Recent News

The Secret is Out!

Posted 7.21.12

It might have been a little more fun as a complete surprise, but the feline has been released from the satchel. This year's top-secret, unannounced (until yesterday) VIP sepaker is General Keith B. Alexander, Director of the National Security Agency and Commander of USCYBERCOM. DT has been working to get a speaker this high-profile from the NSA for quite a long time, and we're excited that he's coming to our 20th anniversary shindig. He'll be delivering a talk called "Shared Values, Shared Responsibility" at noon on Friday in Track 1. If you're joining us in Las Vegas, be sure to put this one on your 'must-see' list.

New Speaker's Corner Post!

Posted 7.20.12

We've got a new post up in the 'Speaker's Corner' section. It's from DEF CON 20 speaker Zack Fasel, and it's entitled 'Twas the Week Before DEF CON'. It contains wisdom and pathos, and it rhymes, people. That's right. It rhymes. Head over to the Speaker's Corner and check it out.

Seriously.

DEF CON 20 Entertainment Schedule is Now Live!

Posted 7.19.12

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 are 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.

Crash and Compile Teams Announced!

Posted 7.18.12

After a hard-fought pre-qual round, the final roster of combatants for Crash and Compile: DC20 has been released. The teams are:

-Frink Rules!

-Phychoholics

-Here for Beer

-0xdecaf

-FuckPBR

-\000

-Neg9

-WorkingInTheCodeMine

-The B Team

The main event will be Saturday from 8pm until midnight or so, and everyone is encouraged to come by Palma G and H to cheer the teams on. Congratulations to the qualifying teams, and good luck.

DEF CON 20 Exploit Hackathon Awaits Your Entry!

Posted 7.17.12

There are a lot of ways to test your mettle at DEF CON. For those of you whose skillset tends toward the coding of exploits, we have a new contest for you. The contest requires you to code a new exploitation utility, ready for release during DC20. All code submitted during the contest is getting released under a BSD license, so that's cool. Even better, the contest is being judged by Dan Kaminsky, Meredith L. Patterson, and Dave Marcus. Even betterer (I know that's not really a word), the prize is a crazy cool Pwn Plug. Check that thing out.

Think you have what it takes? The Exploit Hackathon forum thread with all the info should be your next stop.

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

Posted 7.9.12

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.

Final Slot in DC20 CTF Up for Auction!

Posted 7.9.12

Just a friendly reminder - this year one of the slots in the official DEF CON 20 CTF competition is being auctioned off on eBay. So if you just barely missed qualifying and can't let it go, or have that Bruce Wayne bankroll but crime fighting kept you from getting involved, here is your last chance. Bidding ends tomorrow, July 10. You can read more about the whole scenario on DDTEK's site.

DEF CON 20 Schedule is now LIVE!

Posted 7.5.12

DEF CON pro tip: It's all about the pregame. There are a lot of presentations, on four simultaneous tracks. A little bit of planning goes a long way toward making sure you get to see the talks you're most psyched for. To that end, we present the DEF CON 20 Speaker Schedule. Learn it, live it, commit it to memory.

MC Frontalot and The Minibosses Confirmed for the Black Ball!

Posted 7.4.12

Our Friday night headliners are ready to announce! MC Frontalot - "godfather" of nerdcore - (with his full backing band!!!!!) will be headlining the Friday evening Black Ball! Catch him alongside DEF CON classics Minibosses and REGENERATOR. See the DEF CON entertainment site page sometime in the next week or so for the exact schedule!

Call for Hardware Hacking Village Presentations!

Posted 6.29.12

From the Hardware Hacking Village thread on the DEF CON forums:

If you would like to show off your latest project or drop some knowledge on folks, post a reply to this thread. Let us know what you'd like to talk about, who you are, and how long of a block of time you'd like. Also post what times you can or can't present, so that we don't double book you.

I'd like to do 10, 25, and possibly 55 minute long slots so that we can put up a block schedule and have it look all nice and to give 5 minutes between to allow folks to set up. Sell us on how awesome your talk will be and justify the length of time you want to use; the longer the slot, the more awesome the topic needs to be.

If you've got a hardware hack that deserves an audience, we encourage you to head over to the thread and get involved.

Massive Speaker List Update!

Posted 6.25.12

Now that speaker selection is finalized, the info-firehose that is DEF CON will be working to get you up to date on the staggering lineup of this year's conference. The first update is to the speaker list. Check it out, see if your favorites are speaking and start pre-gaming your DC20 experience.

As always, check back from time to time for new info. It wouldn't be DEF CON without some last-minute changes and additions, and we'll get them online as soon as we can.

The next update is the schedule page. It's getting real, people.

DT's Tamper Evident Contest is Live!

Posted 6.20.12

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!

Posted 6.19.12

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!

Posted 6.18.12

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.

Goon Band Recognize Rocks the Black and White Ball !

Posted 6.15.12

The word has gone forth on the DEF CON forums that RECOGNIZE, the mighty Goon band of lore and legend, will be playing the Black and White Ball. Mark your calendars for 9pm July 27 and prepare your face for its impending liquefaction.

Don't Forget the Q&A Sessions!

