The DEF CON 25 Soundtrack Raises Funds for the EFF!
Posted 9.5.17
In case you didn't know, the DEF CON 25 Soundtrack is available on Bandcamp as a 'pay-what-you-want' item. All proceeds go directly to keep the exemplary humans at the EFF fighting for the users. So for a modest donation you get dope music from DC25 performers and that warm feeling that only comes from selfless do-goodery.
The DEF CON A&E Team also auctioned off an artist badge for $321. Add that to the current Bandcamp sales of $423.37 and our donation match and you get a current payout to EFF of $1506.
"But the EFF does so much!" you say. "Surely I can still contribute to push that number higher?"
To which we respond, "Yes. Yes you can."
Click that link. Get some tunes. Relive the sounds of DEF CON 25 and toss a little change in the bucket to help the EFF keep cyberspace free.
Do it today, and then make sure to pass it on.
Early Release Video - DC to DEF CON
Posted 8.28.17
Now we take you way back to July 2017 for a leisurely Q&A with two impressively clued-in congresspeople; Rep. James Langevin from Rhode Island and Rep. Will Hurd from Texas.
Ever wondered if there was such thing as a “hacker-friendly” member of Congress? We found some and convinced them to come to DEF CON so you can meet them too! In this first-of-its-kind DEF CON session, two of the most hacker-friendly Congress critters will join DEF CON for an engaging and interactive session with the security research community.
Join the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative for a candid discussion with Representatives Will Hurd (R-TX) and James Langevin (D-RI). The two Congressmen share their thoughts on the latest developments in cybersecurity policymaking on the Hill, exchange ideas, and maybe even answer some of the Congressmen’s questions.
As always, enjoy and pass it on.
Contest Results from DEF CON 25!
Posted 8.3.17
Congratulations to this year's contest winners! The level of competition at DEF CON is serious, whether it's the DC CTF or the Tin Foil Hat Contest, there are many very clever, very resourceful humans vying for the honors, and we salute you.
The contest results page represents the current state of our knowledge. We'll update as additional info comes in - do not despair if you don't see the event you're looking for just yet.
We also salute all those who competed but did not taste victory this year. The distance between observer and competitor is much greater than the one between competitor and victor, and DEF CON 26 will be here sooner than you know.
Thanks for a Great DEF CON 25!
Posted 7.31.17
Another DEF CON is in the books. 25 years, and still exciting and expanding. Still staffed and attended by a community of volunteers and enthusiasts who are passionate about improving our shared digital world. You can't really ask for a better anniversary present than that.
Thanks to everyone who brought their energy and curiosity to Caesars this year, to every one of you who took the time to teach something, to every one who brought something to share, and to everyone who made it easy for people new to the scene to find a home.
We hope to see all of you back at Caesars for DEF CON 26! We're gonna get on planning that the minute the dust is cleared from this one. Stay tuned for content updates, contest results and the rest of the press coverage.
As always, we are insanely proud of the DEF CON community.
We love you, and we look forward to doing all this with you again soon.
#VotingVillage is a hit!
Posted 7.28.17
For a rookie, the Voting Machine Hacking Village is off to a very impressive start: consider the following tweets:
90 min after doors open: Complete remote control on the operating system level of the Winvote voting terminal (including election data).
On the e-pollbook front: internal data structure already discovered and reverse engineered within an hour. #VotingVillage
The Voting Village has a bunch of machine makes and models to try your hand at, including Sequoia AVC Edge, ES&S iVotronic, Diebold TSX, Winvote, and Diebold Expresspoll 4000. More importantly, there's a chance to make a little history here. The integrity of voting systems is a live issue in the world's news, and there are a lot of eyes on our little experiment. If your idea of fun includes a little paradigm-shifting, the VotingVillage is open all DEF CON.
In Memoriam, the DEF CON Conference CD
Posted 7.27.17
Let's face it: this change has been looming on the horizon for a long time. When we started putting a compact disc full of slide decks and files into the DEF CON goodie bag, it was a perfectly good idea. In those days, 750 megabytes was a decent amount of storage. More importantly, optical discs were still a thing. Readers shipped with all the computers and we all had cool CD wallets and racks and whatnot.
