DEF CON Hacking Conference

NEWS

From Dusk 'Til Con at DEF CON 23!

Posted 8.2.15

At DEF CON, we know that after a long day of having your mind-grapes blown, sometimes it feels good to shut it down a bit and party. That’s why we provide so many party options. Need some reckless booty-shaking? We got you. Need to drunkenly howl top40 tunes with friends? We got you. Need to put your feet up and watch a movie while your life bar fills back up? We got you, too. We are a full-spectrum hacker summer camp, people. We got you because we get you.

Check out our nightime offerings here

Thursday Contest signup at DEF CON 23!

Posted 8.1.15

A bunch of DEF CON Contests have agreed to set up an early registration between 1100 and 1400. The idea is achieve optimum contest smoothness with contestants ready to hit the ground running at 10am Friday.

The contests involved (so far):

Hacker Jeopardy

Hackfortress

Scavenger Hunt

TD Francis XHour Film Contest

warl0ck gam3z

Beverage Cooling Contraption Contest

Where you need to be to get in on the action:

Bally's Grand Salon, Thursday 1100 to 1400.

Kali 2.0 Dojo at DEF CON 23!

Posted 8.1.15

Interested in Kali Linux? Want to get yourself up to speed on the new hotness of Kali Linux 2? Enter the Kali 2.0 Dojo.

In Skyview 2 on Friday starting at 1:00PM there will be two Kali workshops to get you up on things, with custom Kali USB sticks provided to attendees.

Workshop One: Learn how to master Kali Linux Recipes and easily build images such as the Kali Linux ISO of Doom or Instant Evil Kali Access Point.

Workshop Two: Learn how to make a sleek Kali Bootable USB stick, which contains several persistent storage profiles, both regular and encrypted. Protect your encrypted data using the Kali LUKS Nuke feature destroy and restore your data with confidence.

Workshop Three: Pentest the Planet. *

*There isn't a Workshop Three. But with your new skills and training, you will probably be pretty stoked to get your Kali 2.0 on.

SOMAFM is Back in the Chillout Lounge!

Posted 7.31.15

SomaFM returns once more to bring delicious and relaxing sounds to the Chillout Lounge for its third year running. Known best for its legendary Groove Salad radio station, SomaFM is one of pioneers of streaming internet radio, with dozens of curated, diverse, and compelling channels for listeners across the globe. DEF CON Radio, a project of SomaFM, is included in that incredible list, a playlist including much "Music For Hacking" and a unique daily schedule that goes with the flow of the DEF CON experience.

Find more information about the listener-supported SomaFM and DEF CON Radio at

http://somafm.com/defcon/

DEF CON radio (player link):

http://somafm.com/player/#/now-playing/defcon

Welcome Back, Queercon!

Posted 7.30.15

After a few years 'off-campus', the legendary Queercon is back in the main DEF CON venue - and they return in grand style. Not only is Queercon throwing a giant pool party with DJs from all over the world, functionally endless booze, and an OPEN pool,  but they're also hosting a  mixer every day of the con at 4pm for friendly conversation, chillaxing and cocktails.

To celebrate their return, DEF CON has created a limited run of DEF CON pride t-shirts, shown here on a model with alarmingly subtle facial features. They're a fine addition to any wardrobe and you can find them wherever DEF CON swag is sold.

Basic Details:

Pool Party - Friday 8pm to 3am at the Bally's pool. No badge required.

Mixers - 4pm Thursday thru Sunday at a Courtesy Suite (#TBD) in the Jubilee Tower of Bally's

The full rundown is available at queercon.org

DEF CON Groups Reloaded!

Posted 7.30.15

From The Dark Tangent:

"As DEF CON 23 nears, I am proud to unveil the launch of the new DEF CON Groups website, defcongroups.org!

Defcongroups.org will provide a centralized place to socialize, learn new skills, collaborate, and show off recent projects to DEF CON Groups around the world . It will include a directory to make it easier to find like-minded hackers in your area, as well as showcase featured DEF CON Groups, guest blogs, videos, tutorials, and more."

Read all about it at defcongroups.org. Whether you wish you were coming to Vegas next week or you are and you just want to feel that Hacker Fresh™ feeling all year round, it's time to join your friendly neighborhood DEF CON Group. If you live somewhere that doesn't have a DEF CON Group, it's time to start one.

There's really no limit to the cool stuff that can be accomplished with a global network of smart, inspired,hacker-minded humans. Together, we're basically Voltron. Let's make this the year we prove it.

DEF CON Village Talks Page, Now with More Villages!

Posted 7.29.15

The Villages are growing - almost all of them have their own speaker tracks, contests and events. How crazy is that? Most of the villages are bigger than the first bunch of DEF CONs! To help you keep them sorted out, we’ve created a page on the DEF CON 23 website that lists all the talks going on in the villages (that we know about at this precise moment in time - we’ll add and update if things change). It’s like one of those Country Buffets, only the offerings make you smart instead of nauseous and regretful.

DEF CON 23 CFP Review Board Revealed!

Posted 7.24.15

In a $3cr3t chamber behind a purely ornamental bookcase in DEF CON Manor, a shadowy cabal works for months selecting DEF CON talks. It’s a grueling, thankless job.

Until we thank them, which is now.

This is the post where we drag the willing members of the cabal out of the shadows so you can learn their names and buy them a drink at the con.

Not shown: Several reviewers who have spent so long in the $3cr3t chamber that they’ve become permanently shadowy.

SE Village surprises for Thurdsay at DEF CON 23!

Posted 7.23.15

The Social Engineering Village has a brand new contest this year- Mission SE Impossible! It takes place on Thursday and you need to sign up on-site but it sounds like fun. Contestants are 'arrested', put in a locked room and forced to use their SE skills to get the codes and free themselves.

Read all about it. If you've the SE chops to talk your way out of a locked box, you probably won't want to miss this contest.

http://www.social-engineer.org/social-engineering/the-sevillage-at-def-con-23/

Sign up for DEF CON Workshops Now!

Posted 7.22.15

Good news, everyone! Well, unless you secretly love waiting in a queue. Then it’s less good, and you’re weird.

The DEF CON 23 workshops will not require you to rush from the reg line to a workshop reg line. We’re going to allow online pre-reg for the DEF CON Workshops. The seats are limited, and we’re granting them on a strictly first come, first served basis.  To sign up, check out the Workshops Registration Page!

We’ll send a receipt when you’re registered (within 2 biz days), and we’ll announce any new openings @_defcon_ on Twitter. Good luck!

