Just so there’s no confusion, DEF CON 30 will require masks, same as last year. We thank everyone for keeping each other safe last year, and we can’t wait to get the gang together responsibly just a few short weeks from now.
Original DEF CON 30 Covid Policy post from May.
Friendly DEF CON 30 announcement - the first bunch of speakers are selected and available for your perusal on the DEF CON forums. Congrats to everyone already selected. Keep your eyes on this space for more selections!
DEF CON Trainings registration is LIVE! Right after DEF CON 30, we're excited to offer these intensive 2 day classes with a certificate of completion. First come, first served so don't procrastinate. Class descriptions and reg information are at defcontrainings.myshopify.com.
CTF News
CTF Quals are almost here (May 28 at 0000 UTC) and the CTF Chat on the DEF CON discord is already open!
From @NautilusCTF:
#defcon quals chat on the Defcon discord is open. Come visit us in #ctf-discussion-text to ask all the important questions, like “when is web?” and “this challenge is too hard unlock another one”
Time is short to get to the Nautilus Institute Website and register your team for CTF quals!
SE Community Q&A Today!
Join Social Engineering Community Village cofounders @JC_SoCal and @sn0ww to talk all about what kind of events the Social Engineering Community has in store for DEF CON 30. They'll be live on Twitch answering your questions at 5pm EDT Friday the 27th at twitch.tv/se_community. See you there!
A little announcement about DEF CON 30's Black and White Ball: the best-dressed entrants will get some to enter early and enjoy a few free drinks before we let everyone else in. So look sharp - more details to come.
Join us Saturday the 21st at 8pm PDT for Sydney Pollack's 1975 spy thriller 'Three Days of the Condor'. Robert Redford plays a CIA researcher on the run and Ma Bell plays herself. We'll be hiding out in the DEF CON Discord (discord.gg/defcon) under the code name movie-night-text.
Policy matters. The world has never been so connected, and mighty forces contend for the right to shape our digital lives. DEF CON believes the hacker community needs a voice in that process. To help people learn, connect and get involved with the leading edge of tech policy, we offer ‘Policy @ DEF CON’. We’ll have presentations, panels, and off-the-record evening lounges. Get yourself up to speed on the issues, connect with some of the players and maybe even get involved. The future is what we make it!
Good news, everyone! The DEF CON 30 official website is officially LIVE and DEF CON season is officially IN EFFECT. Bookmark it for a handy place to check out all of the DC30 infoz as they roll in. Check the calendar, jump into the forums, book a room - it’s all in one place.
Now that we’ve reached cruising altitude, you are free to shimmy excitedly around the cabin.
Let’s GoOOoo!
DEF CON 30 is getting closer, and that means we’re starting to get questions about Covid-19 protocols for the in-person event. Here’s the current state of play.
Some things have changed since DC29. The US has largely stopped checking vaccine status for entry to indoor events, owing at least partly to the knowledge that the vaccines serve more to prevent severe disease than to curtail transmission. COVID-19 testing is now mostly done privately with widely available at-home kits.
But most things haven’t changed. There are still new variants on the move. There are still spikes in transmission and hospitalization. Masks are still the most effective way to protect people in indoor events.
Barring a major change in the situation, we will not check proof of vaccination, but we will keep last year's mask requirement in place for DEF CON 30. Protecting the community is our first priority, and we want to make sure that everyone is as safe as we can make them. Everyone includes the healthy, the vulnerable and those who have immune compromised loved ones they need to protect.
Thank you for all you did to protect each other last year, and with your help we’ll do it again this year.
The wait is over - we’re ready to announce the Call for Trainers!
This year we’re adding DEF CON Training – intensive, two-day courses of study aimed at building specific skills. In some cases, these courses will even carry a certification. The Trainings will be held August 15-16, the Monday and Tuesday after DEF CON.
We’re looking for unique, technical, and practical presentations from trainers with deep knowledge of their subject. If that’s you, we’re offering:
- 50/50 split of the gross income.
