief Security Officer
Robert Lentz

Big Speaker Update on defcon.org! Adam Savage to speak at DEFCON 17!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:55 -0700

Check out the big old list of hotness on https://www.defcon.org, we have just added 39 more speakers to the site! There are only a few speakers yet to post, and the schedule is being webbified into a more mobile-friendly format (than past years) as we speak, so expect more updates in the next couple of days!

You may have already heard on Twitter, it is our pleasure to officially announce that Adam Savage of MythBusters fame will be speaking this year at DEFCON!

So get on over to defcon.org and check it all out, and remember to follow us on Twitter for updates as they occur!

Voting is Open for the DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:49 -0700

Here's what you do: go to the DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest Gallery on pics.defcon.org and pick your favorite. Then head on over here and vote in the poll!

The default display for the gallery is 12 items per page, so make sure you check out all 3 pages. There are 29 entries total.

Good Luck to all the fantastic entries!

DEFCON 17 DJ pages are live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:46 -0700

Check out the new DJ pages on the DEFCON 17 site! You can find line-ups for the Black & White Balls, Pool Parties, and daytime Chillout area! There are also artist bios and samples of the music you might encounter! It's all at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-17/dc-17-djs.html!

And don't forget to follow the DEFCON Twitter feed for news as it happens, leading up to and during DEFCON 17!

Thursday Talks Line-up at DEFCON 17

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:43 -0700

This year, we're packing even more goodness into Thursday's activities, with a half day of talks aimed at the DEFCON n00b. These talks will cover everything from basic hacking skills to what our beloved con is about, and how to get the most out of it. If you are new to DEFCON, or feel like you could get more out of it, this "basic training" will be an invaluable resource!

DEFCON 101
HighWiz, The Dark Tangent, Russr, DJ Jackalope, Deviant Ollam, Thorn, ThePrez98, LosT, Siviak

Pre-Con Introduction to Lock Picking
Alek Amrani

DEFCON 1 - A Personal Account
Dead Addict

Con Kung-Fu: Defending Yourself @ DEFCON
Rob "Padre" DeGulielmo

Hardware Black Magic - Building devices with FPGAs
Dr. Fouad Kiamilev

DCFluX in: The Man with the Soldering Gun
Matt Krick "DCFluX"

Effective Information Security Career Planning
Lee Kushner and Mike Murray

DC Network Session
Lockheed

So You Got Arrested in Vegas...
Jim Rennie

Hacking with GNURadio
Videoman

Mystery Challenge Registration Update

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:37 -0700

---------------------------------------------
Mystery Challenge Registration Update

Congratulations to the following teams:

1. Team Silverlock
2. Team Psychoholics
3. Team Kuro
4. MobileDisco
5. Team Render
6. Team Security Catalyst
7. Team Lords of Failure
8. DEADC0DE
9. Team America (@#$& YEAH!)

There are still a few slots available. Are YOU up to the challenge?
1o57
--------------------------------------------------

Even More DEFCON 17 Speaker Updates!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:33 -0700

Yes folks, yet another batch of great talks has been posted on the speaker page! That should do it for this week, but stay tuned next week for the last batches of talks to go up!

Panel - Ask EFF: The Year in Digital Civil Liberties
Kurt Opsahl, Jennifer Granick, Kevin Bankston, Fred von Lohmann, Marcia Hofmann and Peter Eckersley

Panel - Meet the Feds 2009

The Middler 2.0: It's Not Just for Web Apps Anymore
Jay Beale and Justin Searle

Beckstrom's Law - A Model for Valuing Networks and Security
Rod Beckstrom

Sharepoint 2007 Knowledge Network Exposed
Digividual

Socially Owned in the Cloud
Digividual

Personal Survival Preparedness
Steve Dunker and Kristie Dunker

Social Zombies: Your Friends Want to Eat Your Brains
Tom Eston and Kevin Johnson

Cracking the Poor and the Rich: Discovering the Relationship Between Physical and Network Security
Damian Finol

FOE -- Feeding Controversial News to Censored Countries (Without Using Proxy Servers)
Sho Ho

Hardware Black Magic - Building devices with FPGAs
Dr. Fouad Kiamilev

Hack The Textbook
Jon R. Kibler and Mike Cooper

Advanced SQL Injection
Joseph McCray

Weaponizing the Web: New Attacks on User-generated Content
Shawn Moyer and Nathan Hamiel

Automated Malware Similarity Analysis
Daniel Raygoza

The Security Risks of Web 2.0
David Rook

Proxy Prank-o-Matic
Charlie Vedaa and "Anonymous secondary speaker"

CTF Quals Are Over, But There are Other Bases to Belong

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:29 -0700

The CTF Quals round has ended! DEFCON congratulates the qualifying teams!

From ddtek.biz:

Qualified teams:
1. sk3wlm4st3r (CONFIRMED! as sk3wl0fr00t)
2. Team Awesome (aka VedaGodz) (CONFIRMED!)
3. Sexy Pwndas (unconfirmed)
4. PLUS (unconfirmed)
5. Shellphish (CONFIRMED!)
6. Song of Freedom (CONFIRMED!)
7. lollerskaterz dropping from roflcopters (CONFIRMED!)
8. Underminers (unconfirmed)
9. Routards (CONFIRMED!)
10. WOWHACKER (CONFIRMED!)
alt. Sapheads_ (CONFIRMED!)
alt. sutegoma (CONFIRMED!)
alt. CLiP (unconfirmed)
alt. pebkac (unconfirmed)
alt. ACMEPharm (unconfirmed)

If you didn't make it and still want a mind bending challenge at DEFCON this year, there a few slots left in LosT's Mystery Challenge, so wrangle up a team and get to ten-five-seven.org to find clues on how to enter!

Open CTF will also be back this year, bigger and badder than ever if you need that attack/defend goodness!

DEFCON 17 Speaker Update

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:25 -0700

Here are a few more talks to keep you going! We have a bunch more coming through the end of the week, so stay tuned. Follow the DEFCON Twitter Feed for announcements as they are posted!

BitTorrent Hacks
Michael Brooks and David Aslanian

Unfair Use - Speculations on the Future of Piracy
Dead Addict

DEFCON 1 - A Personal Account
Dead Addict

Con Kung-Fu:Defending Yourself @ DEFCON
Rob "Padre" DeGulielmo

Router Exploitation
FX

Jackpotting Automated Teller Machines
Barnaby Jack

Something about Network Security
Dan Kaminsky

Malware Freak Show
Nicholas J. Percoco and Jibran Ilyas

That Awesome Time I Was Sued For Two Billion Dollars
Jason Scott

Good Vibrations: Hacking Motion Sickness on the Cheap
Tottenkoph

DEFCON 17 News

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:31:21 -0700

Keep your eyes on the DEFCON 17 site for a page coming soon that will give you the lowdown on all the great DJ's that will spin at DEFCON this year. We'll have pics and bios, as well as sample tracks for download!

Also, due to the great number of awesome talks we're accepting in the 1200 second spotlight, we've decided to make a fifth track for turbo/breakout talks!

So keep watching for more updates, and as always, You can follow the DEFCON Twitter feed for links to the info as it's posted!

DEFCON 17 CFP Update

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:39 -0700

If you submitted a CFP and have not been notified of it's status hold tight! We have a lot of submissions this year that we want to accept. If you haven't heard back from us by now, you're still in consideration for a time slot. We're probably trying to find room for you. Sorry we missed our June 1st notification date, but we have too much awesome sauce for our burgers.

An update will be posted to the website when we have finished our selection process, all CFP's will be sent an email of their status at that point. Thanks!

Thursday (July 30th) at DEFCON 17

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:36 -0700

In the past, we have usually opened up registration and swag midday Thursday for those early birds that want to get a jump on things before the con officially starts. There are also a few unofficial events and gatherings, like the Toxic BBQ and theSummit, that make Thursday almost an extra day of DEFCON.

This year, we're packing even more goodness into Thursday's activities, with a half day track of talks aimed at the DEFCON newb. These talks will cover everything from basic hacking skills to what our beloved con is about, and how to get the most out of it. If you are new to DEFCON, or feel like you could get more out of it, this "basic training" will be an invaluable resource!

In addition, the Chill Out Area will be open for hanging out and the infamous DEFCON wireless network will be up and running, so you can pwn or be pwned right out of the gate!

Stay tuned for a complete listing of all the great talks planned for Thursday, and as always, you can get instant updates as they occur by following the DEFCON Twitter feed!

DEFCON 17 Mystery Challenge Update

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:32 -0700

LosT can neither confirm nor deny that registration is currently open for the LosT@Con Mystery Challenge. See Ten-Five-Seven.org for updates. Kuni welcomes you to the wheel of fish.

Updates and Reminders for DEFCON 17

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:29 -0700

Riviera Rooms: Be sure to book your room for this year's DEFCON! The Riviera is offering a DEFCON 17 special room rate of $89/night for 1-2 guests, add $20/night for guests 3-4. Hurry, space is limited, and our block usually sells out early!

New DJ Organizer: Welcome to DJ Great Scott, who has accepted the mantle of DJ organizer for DEFCON 17. He will be the overlord of the Black and White Balls and the Poolside DJ action! Get ahold of him on the Forums (greatscott) or at blackandwhitedjs@gmail.com if you want to spin!

Capture the Flag: CTF Quals Registration ends 6/4/09! Get your teams together and get in there! Register at: http://ddtek.biz/ctf/register.html

Artwork Contest: Only about 2 weeks left in the DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest! Make some hacker art and win fabulous prizes (like free entry to DEFCON 17 and swag!) Rules posted at:
https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-17/dc-17-artwork-contest.html

Contest & Events: Check out the Contests and Events section of the forums to see what's new! TommEE Pickles has resurrected the CannonBall Run, there's a new game called the 10,000 Cent Hacker Pyramid, and Coffee Wars is having it's 10th birthday! Extended hours at the pool mean Pool Party!

As always, follow the DEFCON Twitter for all the announcements as they occur!

New DEFCON Tools Page is Live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:25 -0700

Check out the DEFCON Tools page, a new section of the archives that collects the innovative tools released at DEFCON talks over the years! We currently have a list of the tools released at DEFCON 16, and are working backward to archive the tools from past shows. Special thanks to Mubix (aka Rob Fuller), of room362.com, for graciously collecting and writing up this content! All the tools Mubix could find are archived on the DEFCON media server. If you have access to a tool that is not locally stored, let us know at neil [at] defcon ]dot[ org and we'll get it up there!

More Talks for DEFCON 17!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:22 -0700

Here's another great round of talks to get you excited for DEFCON 17!

DefCon 101
HighWiz, The Dark Tangent, Russr, DJ Jackalope, Deviant Ollam, Thorn, ThePrez98, Lost, Siviak

Session Donation
Alex Amrani

Sniff Keystrokes With Lasers/Voltmeters - Side Channel Attacks Using Optical Sampling Of Mechanical Energy And Power Line Leakage
Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco

Hijacking Web 2.0 Sites with SSLstrip--Hands-on Training
Sam Bowne

Attacking SMS. It's No Longer Your BFF
Brandon Dixon

Breaking the "Unbreakable" Oracle with Metasploit
Chris Gates and Mario Ceballos

Injectable Exploits: Two New Tools for Pwning Web Apps and Browsers
Kevin Johnson, Justin Searle and Frank DiMaggio

eXercise in Messaging and Presence Pwnage
Ava Latrope

Defcon Security Jam 2: The Fails Keep on Coming
David Mortman

Hacking Sleep: How to Build Your Very Own Sleep Lab
Ne0nRa1n and Keith Biddulph

RFID MythBusting
Chris Paget

Search And Seizure Explained - They Took My Laptop!
Tyler Pitchford, Esq.

Fragging Game Servers
Bruce Potter and Logan Lodge

Hackerspaces: The Legal Bases
RogueClown

Debaze - A Remote Method Enumeration Tool for Flex Servers
Jon Rose

Bluetooth, Smells Like Chicken.
Dominic Spill, Michael Ossmann and Mark Steward

"I Am Walking Through a City Made of Glass and I Have a Bag Full of Rocks" (Dispelling the Myths and Discussing the Facts of Global Cyber-Warfare)
Jayson Street

Dangerous Minds: The Art of Guerrilla Data Mining
Mark Ryan Del Moral Talabis

Follow us on Twitter!

DEFCON 17 Speaker Update!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:18 -0700

The CFP is now closed and selection is in full swing! Check out the latest batch of talks selected for DEFCON 17!

Unmasking You
Joshua D. Abraham and Robert Hansen

Confidence Game Theater
cough

Death of Anonymous Travel
Sherri Davidoff

Using Guided Missiles in Drive-Bys: Automatic browser fingerprinting and exploitation with Metasploit
Egypt

"Smart" Parking Meter Implementations, Globalism, and You (aka Meter Maids Eat Their Young)
Joe "Kingpin" Grand, Jake Appelbaum, and Chris Tarnovsky

The Psychology of Security Unusability
Peter Gutmann

Effective Information Security Career Planning
Lee Kushner and Mike Murray

Abusing Firefox Addons
Roberto Suggi Liverani and Nick Freeman

Clobbering the Cloud
Haroon Meer and Marco Slaviero

RAID Recovery: Recover your PORN by Sight and Sound
Scott Moulton

Protecting Against and Investigating Insider Threats (A methodical, multi-pronged approach to protecting your organization)
Antonio "Tony" Rucci

PLA Information Warfare Development Timeline and Nodal Analysis
Zulu Meet

Be sure to follow the DEFCON Twitter Feed for speaker updates and other announcements as they occur!

Notice to DEFCON 17 CFP Submitters

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:15 -0700

This is just a general reminder, we want to make sure all the submissions sent to us get a fair shot and are reviewed equally. We don't want any submissions missed so we send you an email to let you know it arrived safely. You should receive an acknowledgment of your submission within 48 hours after you have submitted. If you have not received an email from us, please resend your submission to talks at defcon dot org.

DEFCON 17 CFP Extended over Weekend!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:42:33 -0700

That's right slackers, you now have until Monday, May 18th to turn in your DEFCON CFP Submission! We want your insightful and interesting research to make it to the DEFCON 17 Stage!

So get on it, what are you doing reading this? Go work on your submission!

You can read the submission rules and get the CFP form at: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-17/dc-17-cfp.html

DEFCON 17 Talks Update

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:28:13 -0700

Here are a few more of the talks chosen for DEFCON 17 to whet your appetite:

Why Tor is Slow, and What We're Doing About It
Roger Dingledine

Managed Code Rootkits - Hooking into Runtime Environments
Erez Metula

Maximum CTF: Getting the Most Out of Capture the Flag
Psifertex

Hacking, Biohacking, and the Future of Humanity
Richard Thieme

As always, we will be posting these talks as they are chosen, so keep your eyes on the speakers page! Better yet, follow the DEFCON Twitter Feed for up to the minute notification of new talks, and all of the announcements relating to DEFCON 17!

The Mystery Challenge Has a New Home! Team Registration Opening Soon!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:29:04 -0700

The much loved and anticipated LosT@Con Mystery Challenge has a new home on the web at https://ten-five-seven.org! LosT informs us that team registration for this year's challenge will be opening soon, so keep your eyes peeled on the new site, and on the Mystery Challenge Forum on the DEFCON Forums for all the details on how to enter and for clues relating to the challenge!

DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest is Open!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:04:56 -0700

It's that time again, art ninjas!

Whip out your favorite medium and get to creating, because the official DEFCON 17 Artwork Contest is now underway, and will run now to June 15, 2009.

The goal for this year's artwork contest is to create a piece of art you would see plastered on a wall, mailbox, telephone pole or bumper of a car of the nearest urban center. What we're looking for is an underground feel, reminiscent of DIY 'zines, gig posters, or pulp comics... (Read on)

More DEFCON 17 Talks Selected!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:04:35 -0700

Speaker selection is underway, here are a few of the chosen talks! Expect more early to mid next week!

Win at Reversing: Tracing and Sandboxing through Inline Hooking
Nick Harbour

Computer and Internet Security Law - A Year in Review 2008 - 2009
Robert Clark

Making Fun of Your Malware
Michael Ligh & Matthew Richard

De Gustibus, or Hacking your Tastebuds
Sandy Clark "Mouse"

Hacking UFOlogy 102: The Implications of UFOs for Life, the Universe, and Everything
Richard Thieme

For all of the latest updates as they occur, be sure to follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/_defcon_

DEFCON 17 Site and First Round of Speakers are Live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:49:45 -0700

The first round of speakers have been chosen with another to follow soon! You can check them out on the DEFCON 17 site, which is now live and will contain all the info for this year's con!

The Riviera - Good Changes for DEFCON 17

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:51:02 -0700

This year at the Riv we'll see some nice changes to some of the pricing and policies of the hotel.

Some initial RIV updates from the Dark Tangent on the DEFCON Forums:

1 - Room prices have been dropped to $89/Day and should be reflected here soon:

http://www.rivierahotel.com/resnet/roomres.asp?ID=309

If you booked under the old prices I _think_ the pricing will automagically be reflected in your bill as the new room block price.

2 - We will get the pool to 11pm for swimming and hanging out. We can do low key DJ action till then. We are currently talking with them to determine how we can keep it longer.

3 - Drink prices on beer and booze have been reduced. I'll update this post when I have accurate information.

We'll post more updates and details as they become available!

DEFCON 17 Booking Rate for the Riviera is Live

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:30:52 -0700

Time to book those rooms for DEFCON 17. The Riviera has posted the booking info for this year's show. They are offering a rate of $102USD per night for 1-2 guests (add $20USD for additional guests up to 4).

Note: The Nevada State Senate passed a law to increase room tax to 12% effective July 1, 2009. The tax increase will apply to all rooms occupied on and after July 1, 2009 regardless of when the reservation was made.

You can acquire your room online at the following url:

http://www.rivierahotel.com/resnet/roomres.asp?ID=309

DEFCON 17 CTF Qualifier announced dispite conficker

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:32:36 -0700

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1 APRIL 2009

DEFCON CTF QUALIFIER ANNOUNCED

Defense Diutinus Technologies Corp (ddtek) is pleased to announce the round of qualification for DEFON 17 CTF.

The competition will be held on 5-7 June - without a stop, participants can be located everywhere. All are to play, but only the 9 best groups will be invited to join us in Las Vegas for the annual DEFCON ninja square off. We also intend to honour the code of the former CTF host and automatically qualify last years champion, the sk3wl of r00t (although we sincerely hope them to participate in qualifications).

The qualification round will be in the style of game board, but answers need not be in the form of a question. Categories will require teams to demonstrate the superiority of hacking into a vast relm of security.

You must be registered for participate.