Roll on down to the Car Hacking Village at DEF CON 23!

Posted 7.22.15

At DEF CON, we agree with you that it's kinda bogus that in 2015 we still don't have flying cars. But you know what makes up for that? Cars you can hack.

So this year, we bring you Car Hacking Village - a little bit of paradise for people who long to invalidate a connected car's warranty without jeopardizing their commute.

The CHV will have several 'Zones' for your education and entertainment:

Pull-apart Zone: learn how to get physical access to car controllers by removing panels and bolts.

Buck Hacking Zone: open hack car controllers and systems using a Buck (system on a bench).

Learning Zone: drop-in sessions of 15-30 minutes to teach specifics of vehicle networks and hardware.

Chill Zone: meet the CHV team in a more informal setting. Meet other interested con-goers. Meet no one and just meditate on what you've learned so far.

OEM Zone: we're probably going to rename this, but it's for dialog between OEMs and their users.

Vendor Zone: if the Car Hacking Village has inspired you, you can pick up some study material and even some hardware.

We hope to see you there.

Warning: objects in the CHV are closer than they appear.

Find Crew Members and Sign up for the T.D. Francis X-hour Film Contest at DEF CON 23!

Posted 7.20.15

If you find yourself interested in the The T.D. Francis X-Hour Film Challenge but you don't have a big enough crew, let people know in the Forum thread linked below or in on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/xhourfilm

If you find yourself interested in the The T.D. Francis X-Hour Film Challenge but you don't have a big enough crew, let people know in the Forum thread linked below or in on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/xhourfilm

There's a limited number of slots, and they're filling up, so don't dilly-dally. And remember us when you get that Oscar.

You can also check out the Contest website at http://www.xhourfilmcontest.com/

T.D. Francis X-Hour Film Contest on the DEF CON forums

DEF CON 23: The Trailer

Posted 7.17.15

Today’s date - 7/17/2015. Add the digits. Can you feel that? The phantom hand tugging at your sleeve, the voice in your ear right before sleep takes you? There’s no sense in resisting, friend. The Enigma has you, and the only way out is straight through. Join us in Las Vegas! Closing ceremonies are in 23 days.

Get involved on the DEF CON Forums! Now with no wait period!

Posted 7.13.15

We have upgraded the DEF CON Forums - new iron, new paint, new can-do attitude. We've removed the annoying wait between signing up and posting, and the whole thing runs faster. Also, you can't beat the new forum smell - like ascii and toasted hazelnuts.

The Forum is also where the most granular, immediate and interactive information about DC23 is being hashed out. Looking for someone to share ae ride from San Diego? Want to ask a question directly to the Crash and Compile organizers? Head on over to the Forum. Got a killer salsa recipe? Probably no one cares, but its a forum. So get involved.

DEF CON After Dark Part Three: Saturday night music lineup is LIVE!!

Posted 7.9.15

Here's the listing of the final night of DEF CON musical performers. Sweet, sweet speaker honey from the people's champ Miss Jackalope, Dieselboy, Zebbler Encanti Experience, Downlink, Skittish and Bus and ZackBarbie. Be warned: you will move it, move it. Plan accordingly.

DEF CON 23 Speaking Schedule is LIVE!

Posted 7.6.15

It's beginning to feel a lot like DEF CON, everywhere you gooooo...

You can tell it's for real now, because we have a live speaker schedule. Familiarize yourself, plot your optimal path for cranial embiggening, tell the others. This year's lineup is crazy great, and knowing your 'must see' talks greatly enhances your chances of maximum DEF CON.

We're in the home stretch, people. One month and counting.

DEF CON After Dark Part Two: TGIF Edition - the Friday Entertainment Lineup is LIVE!

Posted 7.6.15

At DEF CON, we take your booty-shaking needs seriously. To help you get your recommended daily allowance of ecstatic groove units, we have created a stellar Friday lineup that includes:

VJ Q. Alba

Pyr0

Dualcore

mc chris

YT Cracker

Ninjula

If your groove is not firmly on Friday night, you should maybe contact your doctor.

Saturday Lineup coming soon!

Caesar's rooms still available for DEF CON 23

Posted 7.3.15

DC23 Booking Pro Tip:

The DEF CON group rate isn't available at the main venue hotels anymore - our block is sold out in Paris and Bally's. This might cause you to think about paying the full freight at those hotels to be close to the action. Reasonable idea, except....

We have a discounted block at Caesars, and it's still got some rooms available. Caesars is only 800 air-conditioned steps from the Con space. You save some hard-earned skrilla, you get a few minutes of walking to thumb through your program and get your various plans/plots/schemes together.

Look, if you've got bread like that, do what you feel. But for those of us balling on a budget, the Caesars plan deserves some attention.

DEF CON After Dark, Part One - Thursday Night’s Music Lineup is LIVE!

Posted 7.2.15

Some of you, we have heard, enjoy vigorously oscillating what your maternal unit bequeathed to you. Some of you like to wave your hands in the air, as if you could not be less concerned. We understand. We get you, and we got you.

We have artisanally curated a flight of audio bliss merchants for your enjoyment on Thursday night. For staters, we’ve got An Hobbes, Dee Kaph, Johnny5 and Spherex.  After midnight we have DJ %27 and DJ AliKat. Many styles, many flavors. Join us, and amuse your bouche all over the place.

DEF CON Vendors are LIVE!

Posted 6.26.15

The official vendor list for DEF CON 23 is finalized and live on the intertubes. That money burning a hole in your pocket? It's dangerous if it goes unchecked. You can avoid the hazard of fire by turning that money into temperature-stable, safe goods and services with the smiling merchants of the vendor area. For those of you inclined to the games of chance, payouts in the vendor area hover very close to 1:1 - you're not gonna get those odds on the casino floor.

Don't become a pocket combustion statistic. The vendors are here to help.

DEF CON Demo Labs Schedule is LIVE!

Posted 6.23.15

We asked for demo submissions, and boy howdy did you people ever answer! For the first time, we have a whole community-powered demo area - five different sessions of your projects and demonstrations to share with the attendees. You're definitely gonna want to make some time to check this out.

The schedule is live, and of course there are links to all the abstracts there. We're amped about this - and we hope you will support the Demo Lab and spread the word.

This is gonna be so cool.

Crash & Compile at DEF CON 23!

Posted 6.22.15

Crash and Compile? What's that?

Crash and Compile is an ACM-style programming contest crossed with a good old fashion college drinking game.