The world has changed, and CDs are now a weird novelty item from the hazy past like Pet Rocks and Cassingles.
This year, you'll find all that juicy data on the DEF CON media server (media.defcon.org) and you can connect at your leisure and leech to your heart's content with no silly plastic doodads to hunt down of when you're loading out your hotel room.
We will miss the Conference CD. We had good times together. We will toast to your memory, and pour out a little data in your honor. See you on the flip side, old friend.
Torrents for Presentation and Workshop Materials:
https://media.defcon.org/DEF CON 25/DEF CON 25 presentations.torrent
https://media.defcon.org/DEF CON 25/DEF CON 25 workshops.torrent
DEFCON 25 Pre-con Link Roundup
Posted 7.26.17
It’s very nearly on, DEF CON fam! As many of you are already in the city getting situated, here’s a few helpful links to get your mind right for the impending festivities.
Parking information: Vegas parking is a little different every year - here’s the thread about it on the DEF CON forums.
https://forum.defcon.org/forum/defcon/defcon-25-planning/226245-parking-in-vegas-it-s-ok-we-can-hear-you-screaming-from-here
For that matter, you can use the DEF CON forums to check out information about any of the stuff going on here.
forum.defcon.org
In case you didn’t know, there’s an official app for DEF CON called HackerTracker, available in iOS and Android flavors. Open source and created with love by members of the community, and full of stuff like maps and schedules to help you navigate.
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/mx/app/hackertracker/id1021141595?l=en&mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shortstack.hackertracker&hl=en
For those of you in Paris and Bally’s, good news! You get DEF CON TV! 4 channels, no waiting.
For the latest in presentation info and such, hit up the DC25-specific media server at dc25-media.defcon.org on the internal DEF CON 25 network.
To keep up to date on the latest of the late-breaking news, follow the main twitter feed @defcon, the DEF CON info booth @dcib and Facebook.com/defcon. Pictures and such also going up at @wearedefcon on Instagram.
And most importantly, registration opens Thursday at 6am. See you there!
Announcing the DEF CON 25 Official Soundtrack!
Posted 7.26.17
The Official DEF CON soundrack has dropped! If you're here in Vegas, you'll get it on a CD with your registration pack, but if not, fear not, you can have it too!
14 tracks of hacker-centric tunes by so many fantastic artists, like:
Skittish and Bus, Laughing Mantis, Information Society, Zebbler Encanti Experience, JG And The Robots, Bioassay, Moderns, Left-Right, Ninjula, Richard Cheese and Lounge Against The Machine, The TroubleShooters, MC Frontalot, Lavos, Dual Core
It's available for free on media.defcon.org in a handy torrent, or if you're feeling benevolent, in a pay what you want format to benefit the EFF.
Friends of Bill W. at DEF CON 25.
Posted 7.21.17
Vegas is a lot of fun, but it can also be just a lot. Too much, even, if you’re trying to keep the horizon level in your windscreen. If you’re a friend of Bill W joining us for DEF CON 25, please know that we have meetings at noon and five p.m., Thursday through Sunday in “Office 4A”, on the promenade level. Drop by if you need to touch base or just want a moment of serenity. We’ll be there.
(See info booth next to office 4 on the map, if you’re having trouble finding “Office 4A”)
DEF CON 25 Data Duplication Village!
Posted 7.19.17
Data Duplication Village is back for DEF CON 25, so don't forget to bring up to 3 6TB drives if you want to download the whole enchilada. This year's goodies are:
6TB drive 1-3: Updated archive of infocon.org plus other "direct from DT" content
6TB drive 2-3: freerainbowtables.com hash tables (#1-2)
6TB drive 3-3: GSM A5/1 hash tables plus remaining freerainbowtables.com data (#2-2)
There's a handy schedule to follow and you can drop off and pick up just like dry cleaning.
For more info you can check out dcddv.org and the forum thread
DEF CON 25 Entertainment Lineup!