- Optional test where students demonstrate their skill for a certificate.
All the info you need to apply is on the Call for Training page. Get your applications in early – we look forward to seeing what you’ve got to share.
DEF CON is a cash-at-the-door kind of conference. Paying in cash helps protect your privacy, and search warrants can't vacuum up PII we don't collect. You will always be able to lay down US dollars in the reg line and collect your badge.
Still, the experience of DC29 taught us a few things. Some of our attendees work DEF CON into their business travel schedule, and the option to pre-reg with a credit card over the web made things much easier for them. Some of our attendees need to manage a group purchase, or want a more detailed receipt.
For everyone who fits into those categories, we’re happy to announce that we’re keeping the option of online registration. Starting Monday, March 28th, you’ll be able to use shop.defcon.org to buy your ticket and get your receipt. We hope the online option makes the process more streamlined for those who need it. We thank people for their patience and feedback as we navigate the changing landscape.
The price for DEF CON 30 is $360, with a processing fee of $9.66 added to online orders.
Fine print: Currently we cannot provide beachballs and pizza to the online purchasing experience. For that, you’re gonna need LineCon.
DEF CON Movie Night this Saturday will feature some more 70s sci-fi with John Carpenter’s ‘Dark Star’ from ’74. Join us 3-19 at 8pm PDT in the #defcon discord (discord.gg/defcon). We’ll be in the movie-night-text channel.
The list of DEF CON 30 villages on the Forums has been updated! Stop by to check out the full complement of village goodness we're offering this year. Comment, like, subscribe, volunteer to help out - but mostly get amped. #defcon30approaches.
We’re excited to announce something new on the menu for DC 30 - DEF CON Training! We’re launching a lineup of intense two-day trainings taking place August 15-16 in the same venue, and we’re looking for trainers!
WHAT: DEF CON We’re seeking Trainers for two-day training sessions right after DEF CON 30.
WHEN: August 15-16, the Monday and Tuesday after DEF CON 30.
WHERE: Same location, the Caesars Forum.
WHY: For DEF CON attendees who love our free Workshop series but wish they could get an even deeper, more focused dive and maybe even a certificate. Like everything we do at DEF CON, we hope it will help to build and strengthen the hacker community and spread the kind of knowledge that makes the world more open and secure.
DEF CON Training will offer two-day paid training courses in the $1-$3k price range. We’re looking for unique, technical, and practical presentations from trainers with deep knowledge of their subject. If that’s you, we’re offering:
- 50/50 split of the gross income.
- Optional test where students demonstrate their skill for a certificate.
Interested? We will launch the Trainer submission form later this month! If you have questions, drop us a line at info@defcon.org.
The Dark Tangent
Good news, everyone! We have more calls open for DEF CON 30!
Call for Parties and Meetups: your dreams of throwing an epic party at DEF CON 30 are within your reach! If you have a solid concept to wrap some next level festivities around, get at us. The best ideas will get space and support. Details here: Call for Parties
Call for Music: we’re gonna need some tunes. Lots of tunes. This call is for established acts and bedroom Beethovens alike. We’re looking for live performers, so if you’ve got the stuff that puts the dip in our hip and the glide in our stride, get to the Call for Music and let us know.
Call for Vendors: we’re always looking for new hacker gear and accessories to share with the community. Get your cool swag in front of a pretty savvy and curious audience by applying here at the Vendor Application
You know how you can tell it’s DEF CON season? The Calls. When you hear the distinctive warble of the DEF CON Content calls, you know what’s up. It’s like the first robin of spring, if robins were cooler and more hacker-focused.
Today we’re opening three more DEF CON 30 Calls:
Call for Papers
The big one. If you want to speak at DEF CON 30, it’s time to get your submission together. As always, we’re looking for fresh, technical content and the sooner you get it in, the better your chances. We can offer suggestions to help you get over the finish line, time permitting. Fortune favors the bold, so don’t delay.