You get a problem, and have to code a solution to it. The catch is that if your code doesn't compile, seg-faults, doesn't produce the correct output, you have to take a drink... All this takes place on the contest stage. It's chaos meets coding. As the night progresses, you are either a really good programmer, really drunk, or a bit of both.

Official announcement on the DEF CON forums

Final Round of DEF CON 101 Speakers!

Posted 6.18.15

As promised, here's the final additions to the lineup for DEF CON 101. Make yourself familiar, maybe pick out a couple.  Nobody likes to be standing in line for an SRO talk only to get stuck in the hallway, missing all the goodness because of a failure to plan.

Well, there's probably a rule that says someone must like that, and probably mods a subreddit about it like /r/missedyetanothercoolDEFCONtalk. But that someone is weird. Weird and possibly dangerous. Don't be that someone. Read ahead and make some plans.

Hardware and Trust Security: Explain it like I’m 5

Teddy Reed and Nick Anderson

A dive through the origins, evolution, and weaknesses of cellular networks

Effi and Tom Palarz

Seeing through the Fog

Zack Fasel

Hacking Web Apps

Brent White

Hacker in the Wires

Dr. Phil Polstra

Secure Messaging for Normal People

Justin Engler

Sorry, Wrong Number: Mysteries Of The Phone System - Past and Present

"Unregistered436" Patrick McNeil and ”Snide" Owen

Forensic Artifacts From a Pass the Hash Attack

Gerard Laygui

Alice and Bob are Really Confused

David Huerta

Introduction to SDR and the Wireless Village

DaKahuna and Satanlawz

Hackers Hiring Hackers - How to Do Things Better

Tottenkoph and IrishMASMS

Beyond the Scan: The Value Proposition of Vulnerability Assessment

Damon Small

Backdooring Git

John Menerick

Final Round of DEF CON 23 Speakers!

Posted 6.17.15

The great work is complete! Behold the final round of selected speakers for DEF CON 23!

Thanks to all the submitters for sharing their work, and to the selection committee for poring over all that work. We think we’ve created a pretty phenomenal list of talks here!

Check this space tomorrow for the final round of DC101 speakers as well.

It’s getting real, people. Really real.

DIY Nukeproofing: a new dig at "data-mining"

3AlarmLampscooter

Key-Logger, Video, Mouse - How to turn your KVM into a raging key-logging monster

Yaniv Balmas and Lior Oppenheim

Who Will Rule the Sky? The Coming Drone Policy Wars

Matt Cagle and Eric Cheng

Why APTs focusing on Telco Networks: Dissecting technical capabilities of Regin and its counterparts

Omer Coskun

Do Export Controls on “Intrusion Software” Threaten Vulnerability Research?

Tom Cross and Collin Anderson

Licensed to Pwn: The Weaponization and Regulation of Security Research

Jim Denaro, Dave Aitel, Matt Blaze, Nate Cardozo, and Mara Tam

REpsych: Psychological Warfare in Reverse Engineering

Chris Domas

NSA Playset: JTAG Implants

Joe FitzPatrick and Matt King

Abusing Adobe Reader’s JavaScript APIs

Brian Gorenc, Abdul-Aziz Hariri, and Jasiel Spelman

WhyMI so Sexy? WMI Attacks, Real-Time Defense, and Advanced Forensic Analysis

Matt Graeber, Willi Ballenthin, and Claudiu Teodorescu

I want these * bugs off my * Internet

Dan Kaminsky

Let's Talk About SOAP, Baby. Let's Talk About UPNP

Ricky "HeadlessZeke" Lawshae

Tell me who you are and I will tell you your lock pattern

Marte Løge

Separating Bots from the Humans

Ryan Mitchell

Docker, Docker, Give Me The News, I Got A Bad Case Of Securing You

David Mortman

NetRipper - Smart traffic sniffing for penetration testers

Ionut Popescu

"Quantum" Classification of Malware

John Seymour

Hacking the Human Body/brain: Identity Shift, the Shape of a New Self, and Humanity 2.0

Richard Thieme

Defconbots at DEF CON 23!

Posted 6.15.15

Attention automaton enthusiasts! The rules for DEFCONBOTS 2015 have been finalized and are live at https://github.com/Defconbots/2015_Competition_Rules. Time to dust off your autonomous laserbot and begin the training montage.

Signup is available at www.defconbots.org

DEF CON 23 Workshops Schedule is Live!

Posted 6.12.15

These are brand new - intensive, deep-dive workshops on topics like Android reverse-engineering, Honeypots and Crypto for Hackers!  They’re free, but you’ll need to register onsite. Space is obviously limited, so if one of these topics really grabs you you’re gonna want to make signing up a priority when you get to the venue. There will be overflow lists, too, in case not everyone shows up. It is Las Vegas, after all. Sometimes you lose someone for a while.

Spread the word - we’d love these workshops to have a great first year.

DEF CON 23 Speakers: Round Four is Live!

Posted 6.10.15

The DEF CON CFP Review Board is composed entirely of Champions. Only a few days after Round 3, they are ready to present you with Round 4 of DC23 accepted speakers. Look on their work, ye mighty, and despair.

When the despair wears off, you should probably starting making notes about which ones you want to see. It's looking like a pretty goodie-packed schedule.

How to secure the keyboard chain

Paul Amicelli and Baptiste David

How to hack your way out of home detention

AmmonRa

Canary: Keeping Your Dick Pics Safe(r)

Rob Bathurst (evilrob) and Jeff Thomas (xaphan)

Attacking Hypervisors Using Firmware and Hardware

Yuriy Bulygin, Mikhail Gorobets, Alexander Matrosov, Oleksandr Bazhaniuk, and Andrew Furtak

Harness: Powershell Weaponization Made Easy (or at least easier)

Rich Kelley

Inter-VM data exfiltration: The art of cache timing covert channel on x86 multi-core

Etienne Martineau

Ask the EFF: The Year in Digital Civil Liberties

Kurt Opsahl, Nate Cardozo, Mark Jaycox, Corynne McSherry, Nadia Kayyali, and Peter Eckersley

DefCon Comedy Inception: How many levels deep can we go?