Registration site: http://ddtek.biz/ctf/register.html
Registration opens: 01.04.2009 00:00:00 UTC
Registration ends: 04.06.2009 00:00:00 UTC

Qualifications open: 05.06.2009 23:00:00 UTC
Qualifications ends: 07.06.2009 23:00:00 UTC

More information that will follow via your registered email address.

Bring all your l33t haxor skillz just leave your Kiddie toolz behind.

Vulc@n
Difensiva Senior Engineer
Diuntinus Defense Technologies, Inc.

DEFCON CNN Interview

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:28:52 -0700

DEFCON's very own Russ Rogers was interviewed on CNN about the con and the motivations behind the Conficker Worm. Check it out!

New Format for DEFCON 15 & 16 Archives!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:50:23 -0700

Check out the new format for the DEFCON Archives! DC15 and DC16 have been converted, and the rest are being ported over as we speak!

The new format combines links to Presentations in audio & video, Media RSS feeds, Conference Programs, Press from the show, and more in to one easy page for each past DEFCON.

DEFCON 16 Archive: https://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-archives/dc-16-archive.html
DEFCON 15 Archive: https://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-archives/dc-15-archive.html

Check 'em out!

Redesigned DEFCON Site Beta is Live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:25:42 -0700

The DEFCON website has been given a fresh new face, designed to deliver relevant content, inspire interaction within the community, and be more mobile friendly. We've released this beta to get feedback from you, the user, as we begin to flesh out the new features. Take a look around, on different browsers and devices, and if you like, report any bugs or voice suggestions to neil [at] defcon ]dot[ org.

We're adding a few new items to the site, restructuring and expanding the archives section, and highlighting community news and events. Keep your eyes on the DEFCON RSS, Forums, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn Group for announcements as these features are completed and implemented.

The new DEFCON 17 CTF Organizers have spoken

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:28:44 -0700

The newly chosen organizers of this year's CTF competition, Diutinus Defense Technologies, Inc., have broken their silence on the DEFCON Forums. You can view the post at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=10246&page=3. The have also posted a website at http://www.ddtek.biz

And the new DEFCON 17 CTF Organizer is...

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:28:39 -0700

The fine authors of Proposal #1 on the DEFCON 17 CTF Submissions Thread. We are not at liberty to divulge much more than this at this time, but you can read DT's announcement and keep yor eyes peeled for new details at the aformentioned links!

Contest and Event Status for DEFCON 17

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:28:34 -0700

It's going to be another great year of events and contests at DEFCON, the ideas are flying and some new players have emerged. A couple of new items for this year are DefCon 101: A Lurkers Guide to DefCon, and the DEFCON Geo Challenge. You can check out all of the latest contest and event info on the DEFCON 17 Official and Unofficial Events and Contests Forum.

DEFCON 17 CTF Proposals On the Forums!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:43:32 -0800

DT has sanitized and posted the CTF Proposal submissions on the DEFCON Forums at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=10246 to be viewed and commented on by the community. Check them out and weigh in on which one you think should be chosen for 2009!

DEFCON 16 Audio now available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:28:27 -0700

I've started to upload all the audio and video from DEFCON 16!

This year we are offering something new, a combo video file that has both the slides as well as the video of the speaker on the same screen. These files are big! If you just want to listen to a talk I suggest downloading the m4b audio files.. they are 1/2 the size of years past and will easily fit on your phone.. about 5 to 10 megs each.

Audio files have finished uploading!
https://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-16-audio.rss

Video of just the presentation slides with audio are uploading now, should take a day or so to be available, then the combo video files will be uploaded.

Let the leeching begin! Report any problems on this forum thread.

The Dark Tangent

Submissions for CTF Organizers ends this weekend!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:28:22 -0700

Just a friendly reminder, if your group wants to set the bar to take the fame, and the massive challenge of being the next Capture the Flag Organizers for DEFCON, you must get your submissions in by this weekend! Good Luck!

This thread on the DEFCON Forums has all the details!

DEFCON 17 Call For Papers is Open!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:34:12 -0700

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx xx x xx     DEF CON 17, Las Vegas 2009
xxxxxxxXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxx xx x x    July 31st - August 2nd
xxxxxxXXXXXXxxxxx x x x            The Rivera Hotel and Casino
xxxxxXXXXXXXXxxxxx xx x x          Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
xxxxXXXXXXXXXXxxx x xxxxxxxx x     https://www.defcon.org/
xxxXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxx x
xxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxx xx x        Call for Papers Call for Papers
xxxXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxx           Call for Papers Call for Papers
xxxxXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxx x x xx      Call for Papers Call for Papers
xxxxxXXXXXXXXxxxxxxx xxx xx x      Call for Papers Call for Papers
xxxxxxXXXXXXxxxxxxx x x x          Call for Papers Call for Papers
xxxxxxxXXXXxxxxxxxxxxx xx x x      Call for Papers Call for Papers
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x   Call for Papers Call for Papers

Dark monks of techno-fu, it is that time of the year again! The DEFCON CFP is now open!

What: DEFCON 17 Call For Papers
When: The Call for Papers will close on May 15, 2009
How: Complete the Call for Papers Form and send to talks at defcon dot org

Don't know what DEFCON is? Go to www.defcon.org and clue up!

Papers and presentations are now being accepted for DEFCON 17, the conference your mother and ISC(2) warned you about. DEFCON will take place at the Riviera in Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 31 - August 2, 2009.

Two years ago we eliminated specific speaking tracks and we received a diverse selection of submissions. From hacking your car, your brain, and CIA sculptures to hacking the vote, Bluetooth, and DNS hacks. We will group presentations by subjects and come up with topic clusters of interest. It worked out so well in the past we are doing it again this year.

What are we looking for then, if we don't have tracks? Were looking for the presentation that you've never seen before and have always wanted to see. We are looking for the presentation that the attendees wouldn't ask for, but blows their minds when they see it. We want strange demos of Personal GPS jammers, RFID zappers, and HERF madness. Got a MITM attack against cell phones? We want to see it.

Subjects that we have traditionally covered in the past, and will continue to accept include: Trojan development, worms, malware, intelligent agents, protocol exploits, application security, web security, database hacking, privacy issues, criminal law, civil law, international law/treaties, prosecution perspectives, 802.11X, bluetooth, cellular telephony protocols, privacy, identity theft, identity creation, fraud, social implications of technology, media/film presentations, firmware hacking, hardware hacking, embedded systems hacking, smartcard technologies, credit card and financial instrument technologies, surveillance, counter-surveillance, UFO's, peer2peer technologies, reputation systems, copyright infringement and anti-copyright infringement enforcement technologies, critical infrastructure issues, physical security, social engineering, academic security research, PDA and cell phone security, EMP/HERF weaponry, TEMPEST technologies, corporate espionage, IDS evasion.

What a mouth full! Well you can't say we didn't give you some ideas. This list is not intended to limit possible topics, merely to give examples of topics that have interested us in the past, and is in fact the same list we used last year..

Check out https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-speakers.html for past conference presentations to get a complete list of past topics that were accepted if you want to learn from the past.

We are looking for and give preference to: unique research, new tool releases, Ø-day attacks (with responsible disclosure), highly technical material, social commentaries, and ground breaking material of any kind. Want to screen a new hacking documentary or release research? Consider DEFCON.

Speaking Formats:

Choose between 12 hundred seconds, 50 minutes, 110 minutes, 1/2 day Thursday or a break out format of a length you determine.

We are continuing the Twelve Hundred Second Spotlight, which is a shorter presentation (about twenty minutes) that doesn't warrant a full 50 or 110 minute talk. The Twelve Hundred Second Spotlight is designed for those who don't have enough material for a full talk, but still have a valuable contribution to make. This is to ensure that great ideas that can be presented quickly don't fall through the cracks merely because they didn't justify a full length talk. Examples include research, announcements, group presentations, projects needing volunteers or testers, requests for comments, updates on previously given talks, quick demonstrations. You get the idea. Presenters will get a speaker badge which entitles them to free admittance to DEFCON, but we will be unable to pay an Honorarium.

Remember being attacked by Gran Master Ratt's Flame Crotch™? Do you remember thick accented Germans trying to convince you to attack critical infrastructure? Do you remember extravagant vapor ware releases by a stage filled with posses? We do, and sans projectiles of raw meat we want to encourage such shenanigans again this year. We are calling on all "hacker groups" (you know who you are, and the FBI has a nifty file with your name on it) to present at DEFCON, to discuss what you're up to, what your mission is, to discuss any upcoming or past projects, and to discuss parties/conferences you are throwing. We do humbly request that all gang warfare be relegated to electronic attacks, and not fall over into meat space.

New for DEFCON 17:

NEW this year is a 1/2 day set of tracks on Thursday, pre-con, to help orient newbies and provide 1/2 day training on different 'foundational' subjects such as networking, building custom Linux distros, a work shop on modding your PSP, the fundamentals of radio, things like that. These sessions will get you in the mood for the main conference and give you something to do if you showed up early Thursday. As such your submissions for the Thursday sessions should be entertaining and help attendees who are fairly new get their feet under themselves, or give more advances hacker types a half day of fun gutting their TiVo.

If you want to present a 1/2 day training or newbie talk just make sure you mark down you want to present on Thursday.

We have ALL the speaking rooms this year, and because of this I want to announce a call for workshops, demos, and mini trainings. We have additional small rooms that will enable highly focused demonstrations or workshops. If you want to talk about building a passport cloner or a tutorial on developing Metasploit exploits this might be the format for you. You tell us how much time you need, and we try to accommodate you!

To submit a speech:

Complete the DEFCON 17 Call for Papers Form.

We are going to continue last year's goal of increasing the quality of the talks by screening people and topics. I realize you guys are speaking for basically free, but some talks are better than others. Some people put in a bit more effort than others. I want to reward the people who do the work by making sure there is room for them.

This year we will have two rounds of speaker acceptance. In the first round we will fill about half of the schedule before the submission deadline, and the remaining half afterwards. This is to encourage people to submit as early as possible and allows attendees to plan on the topics that interest them. If you see the schedule on-line start to fill, do not worry if you have not heard from us yet, as we are still in the process of selection.

Barring a disaster of monstrous proportions, speaker selection will be completed no later July 1. The sooner you submit the better chance you have of the reviewers to give your presentation the full consideration it warrants. If you wait until the last minute to submit, you have less of a chance of being selected.

After a completed CFP form is received, speakers will be contacted if there are any questions about their presentations. If your talk is accepted you can continue to modify and evolve it up until the last minute, but don't deviate from your accepted presentation. We will mail you with information on deadlines for when we need your presentation, to be burnt on the CDROM, as well as information for the printed program.

Speakers get in to the show free, get paid (AFTER they give a good presentation!), get a coolio badge, and people like you more. Heck, most people find it is a great way to meet people or find other people interested in their topics. Speakers can opt to forgo their payment and instead receive three human badges that they can give to their friends, sell to strangers, or hold onto as timeless mementoes. Receiving badges instead of checks has been a popular option for those insisting on maintaining their anonymity.

Please visit:

https://www.defcon.org/ for previous conference archives, information, and speeches. Updated announcements will be posted to news groups, security mailing lists and this web site.
https://forum.defcon.org/ for a look at all the events and contests being planned for DEFCON 17. Join in on the action.
https://pics.defcon.org/ to upload all your past DEFCON pictures. We store the pictures so you don't have to worry about web space. If you have an account on the forums, you have an account here.

https://www.defcon.org/defconrss.xml for news and announcements surrounding DEFCON.

CFP forms and questions should get mailed to: talks/at/defcon.org

Call for DEFCON 17 Capture the Flag Organizers!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:44:04 -0800

WANTED:
An evil large multinational corporation, or...

A nefarious group of genius autonomous hackers, or...

A shadowy government organization from somewhere in the world

TO:
Host, recreate, and innovate the worlds most (in)famous hacking contest.

WHY:
For everlasting fame, intrusive media interviews, the respect of your peers, or the envy of your enemies.

Do you have what it takes and know what we're talking about?

Go to https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=10130 for all the details!

Call for Updates: Unofficial DEFCON FAQ

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:21:19 -0800

From HighWiz on the DEFCON Blogs:

The original "Unofficial DefCon FAQ" wasn't the work of one single individual but a collaboration by many people. I view my role as more of an organizer of the information rather than the creator of it.

Version 1.0 is seriously outdated, http://defcon.stotan.org/faq/ and in need of a refresh. So I figured I'd utilize this blog space to request feedback on version 2.0 .

To find out more and how to contribute, got to https://forum.defcon.org/blog.php?b=101

DEFCON Forums Now SSL Only

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:20:58 -0800

Due to overwhelming feed back for the positive, the DEFCON Forums are now strictly SSL. This change has enabled us to utilize page compression which was previously unavailable, which speeds up page delivery. It will also enhance security, since the all sessions will now be encrypted.

If you haven't already joined the DEFCON Forums, you should, it's a great place to keep in touch with the DEFCON community and to be a part of the discussion and planning leading up to the next DEFCON!

Check it out at: forum.defcon.org

Subway Hackers Now Working with MBTA

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:04:13 -0800

Well the dust has settled, and the lawsuit against three MIT students, who were to speak at DEFCON 16 about vulnerabilities in the Boston subway ticketing system, has been dropped. It seems now they will be working with the MBTA to help secure the ticketing systems. The researchers, who were federally gagged from speaking at DEFCON, were represented by the EFF and the gag order was dropped shortly after con. you can read the EFF Press release at http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/12/22, and there is an article on the PCWorld site at http://www.pcworld.com/article/155903/with_lawsuit_settled_hackers_now_working_with_mbta.html

Order DEFCON 16 Presentation DVDs From The Source of Knowledge

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:09:23 -0800

If you didn't make it out to DEFCON 16, or just wanted to refresh on some of the great presentations we had this year, you can order full DVD copies of all of the talks from The Source of Knowledge (TSOK) website.

TSOK's SynchVue DVD Format is new and improved, combining video and audio of the speaker, as well as slide material in one!

From TSOK website:

SynchVue DVD-ROM + SessionVue Audio
The SynchVue DVD-ROM is an incredible product which merges the live audio with the projected image. Whether it is a PowerPoint presentation, software demonstration, video or web page, all of it is captured and synchronized seamlessly with the audio from the presenter.

Check it out at: https://www.sok-media.com/store/products.php?event=2008-DEFCON

Poll: Should DEFCON Forums go SSL Only?

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:04:08 -0800

Get over to the DEFCON Forums and weigh in on whether or not they should only be accessible over an SSL connection. If you are a forums member, there is a handy poll in which you can vote. If you're not a member, SIGN UP!

From DT on the DEFCON Forums:

Hey everyone, I'd like everyone's input on switching forum.defcon.org over to SSL only. Brief background:

The way we do redirection from http to https is a clever kludge Cot came up with, but it prevents us from using http compression, which would speed things up for everyone. Now that mobile devices have supported http compression for years we may as well take advantage of it, not to mention it would be like getting extra free capacity.

With SSL only some of the XSS and related attacks would be more difficult and MITM concerns would almost vanish.

The downside is some people might not be able to log in through proxies (I can over Tor, though), at free WiFi locations, etc.

https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9967

Defcon.org is Being Remodeled!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:09:50 -0800

It's all behind the scenes of course, but defcon.org is currently being re-worked a bit to enhance the community aspect of the site, refresh some of the older content, and become more mobile friendly. Keep an eye out over the next several weeks for changes and enhancements to the site!

Remaining DEFCON 16 Swag available at J!NX

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:51:11 -0800

For those of you that couldn't make it to this year's DEFCON, or just didn't get a chance to stop by the Swag Booth, the remainder of this year's swag can now be purchased from J!NX. Check out the available styles at http://www.jinx.com/def_con?tcid=1, but hurry, sizes and styles are limited!

DEFCON Speakers in the News

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:39:18 -0800

Tony Kapela, who blew minds by using flaws in BGP to intercept and re-route all of the DEFCON 16 network traffic, is the featured speaker at Black Hat's fourth free webcast. the webcast is entitled "Trust Doesn't Scale - Practical Hijacking on the World's Largest Network. It promises to be an interesting presentation. To find out more, go to https://www.blackhat.com/html/webinars/practicalhijacking.html. To register, you can go to http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=115053&s=1&k=526FB59D2232E5EE4DF1A158DEA07277. The webcast will begin Thursday, October 16 at 1pm PST.

DEFCON Badge Designer Joe Grand's TV Show Premiers Wednesday Oct. 15!

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:50:34 -0800

As many of you may know, the unique electronic badges for DEFCON (since DC14) are designed by the illustrious Joe "Kingpin" Grand. Formerly a member of the hacker group L0pht Heavy Industries and currently the brain behind Grand Idea Studios and The Kingpin Empire, Joe also has a new TV show called "Prototype This" premiering this Wednesday, October 15th on the Discovery Channel at 10pm eastern time.

The premise -- A team of four super smart guys with varying electronics and engineering backgrounds come up with and prototype crazy one-of-a-kind inventions on the cutting edge of technology in a limited time frame.

It seems like this could be a great introduction for many into the world of hardware hacking and design. We're looking forward to see what they come up with!

Upcoming Episode List:
MIND CONTROLLED CAR - October 15 @ 10 e/p
BOXING ROBOTS - October 22 @ 10 e/p
TRAFFIC BUSTING TRUCK - October 29 @ 10 e/p
GET UP AND GO - November 5 @ 10 e/p
WATERSLIDE SIMULATOR - November 12 @ 10 e/p
SIX-LEGGED ALL TERRAIN VEHICLE - November 19 @ 10 e/p

Some links about the show:
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/prototype-this/prototype-this.html - Discovery Channel Page for Prototype This
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype_This - Wikipedia Entry
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10016485-52.html - CNet News Article

Early Release Video from DEFCON 16! Tool from talk released!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:06:19 -0800

We've decided to do an early release of a few of the news-making presentations from DEFCON 16 in video format! The following links are in two formats, the h.264 version is an iPod compatible version of the presenter's slides with audio of the speech, and the full .mov is quicktime with dual video of the speaker and the slides. Enjoy, and keep your eye out for all the videos and audio from DEFCON 16 to be released in the next couple months!

Brenno De Winter - Ticket to Trouble
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_dewinter_tickettotrouble/dc16_dewinter_tickettotrouble_full.mov
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_dewinter_tickettotrouble/dc16_dewinter_tickettotrouble.m4v

Dan Kaminsky - DNS Goodness
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_kaminsky/dc16_kaminsky_cache_full.mov
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_kaminsky/dc16_kaminsky_cache.m4v

Anton Kapela and Alex Pilosov - Stealing the Internet
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_kapela-pilosov_stealing/dc16_kapela-pilosov_full.mov
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_kapela-pilosov_stealing/dc16_kapela-pilosov.m4v

Mike Perry - 365 Day: Active HTTPS Cookie Hijacking
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_perry_TOR/dc16_perrry_TOR_full.mov
media.defcon.org/dc-16/video/dc16_perry_TOR/dc16_perrry_TOR.m4v

Coincidentally, Slashdot reports that Mike Perry has released the tool from this talk today. you can find the article here:
http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/09/09/1558218.shtml

DEFCON 16 Press Page Updated

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:06:16 -0800

There were many press-worthy happenings at DEFCON 16 this year, from the MBTA controversy to the New way of expoiting BGP. We've collected many of the articles for you to peruse on the Past Media Coverage page. You can check it out at https://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc_press/dc_press.html.