Posted 7.19.17
Curious who's gonna be rocking the house in the wee hours of DEF CON 25? Here's a handy guide to the MainStage performers for all three nights! Enjoy, plot your entertainment journey and pass it on.
Just a little over a week! W00T!
*Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine are performing in the Chill-Out Area, the rest of these performers are on the main stage.
Full-spectrum psychedelic bassquake - ZEE is back!
Posted 7.17.17
Saturday Night, y'all!
Zebbler Encanti Experience (aka “ZEE”) is what happens when Pixel Wizard and Techno Badger meet in the woods and decide to short circuit neural pathways of the nearby mushroom pickers with nothing short of bassquakes (9.0 on the scale of awesome) and complete visual reality replacement (somewhat too awesome and terrifying to be numbered anything in particular).
That historic meeting in the woods is the underpinning of the very garments that ZEE now wear at every event they perform. The mere loosening of a button of their coats' pockets opens up a wormhole of psychedelic visions and sub-sonic rattles. But Zebbler Encanti Experience do more than that. They open their minds fully to each and every dance floor and ask you to Get In There!
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine are BACK for DEF CON 25!
Posted 7.15.17
Friday, in the Chillout area, please to enjoy the nearly-too-swanky-to-function sounds of returning DEF CON performers (and DEF CON Soundtrack contributors!) Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine!
America's loudest lounge singer Richard Cheese performs swingin' Vegas versions of rock and rap songs, "swankifying" popular Top40 hits into retro vocal standards. Imagine Sinatra singing Radiohead, and you've got Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine.
The aforementioned DEF CON soundtrack is included with admission at DEF CON 25 or by donating to the EFF (url coming soon).
DEF CON 25 Friday Headliner: Reel Big Fish!
Posted 7.14.17
For your DEF CON After Dark enjoyment, we present Friday's headliners, Reel Big Fish! They're fresh from their Beer Run Tour and ready to bring their trademark SoCal skank to the DEF CON masses.
In case you're not familiar, a bio snippet: "Reel Big Fish were one of the legions of Southern California ska-punk bands to edge into the mainstream following the mid-'90s success of No Doubt and Sublime. Like most of their peers, they were distinguished by their hyperkinetic stage shows, juvenile humor, ironic covers of new wave pop songs, and metallic shards of ska."
Sounds fun, yes? Yes.
DEF CON 25 Village Spotlight: ICS VIllage
Posted 7.13.17
A small group of SCADA Ninjas are traveling around the globe, spreading the word of SCADA. Unless you are already operating a secret nuclear enrichment facility in your basement or an ACME factory production line, then this is your best chance to get a kick-start into the world of Industrial Control Systems. We are bringing a number of real-world industrial devices from different vendors for you to look, feel and mess around with.
We bring you a safe, yet realistic environment where you can learn on how to assess, enhance, and defend your Industrial Environment. We bring you real components such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Human Machine Interfaces (HMI), Remote Telemetry Units (RTU), Actuators, etc. to simulate a realistic environment by using commonly components throughout different industrial sectors.
You will be able to connect your machine towards the different industrial components and networks and try to assess these ICS devices with common security scanners, network sniffers to sniff the industrial traffic, and more! In addition to previous years there is a workshop dedicated to ICS 101 and 201. Afterwards there will be an additional but optional challenge to test your newly acquired skills.
Follow @ICS_Village or have a look at www.ics-village.rocks.
New for DEF CON 25:
Voting Machine Hacking Village!
Posted 7.11.17
"Just like everything else, it's time for hackers to come in and tell you what's possible and what's not."
-The Dark Tangent
Judging from the headlines, it's a good time to figure out how secure our electronic voting machines are. What better way, we thought, to find out what's real and what's hype than getting a bunch of real voting machines into the hands of thousands of hackers? We happen to know where to find a lot of hackers onthe last weekend in July, so we created the Voting Machine Hacking Village. We're bringing a bunch of voting machines and encouraging people to see what's possible. Let's test the physical security, try attacks at a distance, dump the BIOS, all of it. Knowing is half the battle, people. Let's do our part to add to the base of knowledge.
Read all about it:
Voting Machine Hacking Village on the DEF CON Forums