Larry Pesce, Chris Sistrunk, Adam Crain, Chris Blow, Dan Tentler, Amanda Sullivan Berlin, and Katie Moussouris

Chigula - a framework for Wi-Fi Intrusion Detection and Forensics

Vivek Ramachandran

Knocking my neighbor’s kid’s cruddy drone offline

Michael Robinson and Alan Mitchell

How to Hack a Tesla Model S

Marc Rogers and Kevin Mahaffey

Drinking from LETHE: New methods of exploiting and mitigating memory corruption vulnerabilities

Daniel Selifonov

Scared Poopless – LTE and *your* laptop

Mickey Shkatov and Jesse Michael

Angry Hacking - the next generation of binary analysis

Yan Shoshitaishvili and Fish Wang

High-Def Fuzzing: Exploring Vulnerabilities in HDMI-CEC

Joshua Smith

Security Necromancy: Further Adventures in Mainframe Hacking

Philip “Soldier of Fortran” Young and Chad "Bigendian Smalls” Rikansrud

Announcing the DEF CON Call for Parties!

Posted 6.9.15

'From Dusk 'til Con' is back with more space, more opportunities and more DEF CON-provided bartenders. If you've got an idea for a party, shindig, hullabaloo, Esperanto-based MUD, you know, whatever, you should share them with us. If your idea is one of the winners, you'll get to throw your party at DEF CON. The main requirements are a well-thought out idea and a quick e-mail trigger finger. You can find the full story on the Call for Parties page. Go there, make a plan, become a party legend.

DEF CON 23 Room Blocks Nearly Full!

Posted 6.9.15

Still hoping to stay in the DEF CON hotel block at our group rate? It’s time to get a move on. Our block at LINQ has sold out, and Flamingo and Planet Hollywood are close to capacity. There’s still some rooms at our rate Caesars, but the window is closing fast, and the risk of getting stuck with an overpriced room in the uncharted wastelands of the Strip grows with every passing day. Fortune favors the bold action, friends. Book soon, or brave the outer darkness.

Announcing the DATA DUPLICATION VILLAGE at DEF CON 23

Posted 6.8.15

New for DEF CON 23 is the evolution of the last years DEF CON Media server drive duplication into the data duplication village.

HOW IT WILL WORK

DEF CON will provide a core set of drive duplicators as well as content. It will be a first come, first served situation. Bring and label your 6TB SATA blank drives, and put them in the queue for the data you want and 14 hours later it is done.

WHAT TO BRING

_ 6TB SATA3 new drive(s) - If you want a full copy of everything you will need three.

_ Any data you want to contribute to be shared, in USB, HDD, or DVD format

You can both contribute data to be duplicated, as well as bring blank drives to get copies and help spread the knowledge.

Those who want to share their own collections or help with duplication are encouraged to bring their own collections and drive dupers. If your collection is smaller we are thinking of getting some USB thumb drive duplicators for smaller batches. We also will have a DVD duper tower, so bring those legacy DVDs.

Full details in the DEF CON forums

IoT Village "Call for X"

Posted 6.4.15

The ISE and the IoT Village announced ‘Call for X’, a call for presentations for an open-format presentation track at DEF CON 23. From the announcement:

“Call For X’ is a play on the mathematical construct of X as an unknown variable,” explains Ted Harrington, one of the lead organizers of IoT Village and the Executive Partner at ISE. “The Call for X is an open-format track for the IoT Village. We want researchers to make suggestions about innovative ways to teach workshops, tutorials, games, or anything else related to the Internet of Things. We are trying to open the platform of learning to dynamic innovation that will help deliver exciting, new and effective ways to reveal solutions for the emerging IoT security problem."

The Call for X CFP is open until June 30, and the information you need to participate is at www.IoTVillage.org . Get your ideas together and spread the word.

DC23 Link Roundup!

Posted 6.3.15

Here's a few things you might want to know about that are going on in the Contest/Event/Village-osphere:

Gentle, non-automated reminder: You only have until June 15 to register for 'Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back' and grab your share of the 50K in prizes!

Strike at the heart of the robocall menace and possibly get a fistful of greenbacks by creating a crowd-sourced honeypot. But step lively, because June 15 is right around the corner.

In case you didn't know, DEF CON 23 is soft-launching a BioHacking Village, and there's still an open CFP for it! If you've got some knowledge or expertise in bio-hacking, this may be your moment to shine. Follow the link and submit by June 30.

The DEF CON 23 Short Story contest entrants are in, and it's time for judging. Your input counts! You can read them all in the forum and give us your vote. As always, thanks to the DC literary community for being dope and sharing their genius with everyone.

DEF CON 101 Talks, Round One!

Posted 6.1.15

We've got more speakers to announce - this time it's for the DEF CON 101 track. As avid con-goers will know, DC101 is a series of talks geared for attendees looking for grounding in new skills and to looking to broaden their basic skillset.

Check 'em out, mark your calendars accordingly and spread the word.  The official DEF CON 101 track is running throughout the Con this year, so there will be more speakers added soon!

Game of Hacks: Play, Hack & Track

Amit Ashbel and Maty Siman

Abusing XSLT for Practical Attacks

Fernando Arnaboldi

RFIDiggity: Pentester Guide to Hacking HF/NFC and UHF RFID

Francis Brown and Shubham Shah

It's The Only Way To Be Sure: Obtaining and Detecting Domain Persistence

Grant Bugher

Ubiquity Forensics - Your iCloud and You

Sarah Edwards

Crypto for Hackers

Eijah

Extending Fuzzing Grammars to Exploit Unexplored Code Paths in Modern Web Browsers

Saif El-Sherei and Etienne Stalmans

Linux Containers: Future or Fantasy?

Aaron Grattafiori

How to Shot Web: Web and mobile hacking in 2015

Jason Haddix

LTE Recon and Tracking with RTLSDR

Ian Kline

Are We Really Safe? - Bypassing Access Control Systems

Dennis Maldonado

Hacking SQL Injection for Remote Code Execution on a LAMP stack

Nemus

Chellam – a Wi-Fi IDS/Firewall for Windows

Vivek Ramachandran

Bruce Schneier Q&A

Bruce Schneier

Applied Intelligence: Using Information That's Not There

Michael Schrenk

I Am Packer And So Can You

Mike Sconzo

NSM 101 for ICS

Chris Sistrunk

The Bieber Project: Ad Tech 101, Fake Fans and Adventures in Buying Internet Traffic

Mark Ryan Talabis

Hijacking Arbitrary .NET Application Control Flow

Topher Timzen and Ryan Allen

QARK: Android App Exploit and SCA Tool

Tony Trummer and Tushar Dalvi

Round Three of DEF CON 23 Speakers is now Live!

Posted 5.30.15

More approved presentation goodness - round 3 of DEF CON 23’s accepted speakers is now LIVE. Our team of dedicated reviewers has been hard at work finding the best talks in the mountains of entries, and you are now free to read through the abstracts and start formulating your info-hoovering plan for Vegas.