If you've noticed an article directly related to to DEFCON 16 we might have missed, send the url to neil ]at[ defcon {dot} org and we'll post it.

BGP exploit causing quite a stir

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:40:19 -0800

Although it has been known for over a decade, an exploit of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) recently re-entered the spotlight at DEFCON 16 in a presentation by Anton Kapela and Alex Pilosov. The presentation is entitled "Stealing The Internet - A Routed, Wide-area, Man in the Middle Attack ".

You can read about the exploit on the Wired Threat level blog at http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/revealed-the-in.html and you can download the slides from the presentation at https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-16/dc16-presentations/defcon-16-pilosov-kapela.pdf

DEFCON 16 Presentations now online!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:06:11 -0800

Lose your DEFCON 16 CD? Looking for updated presentation materials? Did you just miss DEFCON 16 altogether? You're in luck! The presentation slides and extras from the DEFCON 16 CD, including updated presentations we have received thus far can now be downloaded on the DEFCON Media Archives page.

Go to https://www.defcon.org/html/links/defcon-media-archives.html for all the goodies!

First Interview since silenced subway hacking talk

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:40:10 -0800

Popular Mechanics has interviewed Zack Anderson, one of the silenced MIT Students who were to give the Anatomy of a Subway Hack talk at DEFCON 16.

From Popular Mechanics:

Its rare that a hacker convention makes national news, but three MIT students caused a whole lot of controversy when they planned a presentation about security holes in Boston's subway system for DefCon in Las Vegas earlier this month. They were forced to cancel the talk at the last minute by a 10-day federal restraining order, requested by Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA). On Tuesday, a judge denied motions by the MBTA to issue a preliminary injunction aimed at keeping the students quiet for a further five months. Now, in his most extensive interview to date, MIT subway hacker Zack Anderson talks with PM about what's wrong with the Charlie Card, what happened at DefCon, and what it's like to tango with the FBI and the MBTA.

Read more at: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4278892.html?page=1

MIT students gag order lifted!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:06:03 -0800

From CNET.com:

BOSTON--The three Massachusetts Institute of Technology students who have been barred by a court order from discussing subway card vulnerabilities are now free to say what they want.

In a ruling certain to be cheered by computer researchers, a federal judge here Tuesday let the 10-day-old gag order expire. U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. refused to grant a preliminary injunction requested by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority that would have blocked the students from talking about their findings until January 1, 2009.

The MBTA's requested injunction would have replaced a temporary restraining order granted during the Defcon hacker conference, which under federal court rules automatically expires on Tuesday.

Read more at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10020252-83.html?hhTest=1

Post DEFCON 16 items of note

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:06:00 -0800

DEFCON 16 Receipt!
For those of you that need a receipt for attending DEFCON 16, it can be downloaded from here: https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-16/dc16_receipt.pdf

Upload your Photos!
Now that con has ended, get on over to pics.defcon.org and upload all of your awesome pics and videos from the show! We want to see them!

New Talk: Ticket to Trouble

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:57 -0800

Brenno De Winter will be speaking Sunday on controversy surrounding hacks of the Belgian Subway system. The presentation will occur 13:00 to 13:50 in Track 3.

DEFCON 16 NEWS: MIT Students Gagged by Federal Court Judge

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:54 -0800

The EFF Announced today that they will represent 3 MIT students who were set to present at DEFCON 16 on Mass transit vulnerablities. The students were forced to cancel their presentation on Sunday, due to a Federal Court Judge's Order.

From eff.org:

MIT Students Gagged by Federal Court Judge EFF Backs Researchers Forced to Cancel Presentation on Transit Fare Payment System

Las Vegas - Three students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were ordered this morning by a federal court judge to cancel their scheduled presentation about vulnerabilities in Boston's transit fare payment system, violating their First Amendment right to discuss their important research. (read more at: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/08/09

To see what other press is happening at DEFCON 16, check out the DEFCON in the news thread at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?p=98012#post98012

DEFCON Updates

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:51 -0800

DEFCON 16 Capture the Flag is Coming!

In just a couple of days, the ultimate battle will begin at DEFCON 16. That's right, we're talking about the DEFCON Capture the Flag Competition organized by Kenshoto! Eight Teams will unleash their best root-fu in the struggle for the coveted CTF Title! The Following teams will be competing.

1@stPlace (returning champions)
Routards
Pandas with Gambas
Guard@MyLan0
Shellphish
Taekwon-V
WOWHACKER
PLUS 4800

Head into CTF Room in Royale Pavilion to Check out the action!

New Talk Added:
Toying with Barcodes By Felix "FX" Lindner on Saturday at 17:00 in Track 1. Check it out at: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-speakers.html#FX2

Don't Miss the TCP/IP Drinking Game!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:48 -0800

The annual must-see Defcon event of BGP, booze, and bemusement returns in this year's TCP/IP Drinking Game. Panelists will pit their trivia knowledge of network trivia against one another and the ever-present haze of inebriation for all to see. We promise that no RFC nor hepatic system will be spared. As always, solid audience participation is encouraged, so bring well-researched queries.*

This year's event will be hosted by Adam J. O'Donnell, security researcher and provocateur.

The usual M.C. of the TCP/IP drinking game, Dr. Mudge, is spending this year sober for tax purposes...

see you next year with my new bionic liver :)

..mudge

* Anyone asking about Windows 98 TCP/IP UIs will be promptly ejected.

Friday @ 20:00 in Speaking Track 4

Stay in the loop with the DEFCON 16 Twitter feed!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:45 -0800

The vehicle of choice this year for up to the minute updates of breaking DEFCON news, announcements and so forth will be the DEFCON 16 Twitter feed. Sign up now at http://twitter.com and follow user defcon16 to keep up to date with this year's DEFCON!

See news breaking? Send events of note at DEFCON 16 to defconupdates {at} gmail ]dot[ com so we can tell the world!

New Happenings at DEFCON 16

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:39 -0800

Well folks, the time for the 16th installment of the hacking convention known as DEFCON draws near, and this year promises to be a great one! We've got more content than ever, including 5 full tracks of talks, demos, workshops, new contests, a new Hardware Hacking Village, and even a new EFF fundraiser to replace the dunk tank! Here is some of the goodness you can expect:

DAVIX Visualization Workshop
At this "Bring Your Own Laptop" workshop we will introduce you to DAVIX. The workshop starts with an introduction to the set of available tools, the integrated manual, as well as customizing the CD to your needs. In a second part, you can use DAVIX to analyze a set of provided packet captures. In the end we will show some of the visualizations created by the participants. Be prepared for pretty and meaningful pictures! Get more info at: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=425

Mobile Hacker Spaces
Interested in visiting a Colorado Hacker Space here at DefCon 16? Check out the first ever Mobile Hacker Space, which will be parked in the outside chill out area during the convention. Try your hand against one of the challenges in the pentest lab, or learn from the web-based tutorials posted on the open network. Participation is encouraged, and presentations will be given every day from 2-4pm, which will provide a more hands-on look at how the Mobile Hacker Space operates and fits within published hacker space design patterns. Make sure you also attend the presentation on the history and design of the Colorado Springs Mobile Hacking Space on Sunday, at 1pm in Track One. Forums link: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=428

Quantum Spookshow
Quantum mechanics make possible some things that are impossible in the "classical" world of ordinary experience, and which even seem to contradict common sense. Some of these spooky effects are coming into practical use in security applications. The Quantum Spookshow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) demonstrates quantum cryptography and quantum entanglement on a four-node quantum network, which supports quantum encrypted streaming video and violations of local realism. Participants are encouraged to interact with the light beams that constitute the physical link of this network, and to meet physicists who have designed and built quantum networks. Quantum mechanics provides methods of encryption that are secure from eavesdropping attacks against the quantum channel, but in any actual system there are points of vulnerability, e.g. correlations of classical noise in the operation of quantum elements. Participants will have a chance to discover vulnerabilities by hands-on interaction with our systems.

Hours: 10:00-18:00 on Friday and Saturday with Sunday, closing around 16:00
Location: 114. Directly across from the Contest area.

EFF Fundraiser
This year we decided to replace our beloved Dunk Tank with something NEW!
Hackers and Guns in Las Vegas – Ya gotta love it.

You've seen it played out numerous times in movies and on TV. A flash bang grenade goes off. SWAT kicks in the door and moves quickly to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys in the same room. How do they train to effectively recognize and take out the bad guys, while not wasting any of the hostages? One of the tools they use is a Firearms training Simulator or FATS system and someone was foolish enough to let us get our hands on one for DEFCON 16.

So… Calling all Shooters, FPS Gamers, Psycho Killers, and 1337 wannabes. Come on by and pop a cap in someone’s VR ass. We will be set up in room 115 across from the contest area and next door to the Quantum Spookshow from 10:00 – 20:00. See if you got the skillz to make it through the challenges unscathed. Then the next time you hear a knock at your door in the middle of the night - you'll be ready. More at: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=427

WarBallooning Demo at DEFCON 16!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:35 -0800

A WarBalloon, er... Airborne Surveillance & 802.11 Stumbling Platform, also known as the "Kismet Eye in the Sky" will be flying just outside the DEFCON convention center on FRI and SAT from 11AM - 2 PM.

DEFCON Attendees:
please note the Balloon & Electronics launch will occur Daily at 11:00 AM & several times during the day as we change antenna's & recon. new targets.

Read more at: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9613

The DEFCON Shoot is Back!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:31 -0800

From the DEFCON Shoot Page on Deviating.net:

The DEFCON Shoot is a public event happening just prior to the DEFCON hacker conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Anyone who wants to can show up and for a small fee make use of a private range located about 30 minutes outside of the city. There will be opportunities to see and possibly shoot some of the weapons belonging to your friends and it will also be possible to rent firearms (including Class-III full autos) from the range itself. In addition to having a number of terrific pieces of hardware on-site, the range is directly affiliated with Small Arms Review Magazine and thus has access to their nearly limitless archive of equipment. Anything from a WWII Bren Gun to a Vulcan Cannon-style Minigun is possible.

As of right now, the event's ability to come off is contingent on participation... that means that we need you if we're going to make it happen. I have run the numbers, and I can acquire us private range time at a very sweet facility if we have about a little over two dozen people showing up, provided that about at least ten of them are interested in some full-automatic action. Read on for more details about location, pricing, etc.

You can sign up on the DEFCON Forums at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9574

You can get all the info at http://deviating.net/firearms/defcon_shoot/

DEFCON 16 Contest & Events Update!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:28 -0800

New DEFCON 16 Events/Contests

There are few new happenings recently added to the mix that you might want to know about, such as the EEE PC Mod workshop, The Leetskills Talent Competition, as well as Buzzword Survivor, where you can win your share of $10k! Get all the up to the minute info at https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=346!

DEFCON 16 Black & White Ball: Acts Announced

Get ready for some hot DJ action kids! Zziks has posted a tentative lineup for the Black & White Balls and Daytime Chillout Area. Check them out as they evolve on the Forums at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9533!

Mystery Box Wildcard Slot

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:25 -0800

There will be one wildcard (walk-on) team allowed this year. Each year I have people asking about the contest after it is too late. This is my means of dealing with those people. Keep in mind that the first year Mystery Challenge ran a walk-on team won the competition.

Friday morning I will be accepting intentions to compete. THIS MAY CHANGE TO THURSDAY NIGHT. If only one team shows for this position, it is theirs. If multiple teams show, there will be a mini-challenge race to determine who gets the spot.

Anyone who intends to try for the walk on team should email me their intentions prior to con if possible. (DC16MysteryChallenge [at] MysteryChallenge ]dot[ org. This will help me gauge the magnitude of the mini-challenge race, if necessary (and it just helps me get an idea of the number trying out).

See you all in a few weeks.

LosT

Seeking Contestants! Win your share of 10K!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:21 -0800

The wait is over. Buzzword survivor is here. The rules are simple, the money is real.

Rules: You sit and listen to 36 hours of straight vendor pitches
- No sleeping
- Eat what you want
- Bathroom breaks when you need them
- Stand and stretch when you need to, but you have to stay focused on the presenter.
Prize:
- 10 contestants
- Half the pot gets divided by all remaining contestants at the end.
- Half the pot get divided 60, 30, 10 by 1st, 2nd, 3rd in test scores.

Prizes as of June 1, 2008 (assuming all 10 make it to the end). Pot could rise depending on number of sponsors.
- 1st: $3500
- 2nd: $1500
- 3rd: $750
- All others: $500

To become a contestant email: buzzwordsurvivor@gmail.com

Mystery Challenge registration closed

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:18 -0800

Mystery Challenge registration is now closed. There will be 1 wildcard team allowed to sign up the first day of Defcon. Should multiple teams desire this position, there will be a mini-contest. Interested parties should email LosT with their intent to try for the wildcard slot.

DEFCON 16 Schedule now on-line!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:16 -0800

DEFCON 16 Schedule now on-line! We are proud to present the schedule of speakers and events for DEFCON 16! Thanks to all the new space available at the Riviera Hotel & Casino, we have even more room this year. 4 Full speaking tracks and an additional "Breakout" track filled with cool talks, demonstrations and workshops. We are pleased at our lineup, and the amazing list of speakers who really diversified the content this year.

Link: http://defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-schedule.html

Keep checking the website and schedule for changes, Contests & Event Schedules and Workshop room locations. This year is packed with more stuff to enjoy than any years prior and we hope you like it just as much as we do!

See you at the show!

Mystery Challenge Reg Closing Sunday 6/29

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:12 -0800

Mystery Challenge Registration will close this Sunday (6/29/08) at 11:59:59 PM.
If you intend to register do it now.
There should be sufficient information in the forums and on MysteryChallenge.org at this point.

1057

DEFCON Badge Hacking Contest!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:09 -0800

Recently announced at the DEFCON forums:

The DEFCON Badge Hacking Contest awards the top 3 most ingenious, obscure, mischievous, obscene, or technologically astounding badge modifications created over the weekend. No longer just a boring piece of passive material, the badge is now a full-featured, active electronic product, and it exists for your hacking pleasure.

We've had some amazing hacks in previous years. For info on the past badges and badge hacking contest entries, check out:

http://www.grandideastudio.com/portf...fcon-15-badge/

http://www.grandideastudio.com/portf...fcon-14-badge/

This is the first year that it will be an official contest announced in advance, etc., as previously we've kept the whole thing under wraps until the first day of the con. For more info go to https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9502

People's Choice voting is open for the DC16 Artwork Contest!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:06 -0800

Let the voting commence! Go to the DEFCON 16 Artwork Contest Public Gallery at https://pics.defcon.org/showgallery.php?cat=532&ppuser=16770 to view this year's submissions. Once you have found your favorite go ahead and cast your vote at: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9497.

Voting for the People's Choice category will run for one week, ending June 30th at 6pm. You will need a DEFCON Forums account to vote, so if you don't have one, sign up now at forum.defcon.org

Final round of DEFCON 16 Speakers chosen!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:05:02 -0800

This is it, Ladies and Germs, the last few DEFCON 16 speakers have been chosen and the Talk schedule is now in it's final stages. Look for the DEFCON 16 Schedule page to be updated this week at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-schedule.html. For now, check out the speaker page and see what these latest selections are all about!

Grendel-Scan: A new web application scanning tool
David Byrne, Eric Duprey

Comparison of File Infection on Windows & Linux
Iclee_vx

Anti-RE Techniques in DRM Code
Jan Newger

How can I pwn thee? Let me count the ways
Renderman

Hijacking the Outdoor Digital Billboard Network
Tottenkoph, Rev

You can discuss the speakers and talks on the DEFCON Forums at:
https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9496

DEFCONBots is Back!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:59 -0800

DefconBots is back this year with the same rules as last year. Now is a great time to get started on your bot! Last year there were six competitors, this year let's get a lot more! Don't let "I can't solder" stop you again, you can get started with a simple kit available through http://defconbots.org There's even open source software to get you started in linux.

New DEFCON 16 Speakers Posted!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:55 -0800

9 more talks have been added to the DEFCON 16 lineup, and are listed below, Alpha by Speaker

Digital Security: a Risky Business
Ian O. Angell

Pen-Testing is Dead, Long Live the Pen Test
Taylor Banks

Hacking the Bionic Man
Gadi Evron

Panel: Internet Wars 2008
Gadi Evron Moderator

The Big Picture: Digital Cinema Technology and Security
Mike Renlund

Inducing Momentary Faults Within Secure Smartcards / Microcontrollers
Christopher Tarnovsky

MetaPost-Exploitation
Valsmith, Colin Ames

Password Cracking on a Budget
Matt Weir, Sudhir Aggarwal

New ideas for old practices - Port-Scanning improved
Fabian "fabs" Yamaguchi, FX

DEFCON 16 Artwork Contest Extended!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:51 -0800

Due to late blooming interest in the contest, all entries for the DEFCON 16 Artwork Contest will be accepted up until 5pm PST on Sunday June 22, 2008. You can find the rules at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-artwork-contest.html.

Voting for the People's Choice category will commence Monday June 23, 2008 and will run for one week on pics.defcon.org. A link to the voting gallery and instructions will follow at that time. You will need a DEFCON Pics account to vote, so if you don't have one, sign up now!

Good luck all!

Defcon Goon: Speaker Operations: Call for Volunteers

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:47 -0800

From Agent X on the DEFCON Forums:

The few, the proud (arrogant?) ,the insane? Yes, that's right Speaker Operations a subset of the Defcon Goon Squad is looking for a few good folks. Speaker Operations goons are the blue shirts that ferry speakers to and from stage, keep the speaking schedule in order, and generally try to make the talks not suck...
Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail, generally there is beer at the end.
In an effort to ensure a healthy supply of goons for future Defcons, I'm holding semi-formal auditions/interviews this year at Defcon 16.

So if you interested in joining the ranks of the Defcon Speaker Operations Goons squad, here's what you've got to do:

* Write me an email, telling my why you will rock speaker operations. (In a good way).
* Demonstrate your resourcefulness by tracking me down and arranging a time for us to talk at Defcon this year. Make it memorable...it's a busy con you know.
* Demonstrate to the speaker operations staff those blue shirted goons again, you know why they are so awesome (?!Schwag, beer?!)