Posted 6.11.12

Head over to the Speaker's Corner page to read a timely reminder from Suggmeister about taking full advantage of the Q&A sessions after each and every DEF CON presentation. He's right. The kind of access DEF CON provides to all sorts of security thinkers from all over the world is too good to let slip through your fingers.

Capture the Packet is Back!

Posted 6.7.12

"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!

Posted 6.5.12

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!

Posted 6.4.12

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.

DEF CON BEVERAGE COOLING CONTRAPTION CONTEST IS LIVE!

Posted 6.1.12

Yes, indeed. The perennial DEF CON contest favorite is back this year. Have an idea for getting beer sparkling cold in an exceptionally expeditious manner? This is your moment. Check the BCCC rules to make sure your idea is contest-legal and then head to the Official BCCCC Signup Thread to reserve your spot. Added benefit of participation: speedy cold beer in Vegas in July.

Prizes awarded for style and design as well.

The normal rules about who can have access to adult libations apply. It's beer, but for SCIENCE!

LAST DAY TO SAVE BIG ON BLACK HAT REGISTRATION!

Posted 5.31.12

The organizers of Black Hat USA would like to remind DEF CON-goers that if you plan on attending both conferences, you have until Friday, June 1 to save $550 by registering for Black Hat and then pre-registering for DEF CON 20. If you're planning to attend both events, don't miss this opportunity to get the early-bird discount.

DC 20 SHORT STORY CONTEST CLOSES JUNE 1!

Posted 5.31.12

The DEF CON 20 Short Story Contest closes tomorrow, June 1. No excuses. If your story is almost finished, get it together and submit right away. All the info you'll need is on the DC20 Short Story Contest Forum Thread. Read what's been submitted so far,either for motivation or pleasure, please do and then vote for your favorite. Remind yourself of the rules. Most importantly, get your story into the running.

CTF QUALIFICATIONS JUST A WEEK AWAY

Posted 5.25.12

If you're one of the brave souls who come to DEF CON seeking glory in our famed Capture the Flag contest, then be sure you don't miss the boat. There are already 452 teams registered, and if you're not one of them you're running out of time.

Please remember that you are required to be on a registered team to play this year – although you are allowed to register as a team of one. More reg info can be found on DEF CON 20's CTF page and you can register at DDTek's CTF registration page.

Eat your Wheaties and get lots of sleep. We'll see you in las Vegas.

VOTE FOR DC RECOGNIZE AWARDS!

Posted 5.24.12

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!

Posted 5.23.12

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!

Posted 5.22.12

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!

Register Here, NOW!

DEF CON Documentary and Call for DEF CON History!

Posted 5.21.12

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!

Posted 5.16.12

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"

<ghz or bust: defcon

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 At DEF CON 20!

Posted 5.8.12

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!

Posted 5.2.12

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!

Posted 4.30.12

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!

Posted 4.26.12

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!

Contests, Events, and the Black Badge!

Posted 4.20.12

Want to get the latest on DEF CON 20 Contests, Events and Parties? Keep our eyes on the DC20: [Official / Unofficial] [Parties / Social Gatherings / Events / Contests] Forum on the DEF CON Forums. There is also a Contest & Event Update section at the top of the DEF CON 20 Home page for quick links to each of the individual sub-forums, and Black Badge events so far are marked with a bullet (•).

What is the Black Badge you ask? For those of you who don't know, the Black Badge is the highest award DEF CON gives to contest winners of certain events. CTF winners earn these, as well as Hacker Jeopardy winners. The contests that are awarded Black Badges vary from year to year, and a Black Badge allows free entrance to DEF CON for life, potentially a value of thousands of dollars. Here are the ones chosen so far, and a few others are under consideration:

Capture the Flag

Capture the Packet

Crash & Compile

Hacker Jeopardy

Mystery Challenge

Also, If you are planning on running a contest or event this year, the Contest & Event RFI has been extended a few days and will close on May 5. Get those submissions in!

Reminders and new Pre-con Calendar

Posted 4.11.12

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!

Posted 4.4.12

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!

200 for 20

Posted 3.31.12

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/

UPDATE 4/2: DT has gone further into the explanation for the price increase on the forums at: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=12797

The Crystal Method At DEF CON 20!

Posted 3.30.12

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

DEF CON in the News

Posted 3.29.12

Check out this article in Vanity Fair, World War 3.0, which discusses the factions vying for control of the internet. Mentions of DEF CON, DT and other from the scene are numerous!

Which Past Shirts Should We Reprint?

Posted 3.28.12

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!

Posted 3.22.12

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!

Posted 3.19.12

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!

Posted 3.15.12

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. The filmmaker will be present and doing a Q & A after the screening! Like the CODE 2600 Facebook page or check out code2600.com 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!

Posted 3.13.12

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

DC20 Call for Music Announced!

Posted 3.6.12

The DEF CON 20 Call for Music is now live and the sign up form is operational! You can check it out on the DEF CON Forums at https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=12734

New Speaker's Corner!

Posted 2.27.12

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

Posted 2.21.12

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!

Posted 2.15.12

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!

Posted 2.14.12

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!

Posted 2.5.12

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

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