DEFCON 19 has arrived at a new venue and is larger than ever! If you are worried about both network and physical security, this is the place to gather, learn, and break stuff! DEFCON brings a collection of hackers and security admins to discuss recent vulnerabilities discovered in the past year. Everything from jackpotting an ATM (discussed last year) to lock-picking tutorials, DEFCON brings a vast array of ways to breach almost any security device.
Every year DEFCON also hosts paid-workshops about various concepts in the security world. Some of this years’ lineup includes: Car Hacking, Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacking, and advanced Mobile Hacking.
But DEFCON isn’t all about the attacking side, in fact the conference is centered around knowledge of defense tactics and education. After all, you’ve got to know how to break it (or how it broke) before you can fix it. DEFCON has a very unique way of spreading the word, known as the Wall of Sheep. The Wall of Sheep is an active list of people who are connecting on the DEFCON Insecure Network. Every protocol from POP to Twitter can be compromised, and the “hackee” is posted to a database and shown in the main lobby. The hope is that you don’t end up being a sheep.
Do you like puzzles? DEFCON does! To satisfy the mix of puzzles and hacking they bring a modified version of Capture The Flag. In this game hackers are given a series of similar networks with different security walls on them. The goal is for your team to gain access to these networks and “Capture the Flag”. Each networks “flag” depreciates after every successful hack. For more information, check out prior winners.