Thank you for your interest.
Agent X

https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9474

Open CTF Registration is now Open!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:43 -0800

Formerly known as Amateur Capture The Flag (aCTF), this contest pits any Defcon attendee against the house (DC949) as well as other contestants. There are a series of challenges of varying difficulty involving a variety of things, including cryptology, stenography, malicious software, and websites (and other services) just waiting to be exploited.

Find out more at: http://dc949.org/oCTFIV/

Movie Night with the Dark Tangent

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:20:52 -0800

This year on Friday night we will be screening a documentary, Hackers Are People Too, which will end before the director/producer needs to participate in Hacker Jeopardy. Then we will move on to some Blu-Ray goodness of "Appleseed Ex-Machina" for the latest in cg anime from Japan.

Saturday evening we will go retro with "Three Days of the Condor", where you can see an early Robert Redford deal with spies, telephones, and intrigue. For those who have seen 'safehouse' you'll recognize a scene for scene rip off homage to "Condor" Then we'll close with as of yet TBD movie...

Qualifying CTF Teams for DEFCON 16

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:38 -0800

The following teams have demonstrated their uber prowess by qualifying to participate in the DEFCON 16 Capture the Flag Contest, organized by Kenshoto.

These 7 teams will be battling last year's winners, 1@stPlace, for the CTF title! DEFCON would like to congratulate all of these talented teams and wish them luck!

Routards 5200
Trivia 1500
Binary Leetness 1000
Forensics 1500
Real World 600
Potent Pwnables 600

Pandas with Gambas 5200
Trivia 1500
Binary Leetness 1000
Forensics 1500
Potent Pwnables 600
Real World 600

Guard@MyLan0 4800
Trivia 1500
Binary Leetness 600
Forensics 1500
Potent Pwnables 600
Real World 600

Shellphish 4800
Trivia 1500
Binary Leetness 600
Forensics 1500
Potent Pwnables 600
Real World 600

Taekwon-V 4800
Trivia 1500
Binary Leetness 600
Forensics 1500
Potent Pwnables 600
Real World 600

WOWHACKER 4800
Trivia 1500
Binary Leetness 600
Forensics 1500
Potent Pwnables 600
Real World 600

PLUS 4800
Trivia 1500
Binary Leetness 600
Forensics 1500
Potent Pwnables 600
Real World 600

Mystery Challenge Registration Closing Soon!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:34 -0800

The LosT@Con Mystery Challenge preregistration will remain open for an undisclosed bit longer. Teams who have not completed the preregistration but that intend to enter are encouraged to post such intentions in the DC forums.

This year there will be one wildcard slot open, and a mini-contest will be held two hours prior to the official contest start for that slot.

https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=369

Sign up for Hacker Jeopardy and Buzzword Survivor!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:31 -0800

Hacker Jeopardy

The Official Hacker Jeopardy entry thread on the DEFCON Forums is now open for signup, at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9444

From the signup thread:
This year, we will be accepting applications from both teams and individuals. We will likely hold a set of qualifying games Friday afternoon to allow unproven teams/people a chance to show off their skillz and advance into the late night tournament.

Buzzword Survivor - NEW!

Buzzword Survivor is a new contest that pits you against 36 hours of vendor pitches, with big cash prizes! Find out what it's all about and sign up at https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=352

DEFCON 16 Artwork Contest Reminder

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:28 -0800

There's only a little over a week left to submit your creations for the DEFCON 16 Artwork Contest. The Contest info and rules can be found at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-artwork-contest.html. Current submissions are on https://pics.defcon.org/showgallery.php?cat=532&ppuser=16770

Another Round of DEFCON 16 Speakers are Live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:25 -0800

We've got more talks up on the speaker page, listed below, alpha by speaker

BackTrack Foo - From bug to 0day
Mati Aharoni

They're Hacking Our Clients! Introducing Free Client-side Intrusion Prevention
Jay Beale

Arbitrary code injecting MITM attack vectors
Joachim De Zutter "byterage"

Wide World WAF's
Ben Feinstein

Virtually Hacking
John Fitzpatrick

Malware RCE: Debuggers and Decryptor Development
Michael Ligh

Fear, Uncertainty and the Digital Armageddon
Morgan Marquise-Boire

Toasterkit, a Modular NetBSD Rootkit
Anthony Martinez, Thomas Bowen

Bringing Sexy Back: Breaking in with Style
David Maynor, Robert Graham

Panel: All Your Sploits (and Servers) Are Belong To Us: Vulnerabilities Don't Matter (And Neither Does Your Security)
David Mortman, Rich Mogull, Chris Hoff, Robert "RSnake" Hansen, Robert Graham, David Maynor

Solid Stated Drives Destroy Forensic & Data Recovery Jobs: Animated!
Scott Moulton

Urban Exploration - A Hacker's View
Phreakmonkey

Beholder: New wifi monitor tool
Nelson Murilo, Luiz 'effffn' Eduardo

Keeping Secret Secrets Secret and Sharing Secret Secrets Secretly
Vic Vandal

RE:Trace: The Reverse Engineer's Unexpected Swiss Army Knife
David Weston, Tiller Beauchamp

https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-speakers.html

Gringo Warrior at DEFCON 16 NEW!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:22 -0800

Participants in Gringo Warrior will have five minutes to free themselves from handcuffs, escape from their "cell", get past a guard, retrieve their passport from a locked filing cabinet, leave through another locked door, and make their escape to freedom. The course will offer a variety of locks representing a range of difficulty, allowing participation by people of all skill levels. Points will be awarded based on the time of completion as well as the difficulty of locks attempted. The best warrior of all wins the grand prize!

Get the full story at: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9401

DEFCON 16 now has a Twitter Feed!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:19 -0800

DEFCON 16 Now has a Twitter Feed for all you Tweeters out there! Frequent updates will be forthcoming up to and during the con to keep you in the loop for news, contest updates and events. http://www.twitter.com/defcon16

DEFCON 16 CTF Quals Complete

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:16 -0800

From Kenshoto.com:

See the final results at http://www.kenshoto.com/results.txt!

The first 7 teams on the list have qualified. If any are unable to attend, invitations will be extended to the alternates in scoring order.

DEFCON 16 Slogan Contest Now Open

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:14 -0800

Do you think you have the wordsmithing skills to come up with he next great DEFCON slogan? The DEFCON 16 Slogan Contest is now up and running, so get on over to http://www.totallybog.us/dc16slogan/dc16slogan.html and submit your literary gems for a chance to be featured in the DEFCON 16 Program!

More DEFCON 16 Speakers Online!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:09 -0800

Working with Law Enforcement
Don M. Blumenthal

CSRF Bouncing†
Michael Brooks

Hacking Desire
Ian Clark

Compromising Windows Based Internet Kiosks
Paul Craig

Shifting the Focus of WiFi Security: Beyond cracking your neighbor's wep key
Thomas d'Otreppe de Bouvette "Mister_X", Rick Farina "Zero_Chaos"

Snort Plug-in Development: Teaching an Old Pig New Tricks
Ben Feinstein

Playing with Web Application Firewalls
Wendel Guglielmetti Henrique

Advanced Software Armoring and Polymorphic Kung Fu
Nick Harbour

Under the iHood
Cameron Hotchkies

Tuning Your Brain.
Lyn

Forensics is ONLY for Private Investigators
Scott Moulton

Every Breath You Take
Jim O'Leary

Advanced Physical Attacks: Going Beyond Social Engineering and Dumpster Diving, Or, Techniques of Industrial Espionage
Eric Schmiedl

Gaming - The Next Overlooked Security Hole
Ferdinand Schober

Making a Text Adventure Documentary
Jason Scott

StegoFS
James Shewmaker

Let's Sink the Phishermen's Boat!
Teo Sze Siong, Hirosh Joseph

Medical Identity Theft
Eric Smith, Dr. Shana Dardan

Web Privacy and Flash Local Shared Objects
Clinton Wong

Beverage Cooling Contraption Contest on Hack A Day!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:05 -0800

The BCCC run by Deviant Ollam has popped up on hackaday.com!

From the article:

Let's face it: no one likes warm beer. In the arid August air of Las Vegas, though, it's difficult to get anything else. To combat this problem, Deviant has hosted a competition the last three years at Defcon called the Beverage Cooling Contraption Contest, or BCCC. We're not talking about something as simple as a Coleman cooler or even a peltier cooler: the devices entered in this contest have to be able to take a beer from hot to cool and your glass within minutes.

For info on the contest, go to: http://www.deviating.net/bccc

Round two of DEFCON 16 speaker selections!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:04:02 -0800

The selection process continues, and the second batch of talks for DEFCON 16 is now on the the speaker page. They are listed below, alpha by speaker! Check 'em out!

Autoimmunity disorder in Wireless LAN
Md Sohail Ahmad, JVR Murthy, Amit Vartak

The Anatomy of a Subway Hack: Breaking Crypto RFID's and Magstripes of Ticketing Systems
Zack Anderson, RJ Ryan, Alessandro Chiesa

Predictable RNG in the vulnerable Debian OpenSSL package, the What and the How
Luciano Bello, Maximiliano Betacchini

Buying Time- What is your Data Worth? (A generalized Solution to distributed Brute Force attacks)
Adam Bregenzer

ModScan: A SCADA MODBUS Network Scanner
Mark Bristow

Deciphering Captcha
Michael Brooks

Hacking Data Retention: Small Sister your digital privacy self defense
Brenno De Winter

Markets for Malware: A structural Economic Approach
Brian K. Edwards, Silvio J. Flaim

Identification Card Security: Past, Present, Future
Doug Farre

VLANs Layer 2 Attacks: Their Relevance and their Kryptonite
Kevin Figueroa, Marco Figueroa, Anthony L. Williams

Journey to the center of the HP28
Travis Goodspeed

Nail the Coffin Shut, NTLM is Dead
Kurt Grutzmacher

Race-2-Zero Unpacked
Simon Howard

Triad-Based Music Steganography
Adrian Johnson

Panel: Black vs. White: The complete life cycle of a real world breach
David Kennedy, Ken Stasiak, Scott White, John Melvin, Andrew Weidenhamer

Demonstration of Hardware Trojans
Fouad Kiamilev, Ryan Hoover

WhiteSpace: A Different Approach to JavaScript Obfuscation
Kolisar

Flux on: EAS (Emergency Alert System)
Matt "DCFLuX" Krick

Taking Back your Cellphone
Alexander Lash

Feed my Sat Monkey
Major Malfunction

Sniffing Cable Modems
Guy Martin

The World of Pager Sniffing/Interception: More Activity than one may suspect
NYCMIKE

New Tool for SQL Injection with DNS Exfiltration
Robert Ricks

Free Anonymous Internet Using Modified Cable Modems
Blake Self, Durandal

Evade IDS/IPS Systems using Geospatial Threat Detection
Ryan Trost

The Death Envelope: A Medieval Solution to a 21st Century Problem
Matt Yoder

First round of DEFCON 16 speakers selected!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:58 -0800

The first round of speakers have been selected for DEFCON 16, and it looks like we have a great lineup going! The selection process is coming along nicely and we should have the next batch of speakers online by the middle of next week.

Here are the titles and speakers for the talks so far, alpha by speaker:

Time-Based Blind SQL Injection using heavy queries: A practical approach for MS SQL Server, MS Access, Oracle and MySQL databases and Marathon Tool
Chema Alonso, José Parada

VulnCatcher: Fun with Vtrace and Programmatic Debugging
atlas

Owning the Users with Agent in the Middle
Jay Beale

The emergence (and use) of Open Source Warfare
Peter Berghammer

What To Do When Your Data Winds Up Where It Shouldn't
Don Blumenthal

Generic, Decentralized, Unstoppable Anonymity: The Phantom Protocol
Magnus Bråding

Bypassing pre-boot authentication passwords by instrumenting the BIOS keyboard buffer (practical low level attacks against x86 pre-boot authentication software)
Jonanthan Brossard

Building a Real Session Layer
D.J. Capelis

Hacking E.S.P.
Joe Cicero, Michael Vieau

Climbing Everest: An Insider's Look at one state's Voting Systems
Sandy Clark "Mouse"

Could Googling Take Down a President, a Prime Minister, or an Average Citizen?
Greg Conti

Next Generation Collaborative Reversing with Ida Pro and CollabREate
Chris Eagle, Tim Vidas

Ask EFF: The Year in Digital Civil Liberties Panel
Kevin Bankston, Eva Galperin, Jennifer Granick, Marcia Hofmann, Corynne McSherry, Kurt Opsahl

Panel: Hacking in the Name of Science
Tadayoshi Kohno, Jon Callas, Alexei Czeskis, Dan Halperin, Karl Koscher

de-Tor-iorate Anonymity
Nathan Evans, Christian Grothoff

Nmap: Scanning the Internet
Fyodor

BSODomizer
Joe "Kingpin" Grand, Zoz

Satan is on my Friends list: Attacking Social Networks
Nathan Hamiel, Shawn Moyer

A Hacker Looks at 50
G. Mark Hardy

War Ballooning-Kismet Wireless "Eye in the Sky"
Rick Hill

The Death of Cash: The loss of anonymity and other dangers of the cash free society
Tony Howlett

Intercepting Mobile Phone/GSM Traffic
David Hulton, "Skyper"

Ham For Hackers - Take Back the Airwaves
JonM

Career Mythbusters: Separating Fact from Fiction in your Information Security Career
Lee Kushner, Mike Murray

Developments in Cisco IOS Forensics
"FX" Felix Lindner

Good Viruses. Evaluating the Risks
Dr. Igor Muttik

Brain Games: Make your own Biofeedback Video Game
Ne0nRain
Joe "Kingpin" Grand

VoIPER: Smashing the VoIP stack while you sleep
N.N.P.

Hacking OpenVMS
Christer Öberg, Claes Nyberg, James Tusini

365-Day: Active Https Cookie Hijacking
Mike Perry

Malware Detection through Network Flow Analysis
Bruce Potter

The true story of the Radioactive Boyscout: The first nuclear hacker and how his work relates to Homeland Security's model of the dirty bomb
Paul F. Renda

CAPTCHAs: Are they really hopeless? (Yes)
Mike Spindel, Scott Torborg

Living in the RIA World
Alex Stamos, David Thiel, Justine Osborne

Xploiting Google Gadgets: Gmalware and Beyond
Tom "strace" Stracener, Robert "Rsnake" Hansen

TBA
Marc Weber Tobias

How to make Friends & Influence Lock Manufacturers
Schuyler Towne, Jon King

Compliance: The Enterprise Vulnerability Roadmap
Weasel

Mobile Hacker Space
Thomas Wilhelm

To read more about these talks, go to the speaker page at http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-speakers.html!

First Submissions in for DEFCON 16 Artwork Contest

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:54 -0800

You can check out the first few submissions to the Artwork Contest on pics.defcon.org at this URL:

https://pics.defcon.org/showgallery.php?cat=532

Call for Papers Closed/Speaker Selection has begun!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:51 -0800

The time has come to close the DEFCON 16 CFP. Speaker Selection is now underway, and updates to the Speaker list will be frequent as they are chosen. Keep your eyes on the speaker page, the schedule page, and subscribe to the RSS Feed to stay apprised of speaker announcements as they occur!

Speaker Page: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-speakers.html
Schedule Page: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-schedule.html
RSS Feed: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-speakers.html

DEFCON 16 CFP Open through the weekend!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:47 -0800

For all you last minute stragglers and super busy folks, we are keeping the Call for Papers open through Monday the 19th. Get on it and send that submission to talks at defcon dot org!

https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-cfp-form.html

Mystery Challenge Registration Challenge Open!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:43 -0800

LosT is working his devious magic again with the LosT @ Con Mystery Challenge! There is a Pre-Reg Challenge currently open, and you can find instructions at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9357.

What is the Mystery Challenge you may ask...?

From mysterychallenge.org

The mystery challenge is just that- a mystery. Details of the contest are not given until the contest starts.
So take the dare, and enter a contest where you are flying blind.

So you heard about the challenge, and think you can compete?
Search for hints and clues carefully, even prior to Defcon.

Suggested Skillset for success:
-Physical security (Lockpicking, literal hacking, etc)
-Electronics (reading schematics, breadboard prototyping, etc)
-Puzzle and Riddle Skills
-Coding, networking, hacking...
-???

Call for Papers Closing Soon

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:39 -0800

You've only got a few days left to submit your groundbreaking research to the DEFCON Call for Papers. Go to https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-cfp-form.html and get your submission in for the chance to give a talk at DEFCON 16!

DEFCON 16 Capture the Flag Qualification Announcement

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:36 -0800

Kenshoto will be back this year bringing all out cyber-warfare to DEFCON 16. The qualification round for this year's Capture the Flag contest has been officially announced.

From the DEFCON Forums:
Deputy Director of Homeland Security, Dr. Kenneth Shoto today announces a call to cyber-ninjas everywhere to sign up for his annual fight-to-the-death qualifying competition for the Defcon Capture the Flag (CtF) contest. The qualifying competition will start at 10PM on Friday, May 30th and end at 10PM on Sunday, June 1st.

Find out more at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=9352 or http://kenshoto.allyourboxarebelongto.us:1337/

Race to Zero and Dan Kaminsky on CBC Radio

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:33 -0800

The buzz concerning the new unofficial Race to Zero Contest at DEFCON 16 just keeps on building. Dan Kaminsky provides his thoughts on the mounting controversy in an interview with Search Engine, a Canadian public radio program.

Check it out here:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/searchengine_20080508_5692.mp3

pics.defcon.org is Back!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:30 -0800

After a hiatus due to an XSS vulnerablity, The DEFCON pics site is back up and running! Don't hesitate to head on over and upload your favorite photos and videos from past DEFCON conventions!

Race to Zero Makes Headlines

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:27 -0800

The Race-to-Zero anti-virus challenge was announce scarcely a week ago, and already the controversy surrounding it has bubbled all the way up to Wired. The contest's basic premise is that competitors will be given sample virus code and rewarded for modifying that code in such a way that it defeats common AV products.

AV vendors have made their discomfort with the idea clear, with various spokesmen for the industry voicing concern about the creation of new threats to existing AV products. Contest organizers have countered that the contest is categorically not about creating new virii, rather it is about demonstrating the speed with which currently blocked virii can be modified to defeat current virus-blocking software.

While it's important to note that while the contest will be happening at this year's DEFCON, it is not an official DEFCON contest. To learn about the contest from its creators and organizers, please check their website at www.racetozero.net.

Links:

http://www.racetozero.net/
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/hacker-challenge.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/28/Security-vendors-slam-Defcon-virus-contest_1.html

Go to https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=419 to chime in on the controversy

DEFCON 16 Artwork Contest Call for Submissions

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:24 -0800

Whip out your favorite medium and get to creating, because the official DEFCON 16 Art Contest is now underway! This year’s contest is a bit different from previous years, and will run now to June 15, 2008.

