This year, DEFCON (DC) will again be in Las Vegas (LV) at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) (West) from August 7-10, 2025. LV being no
stranger to Security Events hosting BSIDES Las Vegas, Blackhat and DEFCON for many years now.
I plan on being there again this year. Look for the Hat with some feathers in it. There are only 2 people who wear this style of hat. One with Goggles on it and the other me. As I have done for the past few years, I will be stopping people and challenging them to answer questions. The questions are from Network, System, Infrastructure, Security and quite even some Hacker themed movie trivia. If you get the question right, you get a prize. (not DC related prizes). Oh, I did an upgrade to the Hat. See if you notice it (wink wink nudge nudge).
Last year was my first year as a goon and it totally blew me away with all of the interactions, smiling faces and incredible people walking and attending the Con. DEFCON is truly a extremely unique opportunity to interact with those in our field. If you see me, stop and ask to be challenged.
Why am I challenging people all over? A few years ago the founder of DEFCON (Jeff Moss aka Dark Tangent) mentioned that he thought people were not getting the complete DEFCON experience. Yes, it's about learning. Yes, it's about listening in on new techniques (software, hardware, etc.) Yes, it's about seeing the cutting edge of the latest hacks. Yes, it's also about defending from nefarious internet nasties. Yes, it's also about meeting new people..... wait. Hackers meeting new people? Interacting with people? OH GOOD LORD! That scares a lot of us. But that's how you learn. This is how you grow within the industry. Meet new people who may challenge you, follow or just hang with you. DC is about the incredibly massive opportunity to interact with your fellow Hacker & Security people. This is the real meat and potatoes of our industry.
I like many before me, walked the halls, sat in on talks, observed various villages and sky talks. But I realized that I was missing out of the best part. Interacting with incredible attendees. Some who may show you or discuss with you (over a drink) some of the latest ideas. For too long, I just walked the Con.
It was about 6 or 7 Cons ago (DC33 will be my 17th or 18th CON) I saw people handing out items, exchanging things from challenge coins to fuzzy animals to stickers and beyond. It was their way of opening the doors of opportunity to grow and learn. >>DING<< the light went on. So I started by handing out stickers and small things. It's evolved, trust me.
I've made up some Black Badges for those who want to get really challenged. Answer 20 questions correctly and you win. Miss one or 2..... The subjects will be anything and everything related to the Internet (movies, trivia, networking, security, systems, Hacker things, etc) I've only made up a small amount of Black Badges to hand out (maybe 3 per day). So bring your thinking caps and answer the questions correctly. If you are up to only 1 question, so be it. I'll have some interesting questions and items this year.
(Saying for myself and NOT officially)
On that note, I will also say that for those planning nefarious actions before, during or after DEFCON, please don't. This gathering like others in the past, always brings negative connotations for the greater bunch of us. This is true even IF nothing occurs. There's still that dark cloud or thick air we have to deal with from the media. We don't deserve to be blamed in total for the acts of a small amount of actual or wannabee hackers. If you remember last year (DC32) almost was cancelled because the one Hotel chain cancelled everything at the last minute. Those in upper Mgt of DEFCON had to scramble to be welcomed into the LVCC. We almost lost LV as a site to meet up. All eyes of the world are upon us again, so if you feel the need to do something negative, please understand that this has direct impact on the CON and all of the thousands of attendees. Please, just go through the correct channels to show an exploit you discovered. Again, speaking for myself only, we want positive press for ALL of the attendees, ALL of the new and innovative presentations and mostly to enjoy the potential to meet new friends and associates.
Last year (DC32) was the first year that most of the Hotels were handing out flyers about "DEFCON/HACKERs are in town". This warned people that the hotels will be doing security sweeps of rooms. Anything looking out of the ordinary, you get kicked out of the hotel. Even if you bring a MiFi to use personally. Many Hotels employ "Internet and Techno Challenged people". They will not discriminate, they will confiscate. Years past, many of us brought various items to use from our rooms. Some of these items were nefarious in nature, WiFi Pineapple, sniffers, antennas, other devices, etc. If you bring these items, put them back in your luggage and lock it up. If you leave something out in the open, you are inviting trouble. While I am not advocating to bring these items, I'm giving you a heads up for those that do. So leave the 21u rack of devices in your suitcase 😁.
Be safe out there people.