Three rounds of speaker selections down means that DEF CON really is starting to get close.There are a few more updates to come before the roster is complete, but it’s already clear it’s gonna be a heck of a Con, presentation-wise.  Remember to watch this space and we’ll update you as soon as we have new speaker selections.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there’s more going on, speaker-wise, than just the Official DEF CON tracks. The Villages have their own speakers throughout the con - you can find links to all the individual village websites at http://defcne.net/villages/22.

Malware in the Gaming Micro-economy

Zack Allen and Rusty Bower

Fun with Symboliks

atlas

Cracking Cryptocurrency Brainwallets

Ryan Castellucci

Stagefright: Scary Code in the Heart of Android

Joshua J. Drake

Unbootable: Exploiting the PayLock SmartBoot Vehicle Immobilizer

fluxist

Rocking the Pocket Book: Hacking Chemical Plant for Competition and Extortion

Marina Krotofil and Jason Larsen

F*ck the attribution, show us your .idb!

Morgan Marquis-Boire, Marion Marschalek, and Claudio Guarnieri

Hacking Smart Safes: On the "Brink" of a Robbery

Dan “AltF4” Petro and Oscar Salazar

Title TBA

Peter Shipley

Machine vs. Machine: Inside DARPA’s Fully Automated CTF

Michael Walker and Jordan Wiens

Pivoting Without Rights – Introducing Pivoter

Geoff Walton and Dave Kennedy

Stick That In Your (root)Pipe & Smoke It

Patrick Wardle

Investigating the Practicality and Cost of Abusing Memory Errors with DNS

Luke Young

DEF CON 23 CTF Quals Write-Ups!

Posted 5.26.15

The last qualifying event for DEF CON 23’s CTF competition is in the rear view. For those of you who didn’t compete but want an idea of what a high-level CTF competition looks like, we offer links to some quality write-ups. The write-ups not only give you insight into the competition, but the careful reader can also learn something of the mindset that succeeds at this kind of contest. If you’re on the fence, it’s time to read up, level up and get in the arena. CTF glory awaits.

The 2015 DEF CON CTF Qualifications are complete!

Posted 5.19.15

From the upstanding citizens of the Legitimate Business Syndicate:

"Thanks for being a part of our biggest DEF CON CTF qualifiers yet. We're still very excited at how well the 4407 players, 1472 teams, and over 4000 unique IP addresses performed in our game, and have some preliminary results and other information to share with you."

The contest ended with a three-way tie between PPP, DEFKOR and 9447. As the LBS sorts through the data, they'll post everything at https://blog.legitbs.net.

For those of you who'd like to get a close-up view of the action, you can find a whole bunch of writeup goodness at https://github.com/…/…/tree/master/defcon-qualifier-ctf-2015

If you competed and have a write-up to contribute, that's a great place to put it.

Thanks to all the competitors and to the Legitimate Business Syndicate for making everything happen. Good luck to the groups moving on to the big showdown in Las Vegas, where it shall be on like the proverbial Donkey Kong.

There Are Still Speaking Opportunities at DEF CON 23!

Posted 5.15.15

The main CFP is closed, but that doesn't have to mean you can't speak at DEF CON 23.

Several of the Villages are still looking for speakers in their specific subject areas. If your idea is about Crypto/Privacy, IoT, SE or Packet Capture, quick action could still secure you a speaking opportunity before an audience that's passionate about the topic at hand.

Crypto and Privacy village - Deadline June 30

Internet of Things village - Deadline May 26

Social Engineering Village

Packet Capture Village

Let the DEF CON 23 CTF Quals Begin!!

Posted 5.15.15

The time has come. The final qualification opportunity for CTF at DEF CON 23. Team size - ∞. Registration - open, and available all the way until the contest ends. Battle begins at midnight UTC, May 16 and runs until midnight UTC May 18. If you think you deserve a spot at the Vegas finals, this is your last opportunity to prove it.

For up to date info on the contest you can follow the scoreboard at 2015.legitbs.net/scoreboard or keep an eye on @legitbs_ctf and @_defcon_.

Prepare your team. Reach for glory. Godspeed, one and all.

Round 2 of DEF CON 23 Speaker Selections is Live!

Posted 5.14.15

Enjoy a new round of DEF CON 23 speaker selections, on us!

Extracting the Painful (blue)tooth

Matteo Beccaro and Matteo Collura

Switches Get Stitches

Colin Cassidy, Eireann Leverett and Robert M. Lee

USB Attack to Decrypt Wi-Fi Communications

Jeremy Dorrough

Low-cost GPS simulator – generate fake GPS signal by SDR

Lin Huang and Qing Yang

ThunderStrike 2: Sith Strike

Xeno Kovah, Corey Kallenberg, and Trammel Hudson

Drive It Like You Hacked It: New Attacks and Tools to Wirelessly Steal Cars

Samy Kamkar

How to Hack Government: Technologists as Policy Makers

Terrell McSweeny and Ashkan Soltani

Spread Spectrum Satcom Hacking: Attacking The GlobalStar

Colby Moore

Detecting Randomly Generated Domain Names; A Language Based Approach

Mahdi Namazifar

Some Foundational Work Towards Making Deus Ex And The Matrix Real Life Stuff: A Talk On Non-Invasive Sensory Augmentation

Great Scott (Scott Novich)

Staying Persistent in Software Defined Networks

Gregory Pickett

Breaking SSL Using Time Synchronisation Attacks

Jose Selvi

Shall We Play a Game?

Tamas Szakaly

Looping Surveillance Cameras through Live Editing of Network Streams

Eric Van Albert and Zach Banks

'DLL Hijacking' on OS X? #@%& Yeah!

Patrick Wardle

Build A Free Cellular Traffic Capture Tool With A Vxworks Based Femoto

Yuwei Zheng and Haoqi Shan

Reminder: DEF CON 23 Call For Suites and Call for Demo Labs are Open!

Posted 5.14.15

If you've got a project, a gadget or a tool that you'd love to show off to DEF CON attendees, there's still time to sign up for the DEF CON Demo Labs! You bring your wares, and we provide you with a dedicated time and location to show them off. It's a great opportunity to get your project some user testing, cultivate some collaborators or get an idea how your idea rates with the hacker demo. The information you need to sign up is here: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-23/dc-23-demolab.html

What would you do with a whole penthouse suite at DEF CON? Throw a party the bards will sing about until the end of days? Film a security 'Shark Tank' reality show? Roomba Thunderdome? Come up with a cool concept, event, or party that will be open to all attendees from Thursday to Sunday and if you are selected DEF CON will release to you or your group one of the suites at a cost of $500 per night - so $2,000 for the con. They usually go for $1,500 to $2,000 per night. You can read the whole announcement on the DEF CON 23 site: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-23/dc-23-cfsuites.html

DEF CON 23 Paris and Bally's Room Blocks are Sold Out! Nearby Hotels at DEF CON Rate Still Available!