Go to http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-artwork-contest.html

New Contest! The Race to Zero

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:21 -0800

Check out this new contest brewing for DEFCON 16!

From the DEFCON Forums:
The Race to Zero involves contestants being given a sample set of viruses and malcode to modify and upload through the contest portal. The portal passes the modified samples through a number of antivirus engines and determines if the sample is a known threat. The first team or individual to pass their sample past all antivirus engines undetected wins that round. Each round increases in complexity as the contest progresses.

Further details are available here: http://www.racetozero.net/

DEFCON 16 Black & White Ball Call for Talent

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:17 -0800

This is the Official CALL FOR TALENT :

This year the ballroom will lead a double life .

By day: the room will be a chillout/break out room complete with wifi
By night: the room will transform into the black and white ball complete with dance floor, lights,headlining acts and a bar.

This said we are currently taking all submissions for DJ/acts for the chillout/breakout . and have a few slots for black and white ball .

some of the styles we are looking for are :
drum n bass
trance
breaks
electro
industrial

If you are interested in performing please contact :
blackandwhitedjs@gmail.com

DEFCON 16 Call for Papers Now Open!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:12 -0800

That's right! It's time again to submit your hacktastic discoveries to be considered as a DEFCON 16 talk! New and interesting research is always welcomed in the realm of security, hardware hacking, social engineering, lockpicking, and anything else you can modify, bypass or reverse engineer. Out of the box thinking is what we're after... Go to the CFP form and submit!.

DEFCON 15 [Video] Podcast now online.

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:43:04 -0800

The Defcon 15 Video Podcast is now online. If you didn't make it, or missed the speaker you wanted to see here is your chance to download and watch the presentations any time.
http://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-15-video.rss

Supporting Materials will be online at:
https://www.defcon.org/html/links/defcon-media-archives.html#dc_15

DEFCON 15 [Audio] Podcast now online

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:34:49 -0800

The Defcon 15 Audio Podcast is now online. If you didn't make it, or missed the speaker you wanted to see here is your chance to download and hear the presentations when you want.
http://www.defcon.org/podcast/defcon-15-audio.rss

Supporting Materials will be online at:
https://www.defcon.org/html/links/defcon-media-archives.html#dc_15

Tiger Team with Pyr0, long time DEF CON Goon(tm)

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:31:08 -0800

Tiger Team is a new series on TruTV (formerly CourtTV) featuring a familiar face from DEFCON, Luke McOmie aka pyr0.

From wikipedia:
The show follows a "tiger team" of Chris Nickerson, Luke McOmie, and Ryan Jones, which is hired to infiltrate organizations with the objective of testing their weaknesses to electronic, psychological, tactical, and physical threats. Attacks executed on organizations in this television show include social engineering, wired and wireless hacking, and physically breaking into buildings.

The television show's first two episodes aired Tuesday, December 25, 2007 at 11:00 pm ET and 11:30 pm ET. The first episode is available on TruTV's website in streaming flash format.

TruTV Feedback: http://www.trutv.com/contact/feedbackform.asp?amp;subject_id=148&start=true

Join the DEFCON LinkedIn Group

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:20:34 -0800

Join the DEFCON LinkedIn Group!
We have created a DEF CON group on LinkedIN, if you already have an account at LinkedIN please join us.

We don't collect email addresses so there is no easy way to pre-approve people, just use the following link to request membership.

http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/47798/109B061719DC

Pre-DEFCON 16

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:03:03 -0800

It's beginning already... Check out the Pre-DEFCON 16 Discussions in the DEFCON Forums. If you want to get involved, start here!

DT Speaks Out On the "To Catch a Hacker" Scandal

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:59 -0800

The media storm that followed the NBC producer fleeing DEFCON included a lot of opinions, but none of them came from the DEFCON staff itself.

DT recently contributed a piece to the Thinkernet blog at InternetEvolution.com. It's an interesting piece about the significance of the event and some of the lessons that the media can take from all the hoopla.

DEFCON FORUMS now support user blogs

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:55 -0800

The DEFCON foums (forum.defcon.org) now supports projects and blogs. We have licensed the
blog http://www.vbulletin.com/features_blog.php, tool, and anyone with a
forum account can now create a blog. We'll be doing more with this in the
future, but for now we are encouraging people to create accounts and play
with it. If it works we'll keep it, if not we'll look for other software to
try.

We've also licensed Project Tools (http://www.vbulletin.com/features_project.php) that
everyone can use to plan DC Groups projects, events at the con, or their
latest hacking project.

If you're a forum member, we hope you'll take a little time to try out the new features. If you're not, here's hoping this helps you decide to join us.

DEFCON 15 Badge finalist in Design Challenge

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:52 -0800

The Defcon 15 badge is a finalist in the Freescale Semiconductor Black
Widow $10,000 Design Challenge. Freescale selected the ten finalists
from a field of more than 775 participants. Each submission was judged
on creativity, design efficiency, technical complexity, number of
Freescale devices used, and overall application innovation and usefulness.

Photos of DC 15 Badge Hacks

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:49 -0800

Check out these photos of the badge hacking and final hacks at DEFCON
15. For badge source code, video of the hacks, and source of selected
hacks, check out Joe Grand's badge page at:

http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/index.php?amp;id=1&prod=54

DEFCON Network Survival Guide

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:46 -0800

It's a little late, but it's never to early to start planning for next year. If you must get online at DEFCON, here's a little guide to help keep you from getting completely owned.

>From The Register:
"..Defcon, the most bacchanal of security conferences and perhaps the single largest gathering of technically adept pranksters. Now is the perfect time to map out a strategy for keeping emails private and making sure your system doesn't get ransacked by the scowling kid with the nose ring and jet-black hair."

The Traveling Terabyte Project

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:43 -0800

Many of you know Deviant Ollam, from his extensive involvement in the Lockpick Village and his running of the Beverage Cooling Contest, as well as his new "Titanium Chef" and "guess the Flesh" contests at the Toxic BBQ this year. We came across a story about one of his projects and though we'd share.
>From tgdaily.com:
A New Jersey network engineer is on a mission to send some love and care – of the digital kind – to Americans stationed overseas. Going by his hacker handle ‘Deviant Ollam’, he’s been sending out hard drives filled with popular movies, television shows and music for over a year. Dubbed the Traveling Terabyte Project (TTB), the drives have seen action in war-torn countries and one set is now making a small contingent of Marines very happy in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

Photos at:

http://www.tgdaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=18&Itemid=41&slideshow=20070920

Kingpin: far from soft, reprezentin' l0pht.

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:40 -0800

This little slice of gangsta was part of the winning Badge Hacking Contest submission by Team Osogato. This rap song was created by The Brothers Grimm and based on Kingpin's "Ode to the DEFCON 15 Badge" poem printed in the conference program. Played at the DEFCON 15 Awards Ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to Kingpin for posting this on the media server at pics.defcon.org. If you've got any pictures or media from DEFCON, please consider sharing it with the DC family at pics.defcon.org.

DEFCONbot video

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:37 -0800

Ever wonder what it takes to compete in the DEFCONbot shootout? Check out some fascinating behind-the-scenes video from a team that had a sentry gun in this year's competition at the Burnt Popcorn blog. For more information about DC 15's DEFCONbots winners or data on past competitions, be sure to visit defconbots.org.

Call for DEFCON 15 photos

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:34 -0800

If you have pictures of this DEFCON 15 (or any previous DEFCON) you'd
like to share, please upload them to https://pics.defcon.org
We're trying to create a visual record of all
the shows and your help is appreciated. Just create an account and start
uploading pictures and videos!

DEFCON media archives updated

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:31 -0800

The DEFCON media archives have been updated with slides, white papers and extras for DEFCON 15 presentations. Come check them out, and stay tuned - we'll be adding audio and video from DEFCON 15 as soon as it's ready.

DEFCON In The News

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:07:16 -0700

Many interesting things happened at this year's DEFCON, from the sensational hackable badge by Joe Grand to the eye-opening talk by Zac Franken on access control reader (in)security. We blew the undercover reporter's cover, and we found out that a kid can bump a "bump-proof" deadbolt. We even married two Feds. What a year! Here are just a few of the headlines arising from DEFCON 15:

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/08/medeco
Medeco Readies Assembly-Line Fix for DefCon Lock Hack

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do
command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9029080
$10 hack can unlock nearly any office door

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/i-married-a-fed.html
I Married a Fed at DefCon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCvmkxO5hoQ Michelle Madigan Video: Dateline Reporter Uncovered At DEFCON 2007.
http://weblog.infoworld.com/zeroday/archives/2007/08/defcon_diary_th.html
Defcon diary: The real story

A Word from DEFCON 15 Badge Creator Joe Grand!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:52:18 -0700

Joe Decided to drop us a line and clue send us some info on whats going on with the badges AFTER the con. We loved the badges this year and apparently we arent the only ones who found them awesome.

>From Joe Grand

"You've probably noticed that people are still going *nuts* over the badges. That's a really awesome feeling and hopefully there will be some of the 40 people who took components and development kits coming back next year with some radical hacks.

Here are some pictures I took of the Black Hat and DEFCON conferences (and badge hacking):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joesmooth/sets/72157601295119952/

and here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joesmooth/sets/72157601302838516/

The badges have been selling like hot cakes on eBay:
http://search.ebay.com/defcon-15
Take a look at the completed listings, too, to see the high bidders!

Also, there were TONS of blog and news reports about the badge. You've probably read most of them, but here are the ones I liked the best:

* Hack-a-Day, August 2, 2007, http://www.hackaday.com/2007/08/02/the-defcon-badge

* The Register, The romance and mystery of a good hack, August 6, 2007, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/06/defcon_final/

* The Inquirer, Defcon ID badge comes with its own technical manual, August 3, 2007 http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41436

* boingboing, Defcon's hackable badges, August 3, 2007, http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/03/defcons_hackable_bad.html

* Wired, Threat Level, Badge Hack at DefCon, August 3, 2007 http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/badge-hack-at-d.html

* Makezine.com: Defcon 15 round up, August 5, 2007, http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/08/defcon_15_round_up.html

* Makezine.com: Hackers on a Plane - Defcon, August 7, 2007, Http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/08/hackers_on_a_plane_defcon_1.html

* Gizmodo, DefCon Badge Hacked in 10 Minutes, August 3, 2007, http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/defcon/defcon-badge-hacked-in-10-minutes-285998.php

I'll be putting up a webpage with complete badge development info, badge hacking contest results/hacks/source, etc. in the next week or so. It will be directly accessible from the main www.grandideastudio.com site for a while.

Details on the winning badge hacking contest entry from Team Osogato can
be found here: http://www.osogato.com/hacks This was the only entry out
of seven that combined hardware and firmware modifications - they hacked
the badge into a line-level meter for under $10 that used the LED matrix
to display the peak audio levels of an audio signal fed into one channel
of the A/D. The two capacitive touch buttons are used to adjust the
input levels of the signal and there are even three shades of
"greyscale" for a fading effect on the LEDs. For the icing on the cake,
the team worked with The Brothers Grimm from Michigan
(http://www.myspace.com/CompleteError) to create a rap song based on my
poem that I wrote for the DC15 program (on page 3). What an honor! The
song is freely available at the Team Osogato link above and step-by-step
hack details are forthcoming.

Hope you guys are recovering!

Joe"

DEFCON 15 Supports EFF! Dunk Tank Results!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:04:16 -0700

This year the Dunk Tank raised $4,700 We matched that and added our contribution to reach a total of $12,000 to the EFF! We know they will put it to good use with their hard work!
For the past 17 years, EFF has been proud to take on the hard cases to ensure that your liberty is not sacrificed unnecessarily. They are responsible for loads of support for Tor, stopping RIAA lawsuits, Privacy Issues, etc.

You don't have to wait till the next Dunk tank@ DEFCON 16 to support them! Join EFF today!
They work all year round so support them by donating to EFF at http://secure.eff.org/. Spread the word to your friends and family.

Short goal list of current EFF Projects :
Pull Congress Back Into the Wiretapping Fight!
Repeal the REAL ID Act!
Reform the PATRIOT Act!
Support the FAIR USE Act!
Fight the Justice Department's Copycrime
Stop the SPY Act!
Stop the Broadcasting Treaty Flip-Flop!
CA Alert - Keep RFIDs out of State IDs!
Don't Let Congress Shackle Digital Music!
Tell Congress to Support E-Voting Reform! make sure every counts!
Improve the Freedom of Information Act!
Don't Let Cable Companies Ratchet Up Restrictions!.

theSummit at DEF CON 15

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:07:09 -0700

Want to help support the EFF and Hacker Foundation? Would you like to meet with authors of those security books you have been reading all year long? Craving some live nerdcore? Kill three birds with one stone!
Thursday August 2, 2007 @ 9:00PM Vegas 2.0 presents "theSummit" a fund raiser with a twist! Meet with computer security guru, listen to some great live music AND support two great causes at the same time! Meet up with us in the Riv Skyboxes this Thursday, tickets are $35 at the door. Need more details? Visit http://www.vegassummit.org

DEFCON 15 FINAL Schedule now on-line!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:59:57 -0700

We are proud to present the FINAL schedule of speakers and events for DEFCON 15!

This year DEFCON has grown, and is offering the largest line of up speakers ever - thanks to all the new space available at our new venue, the Riviera Hotel. Because of this there are also more contests. There is an overwhelming amount of things to participate in.

Pending Natural Disasters, Emergency, Missing, kidnapped or Canceled speakers this is our final schedule...well that's the intention anyway!

If you are speaking or involved in the content side of things and you see a problem or something missing please let us know!
See you at the show!

(beta) DEFCON 14 Black and White Video and Audio released!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:01:11 -0700

The video and audio from DEFCON 14 has been encoded and ready for download!

There may be some minor tweaks, but all the video that is available has been encoded to iPod Video specs, H.264 and 320x240. Audio is in .mp3 192k format.

We are trying to identify the artists in each hour, so if you know who they are please let us know and we'll update the file names so everyone gets proper credit.

The following links will have to get you by until the complete RSS feed with iTunes and MRSS tags is complete:

http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-Carthsis-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-Regenerator-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-Jackalope-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-Mind-Pop-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-Minibosses-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-hour-2-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-hour-3-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-hour-4-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-hour-5-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-hour-6-320-517kbps.mp4
http://media.defcon.org/dc-14/music/dc-14-BandW-Ball-hour-7-320-517kbps.mp4

Black and White Ball Lineup Announced!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:08:42 -0700

The Black and White ball is back in effect with the following bands and DJs ready to throw down.

Friday Night Black Ball
Industrial/ ebm / Noize Dress: your best blacks: Bondage Rubber and Fetish Encouraged

Featuring :
Regenerator http://www.regenerator.net/

DJs Patrice
Wintamute
SailorGloom
Great Scott!
Catharsis
Kriz Klink And more ...

Saturday Night: White ball
==Geekdom Release party==
Dress: Your finest stormtrooper suit, togas, bedsheets and the likes.

Featuring : Miss DJ Jackalope // Jungle Chaos http://www.dj-jackalope.com/
DualCore // Live Nerdcore Set http://dualcoremusic.com;
*Minibosses // NES classics http://www.minibosses.com/

DJs
Rustcycle / Electronic live mix http://www.rustcycle.com
Crashish // DNB
Casey // psytrance
Mitch Mitchem // breakbeat/electroclash

* scheduling tentative
All acts subject to change. please see a complete listing posted throughout DEFCON venues

Amateur Radio at DEFCON 15

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:17:08 -0700

For all you radio geeks!

146.58 (FM Simplex) will be the unofficial Defcon 15 frequency for Amateur Radio enthusiasts.

Sushicon 4.0

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:50:27 -0700

Wednesday, August 1st at the Sushi Factory on Tropicana will be the location for ShshiCon 4.0 right before DEFCON.

Love sushi? Want to meet new people and hang out in a sake fueled pre-con ritual? Then ShshiCon is for you!

Organized byGonMinusOne, check out the forums for the latest details.
https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=8578

World Premiere of Infest Wisely to be shown at DEFCON

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:24:45 -0700

This year's DEFCON Movie Night will feature the new and highly buzz-worthy film "Infest Wisely." The film is centered around the increasingly less science-fictional world of commercial nanotechnology and it's been described this way:

"Infest Wisely asks what would happen if Critical Mass teamed up with the geeks from DEFCON to stop commercialized nanotech from taking over our bodies and the world."

It's a feature length movie in seven episodes, each with different directors but all written by novelist Jim Munroe, who will be our special guest for the screening. As always, there's no charge - come join us and support cinema licensed under the Creative Commons. For more information about the film, you can check out it's website. http://www.infestwisely.com/

DEFCON 15 Schedule now on-line!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:19:41 -0700

We are proud to present the schedule of speakers and events for DEFCON 15!
DEFCON
This year DEF CON has grown, and is offering the largest line of up speakers ever - thanks to all the new space available at our new venue, the Riviera Hotel. Because of this there are also more contests. There is an overwhelming amount of things to participate in.

Please note that this is the first schedule version and is not final. As speakers and contests finalize their information the schedule will be updated up to the last minute.

If you re speaking or involved in the content side of things and you see a problem or something missing please let us know!

New ToxicBBQ Contests!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:08:52 -0700

From Deviant:

"There are two contests/events that I'll be running at this year's ToxicBBQ, both of which involve the "Exotic Meat" theme that I tend to focus upon year after year.

I have a web page up online with full details, rules, info, etc...
http://deviating.net/toxicbbq"

-=[ Titanium Chef ]=-

Cost to Participate: $40 per team
Prizes for Winners: OiNK invite for each team member, secret grand prize, refund of entry fee, extreme bragging rights and Free giveaways of fun stuff to all participants
DefCon Forums Sign-up Thread: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=8367

Teams of up to three individuals will put their heads together and engage in heated battle to concoct a delicious dining experience focused around a secret theme ingredient. These hacker chefs will have both their culinary skills and their organizational abilities put to the test in this challenging event. All participants will gather together a few hours before the Toxic BBQ in order to witness the revealing of the event's secret ingredient, then they will disperse in order to gather supplies, reach Sunset Park, and prepare their food for the judges.

Whose cuisine will reign supreme? Will opponents' grill-fu be stronger than you? Participate and find out!

-=[ Guess The Flesh ]=-

Cost to Participate: $10 per person
Prizes for Winners: OiNK invite for first three people to correctly identify all meats. Free giveaways of fun stuff to all participants

DefCon Forums Sign-up Thread : https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=8365

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Gee, i wish i could dine on the meat of nearly every kind of beast to walk the earth... but I don't own many high-powered firearms, i don't have the money to travel the world, and no government in their right mind would issue me a hunting license?"