Posted 5.11.15

The DEF CON block at Bally’s and Paris is officially sold out. There’s still some good news for procrastinators, though - there’s still room at our con-goer rates at the nearby Flamingo, Link, Planet Hollywood and Caesars. At least, there is room right now. You’re gonna want to act briskly if you want to get the DEF CON group rate.

Here’s the reservation link:

https://aws.passkey.com/g/32601197

And here’s the direct lines to the hotels still offering the DC23 rate:

Flamingo 888-373-9855

Caesar's 866-227-5944

Linq 866-523-2781

PH 866-317-1829

DEF CON 23 CFP Closes This Sunday!

Posted 5.8.15

A friendly reminder from DEF CON HQ:

If you're waiting until the last possible moment to submit your talk proposal for DC23, please be advised that we have arrived at that moment. Sunday May 10 is the last day we'll be accepting entries, so it's time to stock up on Code Red, take a few deep breaths and get that sucker done. We're looking forward to seeing what you've got.

The FAQ is here: https://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-speakerscorner.html#leah-cfp-process

You've got this. Just make sure we've got it by Sunday.

New IoT Village at DEF CON 23!

Posted 5.5.15

Brand new addition to the DEF CON Villages this year - IoT Village! Lots of workshops on hacking off-the-shelf connected devices, live talks and even some contests.

There's also a CFP. If you have a good idea for a talk about the Internet of Things, you've got until May 26 to submit to them at the link below. Topics they're looking for include:

Raiding Internet of Things - Show us how secure (or insecure) IP enabled embedded systems are. Routers, network storage systems, cameras, HVAC systems, refrigerators, medical devices, smart cars, smart home technology, and TVs -- If it is IP enabled, we're interested.

IoT Device Management – Discuss best practices for deploying and building security into IoT devices.

Anything else awesome that involves IoT devices!

https://www.iotvillage.org/#cfp

New Speaker's Corner: CFP Process FAQ!

Posted 5.1.15

This is the home stretch for getting your talk submitted for DEF CON 23. The submission deadline is May 10. If you still have unanswered questions about the process of submission or selection, Leah has created a pretty exhaustive and very useful FAQ on Speaker's Corner!

The DEF CON 23 Call for Contests,

Events, & Villages is Open!

Posted 4.30.15

We know you have ideas. We know you’ve walked the floor at DEF CON and thought, “I know what kind of contest or event this place needs. One day I’m gonna get MY idea for Roomba Thunderdome to DEF CON and rule this place."

That one day is today (but not if your idea is Roomba Thunderdome - that’s mine). It’s time to take your great idea for a DEF CON contest or event and submit it to us. If it’s good enough, and you get it submitted by May 30, you may get to see your idea become a glittering Las Vegas reality.

The information you need to manifest your brilliance has a Forum thread. Go there and make us proud.

The DEF CON 23 Vendor Application is Open!

Posted 4.28.15

The DEF CON 23 Call for Vendors is now open, so if you have a product or merchandise you want to put in front of thousands of hackers you should check out defconvendors.com . It’s all there – all the info, the vendor area layout and even a surprisingly thorough FAQ. As always, we run out of vendor space pretty fast, so it’s a good idea to get yourself registered as soon as you can. The early bird catches the worm, and the late bird has pallets stacked with regret.

Call for Papers Reminder...

Posted 4.27.15

May 10 will be upon us in less than a fortnight - is your submission prepared? Tarry no longer, friends. Fortune favors the bold.

Submit to the DEF CON 23 CFP before glory slips from your grasp.

DEF CON 23 Speaker Page is Now Live!

Posted 4.24.15

Our speaker selection elves have been hard at work, sifting through the proposals for DEF CON 23, and they have a Friday present for you. The first round of Speaker Selection is done!

Did you feel that? That’s DEF CON 23 getting REAL, people. August 6 is closer than it sounds.

The selections are available for your inspection on the Speaker Page. More will be posted in the coming days, so check back from time to time. Also, if you have a talk you want to see on this list, you only have until May 10 to submit it to us. That is hella soon, so get on it!

DEF CON 23 Shoot Registration is Live!

Posted 4.21.15

If the DEF CON Shoot is part of your traditional DC festivities, it's time to get yourself signed up and get a lane rented. The event organizers are hoping that all lane rental requests will be in by July 1, so don't delay.

If you don't know about the DEF CON Shoot and you want to know more, the link below has a lot of good information to get you on your way.

http://deviating.net/firearms/defcon_shoot/registration.html

Noir Science, Part Two: Neo-Noir

Posted 4.16.15

While the classic Film Noir period happened in the 40s and 50s, the style and preoccupations of Noir are alive and well. Sometimes referred to as Neo-Noir - here’s five notable takes on the genre that will get you up to speed:

Blade Runner: The undisputed champion of sci-fi flavored Film Noir. Hard-boiled private investigator, rain-slicked streets drowning in neon and depravity, a secret so dark we keep it from ourselves. Add to this the insanely detailed and haunting visual design - still maybe the most beautiful dystopia ever committed to celluloid - and you have a permanent chart-topper.

Blood Simple: The Coen Brothers' debut film about small-town jealousy and betrayal is both a love letter to Noir and a darkly comic blast of adrenaline that still stands up over 30 years later. The plot is an ever-tightening noose of bad faith and personal corruption.

The Killer: John Woo. Chow Yun-fat. Doves, the Hong Kong skyline and So.Many. Bullets. A grimly beautiful tale of underworld honor and devotion with operatically insane actions sequences that are still being copied around the world.

Brick: Underappreciated high-school noir starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the dogged investigator determined to find the truth, damn the consequences. The setting and the distinctive slang make it unique, the performances make it a first-ballot hall-of-famer.

The Yellow Sea: 2010 film by South Korea’s Na Hong-jin about an ethnic Korean (Joseonjok) taxi driver in Yanji, China. His twin obsessions with gambling and his estranged wife lead him into a murder plot that’s way out of his depth. You might watch some of this through your fingers, but it’s compelling cinema and steeped in Noir style.

Honorable mentions: To Live and Die in L.A, Shallow Grave, Oldboy, The Last Seduction.