Well, now your dreams can become a reality. For less than the cost of what passes for a movie and popcorn nowadays, you can have a sample platter featuring eight meats that you aren't likely to see at the supermarket. However, instead of just cooking and randomly giving out samples willy-nilly, this year i have something new planned. I intend to prepare morsels of these meats and plate them in a way that they are not immediately identifiable or distinguishable from one another. Those who are eager to try some new flavors -- and those who think their pallets are up to the challenge -- can take a whack at identifying these various animals by taste and texture alone.

Be Prepared! Update

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:49:50 -0700

The be prepared section of the DEFCON 15 site has been updated!

Check it out.

Las Vegas concerts for Black Hat and DEFCON time frame

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:12:23 -0700

From IrishMASMS on the DEFCON forums comes this helpful post:

Las Vegas concerts for Black Hat & DEFCON time frame
Some out of town folks hit me up asking about concerts around town during this year's Black Hat andDEFCON. I took a quick look on http://pollstar.com/ and http://www.jambase.com/ for what might be interesting. YMMV, though I thought sharing is caring.

Fri 07/27/07 Violent Femmes Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Fri 07/27/07 Jonny Lang House Of Blues
Sat 07/28/07 Tesla House Of Blues
Sat 07/28/07 Rush MGM Grand Garden Arena
Wed 08/01/07 John Lee Hooker Jr. Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino
Thu 08/02/07 John Lee Hooker Jr. Boulder Station Hotel & Casino
Fri 08/03/07 Godsmack The Pearl Concert Theater At Palms
Sat 08/04/07 Buckcherry, Hinder, Papa Roach The Pearl Concert Theater At Palms
Sun 08/05/07 Against All Authority, Reel Big Fish / Less Than Jake, Streetlight Manifesto House Of Blues
Mon 08/06/07 "Sounds Of The Underground": Amon Amarth, Chimaira, Every Time I Die, GWAR, Heavy Heavy Low Low, Job For A Cowboy, Necro, Shadows Fall , The Devil Wears Prada, The Number Twelve Looks Like You - House Of Blues
Sat 08/11/07 The Fixx The Club @ Cannery Casino

As for venues, the Hard rock sucks. House of Blues is one of the best in town. MGM Grand is ok, but the sound quality in the arena can be shitty in spots. The Pearl is the brand new venue in town, good luck getting tickets. The Station casinos are not bad venues, and I think those are free shows. The Cannery Casino I have never been to, so I can not say - and there is no review posted on www.yelp.com yet for me to reference.

HTH!

Scavenger Hunt! Advice from the Winners!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:41:32 -0700

Scavenger Hunt! Advice from the Winners!! Free advice courtesy of hackajar with Vegas 2.0
Here's a quick list of things you will need to be fully geared up, if competing. I kinda wish we had something like this three years ago!

1.) Money - we spent ~$500 each year, though some good social engineering could very well fix this
2.) Digital Camera - Judges won't know what you did, without proof!
3.) Video Camera - Sometimes a photo DOESN'T say a thousand words, but motion video does!
4.) Transportation - Sometimes you have to go on recon, we always paid extra to have a car in front of valet for those quick runs
5.) Room at Hotel - Need somewhere to build a 30ft straw or host a geek girl strip off, your best bet is in a local room
6.) Printer - Don't ask me how many points we never got for lack of a stupid printer!
7.) Beer - It's easy to bribe goons and judges with this stuff, if you can find it.
8.) Start Early - Some items and tasks we could only do on Friday, remember things close on Saturday and Sunday, so be wise!
9.) Memorize the phrase "It's for the Scavenger Hunt" - nuff said

I'm sure I'm missing something else in there, please add to my list!

-Vegas 2.0
Defcon 14 Scav Hunt Winners

DEFCON 15 CFP is now closed!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:27:23 -0700

DEFCON 15 CFP is now closed!

We are in the process of making our final selections and will start to fill in the online schedule soon! We will notify you of the status of your submission by July 1st.
If you have not heard from us by then please email talks[at]defcon[dot]org.
If you were not accepted don't be discouraged, we have recieved many many quality submissions this year but we can't accept them all. As you know we are in the process of expanding to accept more and more talks each year.

There is still plenty you can do to get involved, join the forums, read up on our contests, even just take some cool pictures!
pics.defcon.org is now live for use.The pics software is integrated with the defcon forums, so if you already have an account there you automatically have an account on https://pics.defcon.org/

Do your Photoshop skilz 0wnzor?!
DEFCON Art Contest is currently open! Submit your art by June 25, to be used online and to be included in the DEFCON 15 program. We are looking for a Web Banner, Key Card, T-Shirt, Wallpaper! If you win you could win free admission and cash to be used at the DEFCON Swag booth!
https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-15/dc-15-forms/DC15-Artwork-Contest-Guidelines.pdf

New "Be Prepared"- Lock Picking for Sport and Amusement

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:53:02 -0700

Lock Picking for Sport and Amusement

DEFCON is a great place to learn all sorts of new skills - the skill of lockpicking is no exception. This year's Con will again have a "Lockpicking Village" - a fantastic event with all kinds of presentations, practice locks, sample tools and general education. We want everyone who's interested to check it out, but we want you to be careful and safe as well.

Be sure to consult your state and local laws about possession of locksmith's tools. Staying in compliance with the applicable laws is, of course, your responsibility. When traveling, it's not a good idea to put tools of this nature in your carryon. While they're unlikely to cause any problems in checked baggage, those pointy little devils are very likely to be a problem in the security line.

It probably ought to go without saying, but if you're making an international trip to DefCon, the scrutiny is much higher and you owe it to yourself to be thoroughly familiar with the rules and err on the side of caution. You don't need that kind of hassle. There's plenty of lockpicking knowledge and fun to be had even without your k-rad tools, so don't put yourself in a position to miss your flight.

It's also an option to mail them to yourself in care of your hotel. Some hotels charge for this service, so be aware of the policies wherever you're staying.

If the world of locksport is brand new to you and you're looking to get a little knowledge before the Con, you can check out Marc Weber Tobias' contributions to techblog Engadget (called The Lockdown.) More info is also available from Locksport International (lsi.com) or The Open Organization of Lockpickers ( toool.us or toool.nl for Dutch speakers)

Link: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-15/dc-15-beprepared.html

Hackers on A Plane!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:50:51 -0700

Hey Hey!
If you haven't seen it yet check out Hackers on a Plane!

2007 is a very special year for the global hacker community. Thanks to cooperation between the organizers of DefCon XV and the Chaos Communications Camp 2007, the two largest gatherings of hackers from around the world happen only a few days apart!

This is where "Hackers on a Plane" comes in: The Hacker Foundation has put together a complete travel package to help bring together hackers from around the world for ten days of fun, culture and community. We see it as the first step to building a truly global hacker community.

$1,337.00 (for those travelling roundtrip from the US & Canada)
Û1,337.00 (for those travelling roundtrip from Europe)
Gets you:

* Admission to DefCon in Las Vegas, NV, USA
* Flight from Las Vegas to Frankfurt
* Flight on the "Hackers on a Plane" charter flight from Frankfurt to Finow Airport
* Admission to all days of CCCamp2007
* Accommodation at Camp Anaconda (no need to bring a tent!)
* Return flight to select destinations in the USA (or flight to Las Vegas for DefCon for EU citizens.)

More info at Hackers on a Plane!
Link: http://hackersonaplane.info/info.html

LosT @ Con Mystery Box Challenge - Official Registration Open!

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:46:06 -0700

mysterychallenge.org
Official registration is open.
To Register Teams must send an email to:
Defcon15MysteryChallenge ]at[ mysterychallenge [dot] org

-Teams are limited to 5 official members
-You must receive a confirmation that your team is registered or you are NOT
-You must submit a team name and list team members
-Teams successful in completing the challenge last year are guaranteed a spot if registered by June 17.
-New teams are encouraged to enter, however only those serious about completing the challenge
-The challenge will take longer to complete this year

Questions? Post here. Comments? Post here. New teams trying to decide if you have what it takes to compete? Post here (I encourage those who competed last year to answer these types of questions...)

Link: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=8509

NEW CONTEST! 0wn the box? Own the box!

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:43:41 -0700

From ownthebox.cipherpunx.org/:

Are you a defensive ninja? Are your services unbreakable, your builds airtight? Do your countermeasures have countermeasures for counter-countermeasures?

So prove it, bucko... Bet your box on it, on the most hostile network in the world.

Bring your laptop/server/desktop, hardened to the nines, running exactly two (2) visible services, to our specs, and we'll offer you up for the slaughter.

The first person to compromise you walks away with your gear. When you're 0wned, you're owned. It's that simple. The last box(en) standing, unowned, wins, and the winner(s) can take his/her precious back home, safe in the knowledge that if it survived at DC, it can survive anywhere.

For the other side of the fence, the reward is clear... Pick your target, 0wn the box, and own the box. A shopping spree for the elite.

Link: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=337
Contest Site: http://ownthebox.cipherpunx.org/

Be sure to check the forums often it looks like they have already started to collect an interesting list of hardware up for the slaughter! Mwahahaha!

Announcing The DefCon 15 Wireless Contest

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:42:10 -0700

Announcing The DefCon 15 Wireless Contest
(queue Thus Spake Zathrustra)

Are you a freq-geek? Think your WiFiFu is hot? Get high from sniffing packets on the ether? Think you're a great lover? We can't help you with the last one, but get ready because here's your chance to prove the rest of those outlandish claims to the world.

Compete in the Wireless Contest, and we can validate you self esteem, at least in the geeky stuff.

The Wireless Contest, following the format for the past few years, will be a series of "Mini-Contests". You can compete in only a single mini-contest or all of them. We recommend that teams be formed to fill in different skill areas.

We are allowing a unlimited number of Teams -subject to resources- limited to 3 people each.

First Place winners of individual mini-contests events get prizes and with a top prize will be awarded for the best overall of the contests.

A common problem with the Wireless Contest in the last few years, is that some potential competitors felt that they didn't have the skills to even try. As a result, fewer competitors kept signing up. To elevate this, the Wireless contest this year is tied in heavily with the Wireless Village. If you want to compete in the contest, but feel you don't have a needed skill, you can come to the Wireless Village before a mini-contest and learn the needed skill at the one of the Wireless Village's world-famous Breakout Sessions. You walk in having no skills but a willingness to learn, learn a skill in an exciting breakout session taught by an expert, then go out and compete and the beat the pants at those loudmouth teams who said they'd pwn you.

Learn + Touch = DO!

link:
https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=309

CTF Qualifications Are Complete!

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:05:30 -0700

From invisigoth:
The qualification round for this years CTF is complete. More than 150 teams were actually submitting answers which means that participation for this year was more than double the previous high water mark (as far as we're aware). Results may be found at http://www.kenshoto.com/ as always.

This years challenges came in a wide range of technologies and difficulties. No single team actually solved them all... Additionally, this years level of international participation was staggering...

The MUD for this year will remain up for teams to ask questions and hopefully collaborate with each other about how they came to solutions for some of the harder challenges. Additionally, we will be putting most if not all of the challenges back online for a while so everybody can sharpen up... Stay tuned...

DEFCON 15 Network Team has two slots left!

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:57:39 -0700

From the site defconnetworking.org:

"DefCon presents a really unique opportunity. You know how hostile the environment is. Have you ever wondered what that traffic looks like? All you need do is ask. For years we've provided people the ability to plug in a capture/sniffer box and capture public con traffic to take back to your Evil Laboratory(tm) for analysis after con (you know, once you've sobered up & stuff). If you want in on the action, email us so we can RSVP a spot for you on our Table-of-Doom in the NOC."
TWO SLOTS LEFT!

To get an Idea check out last years network:
Here are the PPT slides from DC14 Closing Ceremonies with all the net stats: DC14network.ppt
http://www.defconnetworking.org/dc14network.ppt
Remember, if you're planning anything "special", have specific needs for your talk, for your demo, for your break-out session, let us know EARLY so we can plan for it.

About Defcon Networking:
We're the group of volunteers who run the network at DEFCON. It's our job to design, plan, architect, implement, and secure the show network. We arrange bandwidth, we handle wireless, we provide secure connections for show staff, speakers, and press. Finally, we provide an environment where DefCon Attendees can share and be creative.

DEFCON 15 Speakers Selected!

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:54:55 -0700

New speakers have been selected for DEFCON 15!
Check out their abstracts and bios online now. The Schedule is not yet finished and we still have room for a few more talks! So don't get discouraged, submit your rootfu now!
Speaker page: http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-15/dc-15-speakers.html
New Speakers selected:
Squidly1, aka Theresa Verity, Thinking Outside the Console (box)
Brendan O'Connor, Greater than 1:Defeating "strong" Authentication in Web Applications.
Kenneth Geers, Greetz from Room 101
Peter Berghammer (pf0t0n), A Journalist's Perspective on Security Research.
Schuyler Towne, Locksport: An Emerging Subculture

Many more are online, check back often, the DEFCON 15 Schedule will be online shortly!

DEFCON 15 CFP Closing soon

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:52:20 -0700

The DEFCON 15 CFP will be Closing June 15th!
Please submit your rootfu to talks@defcon.org. We have been making selections and we are pleased to have accepted some really great speakers.
There is still room to squeeze in a few more exceptional talks. Submit now, there will be no extensions possible!

Submit:
https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-15/dc-15-cfp.html
New for DEFCON 15:
The second year being at the Riviera has allowed us to make some changes to the format from last year.
We have more speaking rooms, and because of this I want to announce a call for workshops, demos, and mini trainings. We have additional small rooms that will enable highly focused demonstrations or workshops.
If you want to talk about building a passport cloner or a tutorial on developing Metasploit exploits this might be the format for you. You tell us how much time you need, and we try to accommodate you! If you have an IDEA please submit it, talks@defcon.org!

Amateur CTF Registration now OPEN!

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:50:57 -0700

Registration for this years aCTF is officially open!
Registration page:
http://www.dc949.org/aCTFIII/register.php

>From Contest Organizers:
"We're recommending that you group yourselves in teams of three, as the prizes will come in triplicate.
There will be prizes for win, place and show. We have some really good stuff in the works in terms of prizes, but I'm not going to mention them here since they're not bought and in our hands (and/or built)"
For a little more information about the setup this year.
http://www.dc949.org/aCTFIII/README.php

Announcing Official DC949 aCTF Artwork Contest!

Mon, 21 May 2007 16:30:02 -0700

Official DC949 aCTF Artwork Contest
The winners artwork will be made into an 8x4 foot vinyl sign.
Besides bragging rights, the winner will also receive yet to be determined prize.

Rules

1. The contest will remain open for a minimum of 1 week, and will remain open until a winner is chosen.
2. Submissions must be have a 2x1 or 1x2 ratio with a minimum resolution of 2000x1000 pixels.
3. Artwork must contain simplistic designs and colors. ie designs with definitive edges and no fading or merging colors.
4. Maximum number of colors that can be used is 4.
5. Artwork must contain "DC949" and "aCTF" in some legible form.

Submissions must contain a .PNG, .JPG, or .GIF of the artwork as well as in a vector format. (.PSD, .EPS, etc)

Please email submissions to cp-at-dc949-dot-org
Forums discussion is here:
https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=8456

Don't forget to use your talents to enter into the DEFCON 15 Artwok Contest too!

DEFCON 15 Artwork Contest Guidelines
http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-15/dc-15-forms/DC15-Artwork-Contest-Gu idelines.pdf
Submission deadline: All submissions must be received by June 25, 2007.
Submit all entries to: sleestak\at\defcon dot org
Categories:
Web Banner
Key Card
T-shirt
Wallpaper

Banner Art Prize:
- The first place winner will receive free admission to DEFCON 15 for one person (non-transferable to a future con),$50 credit that may be used at the official DEFCON SWAG Store and recognition in the con program and website.

T-Shirt Art Prize:
Free admission to DEFCON 15 for two persons, $130 credit that may be used at the official DEFCON SWAG Store and recognition in the con program and website.

Wallpaper Art Prize:
Free admission to the conference for one person, $50 credit that may be used at the official DEFCON SWAG Store

DEFCON 15 Network Team in Effect!

Wed, 16 May 2007 19:51:54 -0700

As DC 15 gets closer all goon teams are powering up!

Ever wonder what the network team is up to? Ever wanted to sniff the con traffic feed?

Check out the defconnetworking.org! Lockheed throws down some defcon history and gets us ready for more!

>From the site:
DC15 Network
15MAY07
DefCon presents a really unique opportunity. You know how hostile the environment is. Have you ever wondered what that traffic looks like? All you need do is ask. For years we've provided people the ability to plug in a capture/sniffer box and capture public con traffic to take back to your Evil Laboratory(tm) for analysis after con (you know, once you've sobered up & stuff). If you want in on the action, email us so we can RSVP a spot for you on our Table-of-Doom in the NOC.

11MAY07
Why yes, we are in the midst of planning for DC15. Now that we've "done the dance" with the hotel (who are awesome folks, btw!) we know what we can and can't do and should have virtually no surprizes this year. We're planning higher bandwidth, better monitoring, and also some new interactive-type stuff (I hesitate speaking of it for fear of jinxing it!). We're actually spending our funds boosting up our own infrastructure (beyond the Arbua kit we have) so we have more ports, better fibre connectivity, better trunking.

Remember, if you're planning anything "special", have specific needs for your talk, for your demo, for your break-out session, let us know EARLY so we can plan for it.

--Lock

Announcing Amateur CtF 3 by DCG 949!

Wed, 16 May 2007 19:13:46 -0700

From the official web site for the Amateur CtF:

aCTF 3
"King of the Hill"

Yes, it's official; we'll back again this year. The first year, nobody scored, the wifi network we set up had massive problems, but people seemed to have a little fun and see the potential. Last year, the network was stable, people scored, battled back and forth, and we were actually able to give out some prizes. There was some trouble with boxes staying up, but overall it was a huge success.

Last year we saw some things that surprised us. There was a case of two teams which both could take a flag, but neither could lock the other out. They both then proceeded to write scripts to play the game for them. Yeah, it then made the server inaccessible due to the massive amounts of requests, but still... hats off to both of you. We didn't expect automated hacking. We also learned that while Windows NT might have worked in our little test environment, it really can't hold up to the brutality of a Defcon contest. I'm happy to say that Windows NT will not be appearing in this year's contest.

We will be changing a few things around this year, but the basics will be the same as before. Find a flag, find a way to put your team name on it, and you'll score points for as long as you can keep your flag up there.

As usual, details on the contest will be limited, however we will say that we're branching out a bit more this year. Hacking isn't just about buffer overflows and running metasploit, it's really about one upping someone (or everyone) else. It's about figuring out how things work and taking them apart and putting them back together to do something different, customizing things to make them do things they were never intended to do, and just generally learning how to beat the system.

Announcing DefConBots Contest!

Mon, 14 May 2007 19:26:36 -0700

Kallahar has updated the software page for the DefConBots Contest.

"Improvements over last year include faster response times and software alignment of the camera to where the gun is actually shooting.

All the code is public domain, do whatever you want with it!"

What is the point of the contest you ask? Quite simple it is to ceate a computer controlled gun that can shoot down targets in a shooting gallery.

See http://defconbots.org/ for complete contest information.

NEW CONTEST! Guitar Hero II

Fri, 11 May 2007 16:48:56 -0700

Guitar Hero II Contest!!

A new contest at Defcon 15: Are you a Guitar Hero? Do your friends think you're l33t and can shred like a rock star? Then prove it!

Contest Site: http://www.panadero.org/gh_home.html
Forums discussion: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=335

Guitar Hero II - DEFCON STYLE!!!! Why Not!!!
Rules (cause they tell us we have to have them...)

* The contest will consist of 3 levels of play, Medium, Hard and Expert.
* The contest will be played on Guitar Hero II, on the Xbox 360.
* A initial pre qualification round will be held so that Experts aren't playing in the Medium level, etc...details of the prequals to come...
* All contestants should be at their assigned time to play 10 minutes before their time. There will be some leeway if you are a few minutes late, but don't expect to get your turn if you show up hungover an hour after your time.
* You may use your own guitar, as long as it has not been modified, and is for Xbox 360.
* Free play is a chance for people that have never played Guitar Hero to have a chance. It's not a chance for contestants to practice. This contest is for everyone, and we want to make sure that is the case. Free play will be limited to one song per person, depending on how many are waiting to play.
Scoring

* The 'prequals' will be designed to ensure that Experts are not playing in the Medium category, just to win. We want the game to be fair, and everyone to have fun. We would hate for the lesser/newer players to be upset and frustrated because it's dominated by those that have years of practice.
* The 'heats' are designed to weed out the newbs from the Guitar Heroes. Each player will play 2 songs, back to back, to come up with a cumulative high score.
* The four highest scores will move to the finals for each level.
* The finals will be tournament style, head to head, most points win and move to the final song.
* The final two players for each level will play against each other to become the first annual Defcon Guitar Hero champion!
* It is VERY important to pick the right songs to get into the finals. Some songs have more notes, for more Star Power and higher points, as some songs have less notes.
* All songs in the finals will be chosen by the event coordinators and will not be announced until the start of the finals. Final songs will not be songs included in Xbox Live downloadable content, so that no player has an advantage over others, GOOD LUCK!

Defcon STAR POWER!!!
Do you want an extra 1000 points added on to your song??? Do ya? Bring me a COLD unopened beer! I won't accept it if it's opened (no date rape drugs for the contest organizers!)

Any beer, except for Guinness, you get an extra 1000 points of Star Power! Keep in mind that 6-packs are appreciated, but it will still only get you 1000 points! I love beer, but it's not fair to bring a case of beer and get an extra 12000 points!

Toxic BBQ contests and events!!

Fri, 11 May 2007 16:43:06 -0700

Once again, the Toxic BBQ is looking for a slogan.

Something catchy, something creative. It will be used on the front of the Toxic BBQ T-Shirts.

Last year was ASTCells slogan
"If its dead we cook it"
"If its alive we cook it"
" ... a little longer."

Submit your ideas. https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?p=86581#post86581 Come on, It's not that hard.

Toxic BBQ IV Events and Contests:
Iron Chef I
Time: To Be Announced
Contact: Deviant Ollam

Event Desc: Contestants in teams of 3 or less will race to cook and present a dish made from an ingredient revealed to them at the start of the contest. After a timed preperation period, the dishes will be awarded points by a panel of judges who will judge for Presentation, Uniqueness, and Flavor!

For more info on the Toxic BBQ go here: http://www.toxicbbq.com/
Forums discussion: https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=308

Announcing CoffeeWars VIII: Pre-Con Ranting

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:32:33 -0700

The Coffee Wars Crew is getting ready for their Call for Beans!

>From the website:

Wake up and smell the coffee war, people: DefCon 15 is just around the corner, and that means another edition of the world's best-known hacker coffee competition. Already, the frenzy has begun!

Now's the time when you have an All-Inclusive Divine Excuse to unashamedly mingle with your own kind without having to shroud your activities under the shadow of the Evil Corporate Coffee Empire! Yes, now we caffeine fiends can gather without shame!

WHAT? You want a shot of espresso?! We got your shot right here, pal. This event ain't no freebie. If you want a cup, you gotta pony up. Coffee, that is. Whole bean. We're judging it all. The best, the strongest, the most caffeinated. You name it. ...but regular store-bought or corporate coffee trash will only earn a trashing.

You think you got what it takes? Then we'll take what you got! Bring your best beans and put 'em up for judgment by our over-qualified, over-caffeinated, (and over-rated) Coffee Wars judges and contestant panel! We keep hearing that someone else's beans are the best. Now it's time to prove it bean-to-bean!

Forums discussion is here:
https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=284

Announcing LosT @ Con Mystery Box Challenge!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:11:01 -0700

The idea is simple.. form a team, get a box, open box.

But is it that simple? The box is a mystery, with many puzzles involved in opening it. To get things going for this year Lost Boy has started to accept team sign ups, as well as release clues to hint at some of the puzzles involved.

Here is a picture on how NOT to open a mystery box:
https://pics.defcon.org/showphoto.php?photo=153

For a bit on the last challenge check CNet's coverage here:
http://news.com.com/2300-1029_3-6102806-5.html

Interested? Check out the thread on the challenge over on the forums.

Capture the Flag Contest Announced!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:32:18 -0700

Capture the Flag at DEFCON continues it's long tradition with the announcement by Kenshoto of the CtF qualification round!

>From their announcement:

Kenshoto's army of code-gnomes has been working feverishly on the production of this years installment of WarGamez (CTF), more to come here yet tonight, but we'll be making the quals announcement *very* soon.

Check it:

Dr. Kenneth Shoto proudly announces that the qualifying round for the Defcon Capture the Flag contest is now pen for registration. The qualifying contest will start at 1 June 2007 @ 2200 EST and end 3 June 2007 @ 2200 EST.

Teams can be any size you'd like (more ninjas clearly == better) and each team will need to register before 1 June 2007 @ 2200 EST in order to get an account for the actual game. The top 7 teams qualify for a seat at the table at the proverbial 'big show' (the actual CtF competition) to be held at Defcon 15. Defcon takes place August 3-5th 2007 (https://www.defcon.org/) so make sure you clear all those WoW, D&D, and Eve-Online play dates off your calendar early.

That's right hackers and hackettes, get your debuggers warmed up and your shellcode tested, cuz it's that time of year again. What you say? You don't know what the hell we're talking about? Well, peep dis:

The core of the qualifying competition will be a quiz-like interface where each team may select a question and then must hack until they can answer it. Topics will vary widely, but of course include such fan-favorites as reversing martian binaries, landing shellcode and a double lutz simultaneously, and stealing information from strange places. We've also thrown in challenges like intar-webs hax0rification and mind-bendy trivia so the 5kr1p+ K1dd1e5 can play along (much love).

This year the game allows for maximum parallelization on questions. When the leading team selects a question, that question (and all the ones they already answered) becomes available to the trailing teams. In other words, there is no need to register multiple ghost accounts as they won't give any advantage (*ahem*skewl*cough)...

Don't have the stones to think you can win? Well, you should sign-up and play anyway. The winning team from last year actually got primed up for the game by competing in quals. They then kicked it up a notch by spending the next three months figuring out every detail of every challenge we put out there and explaining it all as if paid to do so (check it out http://nopsr.us/ctf2006prequal/). Besides, how else are you gonna sharpen those skillz and convert yourself from poser to p3wner?

So what are you waiting for? Jump onto your nops-sled and slide over to http://kenshoto.allyourboxarebelongto.us:1337/ to sign up for quals now...

-kenshoto

(ctf07 at kenshoto.com)

Announcing the Art Work Contest!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:29:06 -0700

DEFCON 15 Artwork Contest Guidelines DEFCONDEFCON

Submission deadline: All submissions must be received by June 25, 2007.
Submit all entries to: sleestak\at\defcon dot org
What we will do with your artwork: Art contests submissions will be added on-line to the DEFCON web site and may be included in the con program. By submitting artwork us, you are allowing DEFCON to publish and reproduce your artwork in electronic and print formats.

Categories:
Web Banner
Key Card
T-shirt
Wallpaper

Required Elements: Artwork should incorporate a version of the following text: DEFCON / DefCon / Def Con with the number 15 / 2007 / Fifteen / 0x0F / XV / etc.. you get the point. It ties DEF CON to the year of the con.

Artwork Preparation Specs:

All continuous tone artwork must be at least 600dpi
The following formats are accepted for artwork:
- .EPS with Vector preferred, all fonts converted to outline
- .Jpg
- .Gif
- .Psd - layers with all fonts converted to outline

***We strongly recommend Illustrator Vector artwork for any submissions for the T-shirt or Key Card categories since these will need to be reproduced in print.

Prizes:
1. Winners will be contacted individually and be announced on the website and recognized in the DEFCON 15 printed program.
2. There may be multiple winners per category.
3. DEFCON reserves the right to not select a winner for every category

Banner Art Prize:
- The first place winner will receive free admission to DEFCON 15 for one person (non-transferable to a future con),$50 credit that may be used at the official DEFCON SWAG Store and recognition in the con program and website.

T-Shirt Art Prize:
Free admission to DEFCON 15 for two persons, $130 credit that may be used at the official DEFCON SWAG Store and recognition in the con program and website.

Wallpaper Art Prize:
Free admission to the conference for one person, $50 credit that may be used at the official DEFCON SWAG Store

Announcing Brew Wars!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:10:06 -0700

Announcing Brew Wars for DC 15!

It's time to remind everyone of Brew Wars again. The very first Brew Wars will happen this year at Defcon 15.

The rules are simple. Just bring twenty four ounces of your home brew to Defcon. A judging panel of three people, including myself, will drink and rate each brew. The beer will be rated on a scale of 1-10. Each beer will be judged in it's catergory. The standard of each category of beer is last year's winner of the Great American Beer Festival in the style you have entered. A list of those winning beers can be found at the URL below.

http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/...medalists.aspx

The judges will be blind tasting the beers. The only information given to the judges will be what style of beer it is.

Judges will not be allowed to enter their own brews.

Judges have already been selected. All judges are were at the GABF and sampled all winning brews. Extensive tasting notes were taken at the time.

I have sourced a glass carboy for the winner. This carboy will be etched will a logo commemorating the event. If your beer is good enough, you could soon be brewing your next batch in a unique carboy.

Dr. Faustus

Robot Wars Arena Updated!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:07:40 -0700

Arena Updated!

We've started building the new arena for this year's robot contest. The details about the arena and the build photos are here:

http://defconbots.org/defcon15/arena.php

So now that it's (almost) done, teams are invited to come practice on the actual arena if you want to get yourself to Orange County, CA :)

If anyone has questions or if you need more detailed photos, please let me know!
Kallahar

Contests starting up for DEFCON 15!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:13:35 -0700

DEFCON 15 Contests are starting to get organized!
Interested in running a contest or competing in one? Check out the current list of what's happening over on the forums.

Capture the Flag is back in full force, the Toxic BBQ is in effect, the Black and White Ball will happen as usual, and a whole host of new contests are getting ready. Some of them include:

- The Amateur CtF
- Beverage Cooling Contest
- Brew Wars!
- Coffee Wars
- DefconBots Robot Contest
- Hacker Jeopardy
- Lockpicking Contest
- LosT @ Con Mystery Challenge
- QueerCon
- Spot the Fed
-The Summit meeting and party
- Sushicon
- Wireless Village, Lockpick Village and RFID village!
- Sekret Challenge!

DEFCON 15 CFP Now Open!!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:57:19 -0700

DEFCON 15 Call For Papers is now officially Open and will close on June 15, 2007.
Don't know what DEFCON is? Go to https://www.defcon.org/ and clue up!

Papers and presentations are now being accepted for DEFCON 15, the conference your mother and ISC(2) warned you about. DEFCON will take place at the Riviera in Las Vegas, NV, USA, August 3-5, 2007.

Last year, we eliminated speaking tracks, and we received a diverse selection of submissions. From hacking your car, your brain, and CIA sculptures to hacking the vote, Bluetooth, and DNS hacks. We group presentations by subject and come up with topic areas of interest. It worked out so well in the past we are doing it again.

What are we looking for then, if we don't have tracks? Were looking for the presentation that you've never seen before and have always wanted to see. We are looking for the presentation that the attendees wouldn't ask for, but blows their minds when they see it. We want strange demos of Personal GPS jammers, RFID zappers, and HERF madness. Got a MITM attack against cell phones? We want to see it.

Subjects that we have traditionally covered in the past, and will continue to accept include: Trojan development, worms, malware, intelligent agents, protocol exploits, application security, web security, database hacking, privacy issues, criminal law, civil law, international law/treaties, prosecution perspectives, 802.11X, bluetooth, cellular telephony protocols, privacy, identity theft, identity creation, fraud, social implications of technology, media/film presentations, firmware hacking, hardware hacking, embedded systems hacking, smartcard technologies, credit card and financial instrument technologies, surveillance, counter-surveillance, UFO's, peer2peer technologies, reputation systems, copyright infringement and anti-copyright infringement enforcement technologies, critical infrastructure issues, physical security, social engineering, academic security research, PDA and cell phone security, EMP/HERF weaponry, TEMPEST technologies, corporate espionage, IDS evasion.

What a mouth full! Well you can't say we didn't give you some ideas. This list is not intended to limit possible topics, merely to give examples of topics that have interested us in the past, and is in fact the same list we used last year..

Check out https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-14/dc-14-speakers.html for past conference presentations to get a complete list of past topics that were accepted if you want to learn from the past.

We are looking for and give preference to: unique research, new tool releases, Ø day attacks (with responsible disclosure), highly technical material, social commentaries, and ground breaking material of any kind. Want to screen a new hacking documentary or release research? Consider DEFCON.

Speaking Formats:
Choose between 12 hundred seconds, 50 minutes, 110 minutes, or a break out format of a length you determine. We are continuing the Twelve Hundred Second Spotlight, which is a shorter presentation (about twenty minutes) that doesn't warrant a full 50 or 110 minute talk. The Twelve Hundred Second Spotlight is designed for those who don't have enough material for a full talk, but still have a valuable contribution to make. This is to ensure that great ideas that can be presented quickly don't fall through the cracks merely because they didn't justify a full length talk. Examples include research, announcements, group presentations, projects needing volunteers or testers, requests for comments, updates on previously given talks, quick demonstrations. You get the idea. Presenters will get a speaker badge which entitles them to free admittance to DEFCON, but we will be unable to pay an Honorarium.

Remember being attacked by flying meat? Do you remember thick accented Germans trying to convince you to attack critical infrastructure? Do you remember extravagant vapor ware releases by a stage filled with posses? We do, and sans projectiles of raw meat we want to encourage such shenanigans again this year. We are calling on all "hacker groups" (you know who you are, and the FBI has a nifty file with your name on it) to present at DEFCON, to discuss what you're up to, what your mission is, to discuss any upcoming or past projects, and to discuss parties/conferences you are throwing. We do humbly request that all gang warfare be relegated to electronic attacks, and not fall over into meat space.

New for DEFCON 15:
The second year being at the Riviera has allowed us to make some changes to the format from last year. We have more speaking rooms, and because of this I want to announce a call for workshops, demos, and mini trainings. We have additional small rooms that will enable highly focused demonstrations or workshops. If you want to talk about building a passport cloner or a tutorial on developing Metasploit exploits this might be the format for you. You tell us how much time you need, and we try to accommodate you!

To submit a speech Complete the Call for Papers Form at: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-15/dc-15-cfp-form.html and send to talks at defcon dot org. You will receive a confirmation within 48 hours of submission.

We are going to continue last year's goal of increasing the quality of the talks by screening people and topics. I realize you guys are speaking for basically free, but some talks are better than others. Some people put in a bit more effort than others. I want to reward the people who do the work by making sure there is room for them.

This year we will have two rounds of speaker acceptance. In the first round we will fill about half of the schedule before the submission deadline, and the remaining half afterwards. This is to encourage people to submit as early as possible and allows attendees to plan on the topics that interest them. If you see the schedule on-line start to fill, do not worry if you have not heard from us yet, as we are still in the process of selection.

Barring a disaster of monstrous proportions, speaker selection will be completed no later July 1. The sooner you submit the better chance you have of the reviewers to give your presentation the full consideration it warrants. If you wait until the last minute to submit, you have less of a chance of being selected.

After a completed CFP form is received, speakers will be contacted if there are any questions about their presentations. If your talk is accepted you can continue to modify and evolve it up until the last minute, but don't deviate from your accepted presentation. We will mail you with information on deadlines for when we need your presentation, to be burnt on the CDROM, as well as information for the printed program.

Speakers get in to the show free, get paid (AFTER they give a good presentation!), get a coolio badge, and people like you more. Heck, most people find it is a great way to meet people or find other people interested in their topics. Speakers can opt to forgo their payment and instead receive three human badges that they can give to their friends, sell to strangers, or hold onto as timeless mementoes. Receiving badges instead of checks has been a popular option for those insisting on maintaining their anonymity.

Please visit:
https://www.defcon.org/ for previous conference archives, information, and speeches. Updated announcements will be posted to news groups, security mailing lists and this web site.
https://forum.defcon.org/ for a look at all the events and contests being planned for DEFCON 15. Join in on the action.
https://pics.defcon.org/ to upload all your past DEFCON pictures. We store the pictures so you don't have to worry about web space. If you have an account on the forums, you have an account here.
https://www.defcon.org/defconrss.xml for news and announcements surrounding DEFCON.

CFP forms and questions should get mailed to: talks/at/defcon.org

CSI: TCP/IP by Robin Mejia at wired.com

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 16:44:50 -0800

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Why the Pentagon's toughest Internet crime fighter likes hanging out with blackhat hackers" is the sub title of the article.
DEFCON
It turns out to be a well written piece about Jim Christy's career and the birth of the DoD Cybercrime Center. It is set to a back drop of DEF CON 14, and has a couple funny bits, some interesting war stories plus a quote from me.

A snip from the article:
"Christy points out a pulsing vein in the guy's neck – suggesting it's a sign he is lying. The guy calls Christy an old man. He hints that maybe he might have some small connection to Mossad. As he finally sits down, Christy passes him a business card."

Don't Be a Slacker, DEFCON 15 WANTS YOU!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:49:03 -0800

Starting March 1st we will be opening the call for papers for DEFCON 15 - the annual gathering of subversive computer folks.