Press Registration is Open!

Posted 4.14.15

Attention, Inkslingers: DEF CON 23 Press Reg is open. The details and requirements are available on the Press Registration Page.

–30–

Announcing the DEF CON Demo Lab

Posted 4.10.15

Announcing yet another cool way you can participate in DEF CON: the DEF CON Demo Lab!

New for DEF CON 23 we are adding an place for you to show off your tools, projects, and tech to attendees - much like a poster board session but with computers.

The DEF CON Demo Lab is a dedicated area for hackers to show off what they have been working on, to answer questions, and even convert attendees into trying of giving feedback on their projects.

Presenters will be given a dedicated time and location to present a tool or project of their creation; show what it does, how it works, and why we need it in our arsenal.

Got something you’re itching to share? Get involved!

Full details at: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-23/dc-23-demolab.html

DEF CON 23 Call for Workshops!

Posted 4.9.15

On the 3rd floor of Ballys South tower, The Jubilee Tower, lay seven rooms [1], each one 1,400 sq feet. That's enough space for about 55 people in classroom format. What to do with all that space away from the main action of the convention? I've wanted to try workshops and trainings for years but we have never had the room once we filled up the Rio. Now we finally have some space at the new hotels so I am calling on the community to tell us what we should do with the rooms.

Check out the Call for Workshops for full details!

DEF CON Villages make an appearance at the Tribeca Film Festival!

Posted 4.8.15

For the first time ever, DEF CON is teaming up with the Tribeca Film Festival to bring a few of its famous Villages to New York. The Villages – interactive spaces stocked with gear, projects and brilliant humans – immerse the visitor in particular nodes of hacker culture. Hands-on activities, eye-opening presentations and open-ended experimentation combine to bring out the hacker in everyone.

Join us April 23 - April 25th, 2015 in Studio X of Spring Studios and you will:

• Learn to pick a lock in the Lock Picking Village.

• Make your devices and identity more secure by seeing how the bad guys operate in the Privacy/Crypto Village.

• Study the noble art of voiding all your warranties in the Hardware Hacking Village.

• Get schooled in the hacker's most important skill in the Social Engineering Village.

• Discover what it takes to open that weird security envelope without leaving a trace in the Tamper-Evident Village.

https://tribecafilm.com/festival/springstudios

New DEF CON 23 Call for Suites!

Posted 4.7.15

On the top floor of Ballys are four penthouse suites, and we are calling for people or groups who are interested in renting them and throwing something cool for the hacking community. Here is the deal:

Come up with a cool concept, event, or party that will be open to all attendees from Thursday to Sunday and if you are selected DEF CON will release to you or your group one of the suites at a cost of $500 per night - so $2,000 for the con. They usually go for $1,500 to $2,000 per night. You can read the whole announcement at:

https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-23/dc-23-cfsuites.html

The DEF CON 23 Call for Music is Open!

Posted 4.6.15

We’re looking for performers. If you’ve got a band, or some righteous DJ skills, or you are crazy good at Tuvan throat singing, we want to hear from you. DEF CON is a big event, and our rocking requirements are substantial. Even if you just want to spin some chilly beats for con-goers on a caffeine comedown - we want your application.

If you have the goods to rock the people, fill out this form. Get in the ring. Win DEF CON.

DEF CON 23 Call for Music

Today’s list: 5 Must-See Classics of Golden Age Film Noir

Posted 4.6.15

To get you in the mood for DEF CON’s Noir theme, we offer some Film Noir knowledge and recommendations.

Noir is a slippery category, but it’s generally taken to mean films with a cynical worldview, moody, stylized cinematography and stories that turn on darker human impulses: lust, greed, vengeance.  They are stories of the desperate and the doomed, the outsiders who will never really belong to polite society.

The golden age of film noir is the 1940s and 50s, but the genre left its mark all over popular culture and great noir (or neo-noir, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) is still being made today.

Double Indemnity: Arguably the film that kicked off the genre. All the elements are present. The lighting is dramatic, the dialog is sharp and the plot turns on murder for easy money. Directed by the great Billy Wilder and written by detective fiction immortal Raymond Chandler. Double Indemnity is the heavyweight champ of golden age noir, with 7 Oscar Nominations.

Kiss Me Deadly: Adapted from the Mickey Spillane novel of the same name. Starts with a disreputable private eye picking up a terrified hitchhiker escaping from a mental hospital wearing only a trench coat, and then things get weird. A Cold War parable with a breakneck plot, a mysterious box and as pitch-black an opinion of the human condition as you could put on screen in 1955.

Out Of The Past: To create the mood of a good noir, you need actors with moodsetting skills - lurking, looming, smoking with intent. No one has ever been better at doing those things than Robert Mitchum. Pay close attention to his looming work in this film. 10/10 would cross the street to avoid. Bonus: You can check out Mitchum being extra foreboding in 'Night of the Hunter'.

D.O.A: Some of the plot tricks in this movie might seem familiar, but only because directors borrow from it all the time. D.O.A. was pretty avant-garde in its time.

Our protagonist is dying - soon. He uses the remainder of his rapidly expiring time to find out who murdered him and see justice done. Lots of newer movies use the forced clock, the backwards storytelling, the inside-out murder mystery but very few of them do it any better.

Touch of Evil: The opening shot - a long, unbroken meander through the scene of our intrigue - is a clinic on mood-setting. Questionable makeup choices aside, this is the platonic ideal of what a dark melodrama should look like.

Honorable mentions: The Killers. The Asphalt Jungle. The Big Sleep.

Friends of Bill W Meetings at DEF CON 23!

Posted 4.2.15

Sin City is a lot to take in. Friends of Bill W. joining us for DEF CON 23 are invited to take a break from the Vegas of it all with meetings at noon and five p.m., Thursday, August 6 through Sunday, August 9. Your hosts will be Jeff Mc and Edward B. The location has yet to be determined, so keep an eye on this space and we’ll update as new information becomes available.

You can mail us any specific questions at info at defcon dot org and we’ll get what answers we can for you.

Go sign up for Capture the Flag at DEF CON 23!

Posted 4.1.15

CTF Season is in full swing - the final qualifying event is May 16-18. For those with the skills, the drive and the energy drink tolerance, glory awaits.

Screw your courage to the sticking place, step into the light and embrace destiny. Let the battle be joined!

Also, register on the Legitimate Business Syndicate website. Then, embrace destiny.

https://2015.legitbs.net/

The Tamper Evident Village is back for DEF CON 23!