Earlier submissions are given higher priority, so prepare your best kung-foo, and send it our way. Remember, we are always looking for original and highly technical content, unusual subject matters, software releases, innovative hardware hacking, and generally mind-blowing content. Check out past convention archives to get an idea of what we are talking about.

Once the date is closer there will be more specifics.. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up!

DEFCON 14 Video now available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:34:05 -0800

DEFCON has released the second batch of content from DC-14 encoded for download. This marks the third step of moving away from the real media server to a direct download model in an effort to spread far and wide the presentations from past DEFCON conventions.

The new media server will be going on-line in the next month, and because the old media server is out of drive space you will notice that all DC 7 content has been taken off line to make room.

Once the new media server is on-line all past content will be restored!

DEFCON 14 Audio now available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:34:01 -0800

DEFCON has released the first batch of content from DC-14 encoded for download. This marks the third step of moving away from the real media server to a direct download model in an effort to spread far and wide the presentations from past DEFCON conventions.

Happy Holidays!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:30:46 -0800

Happy Holidays from all of us here at Defcon!

We would like to wish you the best this Holiday season. We hope you have plenty of family, food and fun to go around. If you get bored you can always gather the family around the warm glow of your flat screen to watch the ghosts of presentations past. There is no better gift than that. Unless of course your loved ones headed over to Jinx and got you some sweet Defcon gear!

We also wanted to remind you that pics.defcon.org is up and running, we are looking forward to seeing it grow with the new year. If you get together with your fellow hackers this holiday season, or mod that must have Christmas gift, feel free to upload your photos in the members and dc groups galleries.

That said, Eat plenty of other peoples food, stay up late with your new shiny toys and have fun with friends and family. See you next year!

DEFCON 14 Presentations On-Line!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:00:41 -0800

We've gotten in some updated presentations, and have updated www.defcon.org to make them all available. So if you want to see the slides to a preso you missed, check out the link below.
DEFCON
Next up we'll be posting the audio and video from DC-14 for download.. DEF CON's XMas present to the community, coming in December.

pics.defcon.org now live!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 18:23:24 -0800

pics.defcon.org is now live for use.
DEFCONDEFCON
What is it you ask? Think of it as a repository for all pictures related to DEF CON. It is a place you can upload your pictures and arrange them however you want. Others can comment on them, vote, or put them in their own favorites album.

The idea is that as people change providers there is no long term repository for DEF CON pictures except to the links www.defconpics.org points to. Because they don't mirror the content I wanted to create a free place for people to share their pictures that won't change or go down.

The pics software is integrated with the defcon forums, so if you already have an account there you automatically have an account on pics.defcon.org.

So get busy! Upload those pictures. both http and https connections work. Spread the word!

DEFCON 12 Audio now available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:08:11 -0700

DEFCON has released the first batch of content from DC-12 encoded for download. This marks the second step of moving away from the real media server to a direct download model in an effort to spread far and wide the presentations from past DEFCON conventions.

DEFCON 12 Video now available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:07:22 -0700

DEFCON has released the second batch of content from DC-12 encoded for download. This marks the second step of moving away from the real media server to a direct download model in an effort to spread far and wide the presentations from past DEFCON conventions.

DEFCON 13 Videos of the Music from the Black and White ball now on-line!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:03:25 -0700

Here are the music videos of the music from the Black and White Ball at DEFCON 13.
DJs include Wintamute, Ms. Jackalope, Shatter, Kris Klink and Casey with the bands Catharisis and Regenerator in the house!

DEFCON 13 Music from the Black and White ball now on-line!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:03:25 -0700

We took the audio .wav files and encoded them into .mp3 files.
DJs include Wintamute, Ms. Jackalope, Shatter, Kris Klink and Casey with the bands Catharisis and Regenerator in the house!

DEFCON 14 Speakers Selected!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 18:10:15 -0700

Hey everyone, I want to make some announcements surrounding DEFCON 14.
DEFCONDEFCONDEFCONDEFCON
It's about that time to briefly lay down the inf0z, so here it goes.

- Speakers have been selected, and are now listed on-line:
http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-14/dc-14-schedule.html

They include an assistant Secretary of Defense, an FBI agent, Scary Hackers, privacy fanatics, security studs, and a hardware hacking ninja.

- The con hotel is sold out, but overflow exists here:
http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-14/dc-14-hotel.html

- Need a ride or got a room to spare? Check out the ride and room section of the DEF CON Forums
https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=26

- There are a lot of new contests, and some old ones that are no more (We'll miss you WiFi Shootout!) I'd mention them all, but it takes up too much space. To get a good grip on what is happening I'd suggest reading the contest area of the forums:
https://forum.defcon.org/forumdisplay.php?f=102

- Black and White Ball is two nights this year, with some great bands and DJs including Regenerator, The Minibosses, DJ Jackalope, Catharsis and DJ Wintamute.

- DEF CON 13 Audio and Video is now on-line for DOWNLOAD. Yep, you saw that right. We are phasing out the real media server and going to download mode. The audio is in .mp3, and the video is in H.264 2-pass 192k .mp4, optimized for the iPod video screen size. Right now you gotta subscribe to the rss feed, but the web site will soon sport the direct links. We hope to have DC-12 on-line in the next week.
http://www.defcon.org/defconrss.xml

Notes:
This year we are at a new hotel, the Riviera. I did this because DEF CON was going to stagnate and die if it stayed at the Alexis Park any longer. The benefits of the new hotel are that the speaking rooms are larger, there is air conditioning, and we have room to grow. This year we get about 1/2 the space, and next year we should get 3/4 of the space. That extra room will allow us to offer break out classes, get togethers, and an additional track of speaking. Things we could only dream of before, but now are possible. It will take us all a year or two to learn what to do with all the space, but those are the kinds of problems I can live with. Did I mention the sky boxes?

General hang out site: http://forum.defcon.org/

Remember DEF CON is what you make of it, and we have been lucky over the years to have a great group of people supporting us. The line up this year looks great, and the rest is up to us.

Crypto utopia Sealand ravaged by fire by Andrew Orlowski

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:47:42 -0700

Andrew over at The Register writes about a fire that broke out on Sea Land wrecking the generator room. For those not familiar, there was a talk by Ryan Lacky of HavenCo, a company set up on Sea Land to provide privacy services. I believe it inspired some of the characters in Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon book (Go read it.. very good)

I've wondered what happened since the business imploded in 2003, but from the article it seems not much.

Fire has damaged a World War II gun emplacement seven miles off the English coast. Better known as "Sealand", the fort was acquired in the 1960s by Roy Bates, who declared it an independent principality."

"In a presentation to the 2003 DefCon convention, a former employee described how internal politics and a lack of investment backing had thwarted the experiment. Contracts were broken, the bandwidth never materialised, and the location was vulnerable to DOS attacks. At the time [6] of his 2003 presentation, HavenCo had no new customers, and had seen several of its existing customers leave."

DEFCON 12 Music from the Black and White ball now on-line!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:11:53 -0700

We took the audio .wav files and encoded them into .mp3 files. We are working on DC-13 music next!

Todd Moore, Treasure hunter contestant, spoke at DEFCON 12 on "Cracking Net2Phone"

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:17:52 -0700

Since Todd has been announced as a participant on NBC's new show "Treasure Hunters" we have had more than enough curious folks interested in his presentation. We will be watching him on the new show when it airs, in the meantime you can watch him now on his Defcon 12:"Cracking Net2Phone" Presentation.

Do you think using Internet Telephony is more secure than a regular phone? Think again! Internet Telephony is becoming more common and those that think it is safer from wiretaps than regular phone communications are wrong. This presentation will demonstrate how to decrypt Net2Phone's dialed phone numbers, and playback fully reconstructed audio conversations from network packet captures. Included will be a demonstration of NetWitness 5.0's VOIP playback capability.

Todd Moore is the product manager of NetWitness, a commercially available cyber-forensics tool. Moore's extensive knowledge of Internet technologies, network security, and software development helped make NetWitness well-known for providing powerful insight into network traffic.

Moore has over ten years of professional experience in the field of network security and has extensive experience developing commercial software applications. He has a bachelor in Computer Science from Old Dominion University and is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD). Moore started with CTX Corporation in 1996 securing global intranets and designing network security software to help audit and analyze network traffic. He joined Forensics Explorers, a Division of ManTech ISandT, as Director of Software Development in 1999 and later became the NetWitness Product Manager.

Moore teaches classes on designing quality software and has made numerous television appearances presenting the latest in technology trends. He has two patent pending inventions in the field of cyber-forensics. Moore resides in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

Cybersecurity contests go national by Robert Lemos

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 17:24:21 -0700

I saw this over on SecurityFocus written by Rob Lemos, a long time Info Sec reporter with a solid reputation.

It is a piece about how "Cybersecurity" events are going national. From Old old CTF games, to DEFCON, to the Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX) to the new CCDC it is all a progression of learning through different game challenges.

It makes a couple brief mentions of DEFCON, but does not explain who or what we are. That's OK. If people really want to know, they'll find us.. From the article:

"As the hackers came in, you could see (the students') reactions: They were frustrated when they saw the attackers breach their systems and excited when they stopped the attack," said John Carr, a mentor for the team fielded by Valley High School of West Des Moines and senior solutions consultant with Iowa-based technology consulting firm QCI."

DEFCON 13 Audio now available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 18:49:42 -0700

DEFCON has released the first batch of content from DC-13 encoded for download. This marks the first step of moving away from the real media server to a direct download model in an effort to spread far and wide the presentations from past DEFCON conventions.
DEFCON
The second release is .mp3 audio files in a friendly CBR 64k format. As time goes on we will be re-encoding all previous conference content and releasing it! Next up DEFCON 13 DJ music and video..

Database giant and British hacker make amends.

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 13:20:45 -0700

From By Robert McMillan at Computerworld some words about database security researcher and Oracle. DEFCON devotees may well recognize David's and Caesar's contributions to this space.

Oracle once marketed its database as unbreakable, but security researcher David Litchfield has a less inflated opinion of the software.

"God forbid that any of our critical national infrastructure runs on this product," he said recently on the widely read Bugtraq security mailing list. Oops it does.

Ride and Room sharing forum now open

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:24:10 -0700

Going to DEFCON 13? Want to share a ride or a room? Got extra space in your car or room?

Now is your chance to find others and make new friends. From TheCotMan's post about this:

Suggestions:
Your best bet in finding a ride, or room sharing is actually found by attending your local Defcon User Group, getting to know people in person, who then may give you space in their room. Trying to hook up with people on the Defcon Forums is a tricky thing.

Generally, strangers won't offer other strangers space in their room. People will want some sort of references-- someone both parties know and trust to vouch for you.

The Unofficial Defcon Faq http://defcon.stotan.org/faq/ was written by many, and assembled by HighWizard. It has some outdated information for when the convention was at the Alexis Park but also has some useful information about room sharing, and life at Defcon.

Good luck.

DEFCON 13 Video now available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 13:14:32 -0700

DEFCON has released the first batch of content from DC-13 encoded for download. This marks the first step of moving away from the real media server to a direct download model in an effort to spread far and wide the presentations from past DEFCON conventions.

The first release is .mp4 video files in an iPod friendly h.264 format. Soon to follow will be the .mp3 versions of all the same presentations. As time goes on we will be re-encoding all previous conference content and releasing it!

DEFCON 14 Speaker Selection now underway.

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:03:49 -0700

The speaker selection process for DEFCON 14 is now underway, with early selections being made. While the CfP closes officially in two weeks, we are doing early selection to fill half the speaking spots now to speed things up. We will try very hard to have the process completed in two weeks, right at the end of the deadline. We'll be making announcements on-line as well as on forums and mailing lists.

If you submitted a talk, look for acceptance or rejections over the next two weeks in your email. I am proud to say some of the submissions this year are of very high quality, and we should break in the Rivera with some killer content.

As usual we are talking about the con over on the forum.defcon.org system.

www.defcon.org now serving compressed content!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Sat, 20 May 2006 21:50:32 -0700

Well it has taken a bit of work to get the old web server happy with serving http 1.1 compressed content, but now that it is you should see a speed improvement in page views as well as availability.
These changes are in preparation for the site and server change over, something that I hope will happen in the next week.
If your browser supports content-encoding compressed, you should see a gain! Also note that forums.defcon.org is also enabling compression later this week after some testing. This is a good thing leading up to the convention because it is effectively like buying more bandwidth with a software upgrade.

Capture the Flag pre-qualification opens!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 15 May 2006 11:34:16 -0700

From Kenshoto's announcement: Once again ...
kenshoto will be running the Defcon Capture the Flag contest in 2006. This year's CtF will be a knock-down-drag-out-cyberninja war, the likes of which the world has never seen (except maybe last year).

For the qualifying round, we've widened the scope from last year. With multiple challenges in various categories, there's something for every hacker, regardless of skillset (except running scripts and writing perl).

The core skill for this contest will be finding vulnerabilities in software. Those of you who have avoided playing in CtF because you think it is for lamers, we bet you can't find all our vulnerabilities.

Teams will still need to defend a server, and will need to be able to exploit the vulnerabilities they find. As last year, the vulnerabilities will be 100%-custom, so leave your nessus, metasploit and core impact bullshit at home.

There will be a qualifying round, which will start on Friday, June 9th at 10:00 PM EDT. Only 8 teams will qualify. Last year's winners,Shellphish, are automatically qualified (leaving 7 team slots), unless they too decide to play in the qualifying round, in which case they will still need to place in the top 8.
Registration is currently open at http://kenshoto.com/quals/

We encourage anyone (even individuals) to attempt to qualify, even if as a learning experience. We intend quals to be enjoyable for everyone,regardless of your plans for Defcon.
Challenges will range wildlyin difficulty from Mitnick to Eagle we've got it all. Good luck... you're going to need it.

-kenshoto

DEFCON 14 CfP Closes at the end of the month!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 08 May 2006 13:36:35 -0700

The Call for Papers for DEFCON 14 is closing soon. June 15th is the cut off date, but we will start making early speaking selections in the next two weeks.

Most lengthy DC trip report, ever. (warning, pdf)

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 02:00:00 -0800

Want to get a groups perspective of DC13? While this 133 page .pdf is largely copied from various speeches, there are some pretty pictures, and the various contributors to the report did a good job. It must have been some work to put together. Check it out, and if you know of other reports like this one, please let us know.

DEFCON 14 Beta FAQ v0.95 Now Available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:20:00 -0800

An update to the official FAQ talking about DEFCON and DEFCON 14. Questions and Answers about the new hotel location, costs, events, resources and more. The next update will include a split into two FAQs. One for general DEFCON questions, and one for DEFCON 14.

DEFCON places below pumpkin hurling contest!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:00:00 -0800

Who hails DEFCON as a noncommercial event, calls its attendees 'digital cognoscenti', throws in a oblique Linus sex quote, and places DC as the 8th best north American geek fest? Follow the link to find out!

DEFCON 14 Call for Papers Open!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 15:30:00 -0800

We are opening the call for papers for DEFCON 14 - the annual gathering of subversive computer folks. Earlier submissions are given higher priority, so prepare your best kung-foo, and send it our way. Remember, we are always looking for original and highly technical content, unusual subject matters, software releases, innovative hardware hacking, and generally mind-blowing content. Check out past convention archives to get an idea of what we are talking about.

Getting a job as a Pen-Tester, DEFCON style

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:00:00 -0800

If you thought being a pen-tester required knowledge, skill, and professionalism, Dmitri sets the record straight. His step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to write incoherent emails, slap imposing stickers on your notebook, and mumble with enough techno-bullshit to become a world-renowned pen-tester at a big-name firm. Check out Dmitri's blog for the full article.

Trends of 2006 - Stealth Rootkit techniques as introduced at DC13 by Sherri Sparks and Jamie Butler

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 18:00:00 -0800

Dennis Moreau, CTO of Configuresoft Inc, discusses security trends likely to appear in the coming year. In addition to discussing the limitations to black-list based security technologies, he highlights a dramatic DEFCON 13 speech. Sherri Sparks and Jamie Butler presented "Shadow-Walker" Raising The Bar For Rootkit Detection.

Global Capture the Flag comes to the classrooms worldwide

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:00:00 -0800

22 student teams from 18 universities on four continents competed in the largest Capture the Flag event ever attempted. Inspired by DEFCON's CTF and organized by DEFCON CTF winner Professor Vigna, the CTF event differed from DEFCON's contest in by not limiting the amount of teams and having international participation. Vigna's page describes his contest in enough detail to allow others to set up their own contests.

Renderman to the rescue!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:00:00 -0800

Renderman, winner of various contests at DEFCON is written about in this article. "A Las Vegas magazine once described Renderman as "infamous,'' which he admits was flattering. He's only famous to other hackers."

DEFCON Staff, Speakers release new book "OS X for Hackers at Heart"

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:00:00 -0800

Longtime DEFCON staffer Chris Hurley collaborates with DEFCON Speakers Bruce Potter, Johnny Long, and Ken Caruso to produce "OS X for Hackers at Heart."

DEFCON.ORG now SSL enabled!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:00:00 -0800

DEFCON.ORG is now SSLorized for your enhanced privacy and crypto happiness. Also SSL enabled for more private discussions - forum.defcon.org.

DEFCON 13 Write-up in the current issue of Blacklisted! 411

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:00:00 -0800

The fall 2005 issue of Blacklisted! 411 has an extensive six page write-up of DEFCON that's worth reading. If you've never read Blacklisted, you should - it's a worthy mag.

DEFCON 14 Beta FAQ v0.91 Now Available!

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 05:00:00 -0800

The first official FAQ talking about DEFCON, and DEFCON 14. Questions and Answers about the new hotel location, costs, events, resources and more. Please check it out and provide feedback so we can get a really solid v 1.0 FAQ out by the end of the year!

HP fires real bullet at Storageworks array

feedback@defcon.org (DEFCON Announcements) — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 22:40:10 -0700

Charlie Demerjian over at the Inquirer has a piece about HP shooting a .308 bullet at an XP12000 storage array, and the array still functioning. I have questions about where the bullet actually went, I mean if it smashed all the controller cards or went through the power supplies it wouldn't still function. But hey! They got it just right. The best part, though, is the end.

'The XP12000 was then brought back to a fully functional state without any loss of uptime. Not bad at all. As far as I know, this is the only test of it's type, but I am sure we could arrange something similar at DefCon if Sun wants to loan us a 15K.'

DNS and Site Updates

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 01:59:45 -0700

As DEFCON 14 gets closer, I plan on making some major network changes to better support the convention. I plan on moving the web site, forum, and store to new servers and ip addresses in the next month. Shortly after that I will be upgrading the media server and starting to release past conference archives for download. That is right, you read it here! No more real media streaming, soon you will be able to D/L the files directly in h.264 (Video iPod compatible) format. So this is just a heads up that things will be switching around over the next month or so.