Posted 4.1.15

The fine folks from MFP are bringing back the village for everyone who wants to test their skills against modern tamper-evident technologies. Contests, workspaces, presentations and demos - the TE Village is kind has all kinds of stealthy fun for the sneakily inclined. To learn more, check in on the Forum Thread:

https://forum.defcon.org/…/220156-tamper-evident-village-re…

Reminder: DEF CON 23 Short Story Contest is Open!

Posted 3.26.15

Friendly reminder to the writers in the DEF CON community:

The DEF CON Short Story Contest is OPEN. Like, right now.

The theme is 'The 23 Enigma - a Hacker Noir'. The contest closes June 1. Human badges are on the line. The rules are in the DEF CON Forums.

https://forum.defcon.org/…/219870-short-story-contest-2015-…

Let's get those keys clickety-clacking, people.The drop-dead date is closer than you know.

The DEF CON Lawyer Meetup is back for 2015!

Posted 3.25.15

If you’re a lawyer (recently unfrozen or otherwise), a judge or a law student please make a note to join your host Jeff McNamara at 6pm on Friday, August 7th for a friendly get-together, followed by dinner/drinks and conversation. The location of the meet is still to be determined, but we’ll post as soon as the details are settled. If you’d like to help out with the event or have questions, contact jeff at jcmclaw dot com.

The Wall of Sheep is Calling, They Want Your Papers!

Posted 3.20.15

The WoS Packet Village returns for DEF CON 23 and they're looking for speakers. If you can cobble together a riveting 1-hour presentation on topics like network sniffing tools, or incident response, or Python programming for security practitioners, you can get selected to speak in the wildly popular Packet Village. Whether you're looking to dip your toe into speaking at security cons or you're a seasoned pro with an idea that fits perfectly into the Sheep demo, you owe it to yourself to check out this opportunity.

The full details are available at their site.

http://www.wallofsheep.com/pages/call-for-presentations-at-def-con-23

DEF CON CFP Privacy Policy, Now Live!

Posted 3.18.15

As you know, the DEF CON 23 Call for Papers is open. If you've ever been curious about how your sensitive research information is treated once we get it, who gets to see it, whether we put coffee mugs down on it - the CFP Privacy Policy we've added to the Policy Page has your answers.

New FTC Contest, Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back

Posted 3.5.15

Rachel from cardholder services is back and there's a price on her head.

Fresh off the popular 'Zapping Rachel' contest at DC22, the FTC is returning to DEF CON this summer with a brand new contest and a big wad of prize money. Called 'Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back', it challenges you to create a tool that allows mobile and land-line users to identify and block robocalls or deflect them to a honeypot for great justice.

The qualifiying round is open now and closes June 15. Qualifiers compete at DEF CON 23 for cash prizes, including $25,000 for the winner. You can find all the rules and regs on the contest website.

http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/contests/robocalls-humanity-strikes-back

Contests, Events, & Villages, Oh My!

3.4.15

We're a little past the halfway point between cons, but DEF CON 23 is already taking shape nicely! Cool stuff with intention to return for DC 23 includes:

Contests:

Black Bag

Crash and Compile

Capture the Flag

DEF CON Bots

Darknet Project

Scavenger Hunt

Short Story Contest

Schemaverse

Events:

SkyTalks

DEAF CON

DEF CON Shoot

Ham Radio Exam

Villages: Crypto/Privacy Village

Hardware Hacking Village

Lockpick Village

Packet Hacking Village

Tamper-Evident Village

Wireless Village

Social Engineering Village

And there's lots more to come.

In the coming days, we'll be highlighting different individual contests, events and villages in this space, so keep an eye out. If your favorite thing isn't yet on the confirmed list, you can keep tabs in the Contests & Section of the DEF CON forums. It's never too early to start planning how you're gonna get involved this year.

DEF CON 23 Crypto and Privacy Village CFP is Open!

Posted 2.17.15

Attention: The Crypto & Privacy Village CFP for DEF CON 23 is live now!

PS - Word on the street is there's even a puzzle in the CFP!

Crypto And Privacy Village CFP

The DEF CON 23 Call for Papers,

and Social Engineering CFP are NOW OPEN!

Posted 2.10.15

It’s getting real, people. The DEF CON 23 Call for Papers is now officially open! If you’ve got some good stuff to share, it’s time to start getting your pitch together. You’ve got until May 10th to submit, but don’t get too comfortable. May will be upon us faster than you probably think.

To learn the requirements for a DEF CON talk, take a look at the CFP form and get an idea of the suggested topics, we’ve put together a handy guide at https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-23/dc-23-cfp.html. Get yourself up to speed, get your forms filled out and get your proposal in front of our selection committee. This is going to be our biggest DEF CON yet, and there’s a lot of opportunities for speakers, both experienced and brand new. We’re hoping one of them is you.

As if that wasn’t enough CFP excitement, we’re also happy to announce that the Social Engineering Village CFP opens today! The requirements and submission form are online at http://www.social-engineer.org/sevillage-call-papers/. The SE Village is very popular and it’s going to be even bigger and more ambitious this year.

SE Village also has a bad-ass Capture the Flag contest happening. Check out the Rules and Registration page (http://www.social-engineer.org/ctf/def-con-23-sectf-rules-registration/). If you want to play, read the whole thing. For real. They’re very clear on this point.

Capture the Flag qualifying events announced!

Begun, the DC23 CTF has!

Legitimate Business Syndicate, the shadowy organization that provides the hustle and the muscle behind the DEF CON CTF tournament, has announced its list of qualifying contests for the 2015 showdown in Las Vegas.

If you have the team, the drive and the raw skills, it's time to start making plans. To pluck the flower of eternal glory from the Nevada desert, you must first prove yourself in the crucible of a qualifier.

Assemble. Register. Qualify. Prevail. The road to victory is now open.

https://blog.legitbs.net/2014/12/announcing-def-con-ctf-qualifying.html

DEF CON 23 Theme Announcement!

We’re announcing the theme for DEF CON 23 early. Like, hella early. Right now early.

The theme will be ‘The 23 Enigma - a Hacker Noir’.  Fedoras and rain-slicked streets. Smoky back rooms and numbers that show up too often for coincidence.  While the good people of Everytown dream away the dark hours, the data wars rage without ceasing. Sleepless vigilantes fight for the users, though the users may never know. No matter. A bottle of the good stuff, a fast connection and the room to do a righteous night’s work, that’s enough. It’s gotta be. It’s all that’s left.

Hackers, start your imaginations.

The Dark Tangent’s announcement is here: https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=14096

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