Call for Workshops
The very popular workshop series is back for DEF CON 30. Some topics need a more time and involvement than a main-stage talk can offer. The workshops are an amazing way to share your in-depth, hands-on content with the DEF CON community.
Demo Labs
Get your open source project in front of the knowledgable, curious humans of DEF CON. Get valuable feedback, find accomplices and raise your project’s profile. We provide the floor space and the audience, you provide the timely submission.
The DEF CON machine is revving up, and DC30 will be here before you know it. Don’t miss your chance to get involved. The community is waiting to see what you’ve got to share.
Big DEF CON 30 CTF update! Following several years of exemplary service by the Order of the Overflow, our world-famous Capture the Flag contest is under new management. The care and feeding of this year’s CTF is in the worthy and capable hands of the Nautilus Institute!
From Nautilus Institute:
Ahoy DEF CON and CTF communities!
We are the Nautilus Institute. We have been chosen, from a very respectable pool of applicants, to steer the DEF CON CTF ship starting in 2022. We are thankful for this honor, and hope to navigate straight and true no matter what waters lie ahead.
We’re a bit light on details, while we prepare for this year’s DEF CON CTF Qualifiers May 28-29, but we hope to flag you down with more information soon! Please follow us on twitter at https://twitter.com/Nautilus_CTF and keep a look out on our website at https://nautilus.institute.
Sea you soon,
@•̂≈
For the boldest and best prepared, glory awaits. Godspeed.
DEF CON movie night rolls on with ‘Primer’. Joins us on the DC discord Saturday 8pm PST for what has to be the most brainmelting time travel movie that could possibly be shot for $7000. Bring a cork board and a few different colors of yarn. We’ll be waiting for you in the movie-night-text channel.
This week’s DEF CON movie night will feature the very weird ‘Tank Girl’ from 1995. Join us Saturday, 8pm PST in the movie-night-text channel of the DEF CON discord for a glimpse at what the apocalypse looked like from the more innocent viewpoint of the mid 90s. Bring your own water.
DEF CON is doing a small New Year's Eve event on the DEF CON discord. There will be several hangouts and contests to participate in. We’ll have music, a Kubernetes CTF, A Ham radio CTF, some Hacker Karaoke, movie watchalongs and more. We’ll have the full rundown on defcon.org and we’ll update in the NYE Forum threads. Join us in welcoming 2022 - can't wait to see you!
The full DEF CON Transparency Report for DEF CON 29 is now available. Our deepest thanks to everyone who reported issues to us and also to the people on staff who tracked down and handled those issues. It's a community effort, and it's good to see the progress we're making.
The holiday season is upon us - time to spruce up your place with some festive hacker accents. This is the only official DEF CON ornament. Accept no substitutes. Suitable for all celebrations and a welcome addition to any decor.
Now that the DEF CON 30 Theme is out there in the world, it’s time to go pencils up on the DEF CON Art Contest!
This year’s theme is ‘Hacker Homecoming’, and you can read all about it on the DEF CON Forums. It’s a theme meant to celebrate our community’s much awaited reunion next August. It’s also meant to reference the 30th Anniversary we’re celebrating, which is a pretty big deal for a hacker conference.
So if you’ve got some art skills, you’ve got a luxurious 7+ months to get your take on the theme in to us. There’s so much time between now and the June 1 deadline that you could probably learn a brand new art style in which to make your submission. You can drop as many submissions to pictures@defcon.org as you want, so enter early and often.
### Theme:
We are looking for artwork that reflects a spirit of community and reunion. We’re looking for art that combines the 90’s hacker aesthetic of DEF CON’s history and our tribe’s 21st century future. We’re looking for your vision and vibes.
We hope you’ll take in the information in the style guide, but we hope that you’ll use that as a launching pad and not a set of limits. We want to see where you can take these ideas.
### Guidelines:
300 DPI. Convert type to outlines where applicable. Trust your instincts - we’re looking for genuine energy, not technical perfection. We want to share and amplify the artists in our community. If tlhat’s you, get your ideas down. If that’s not you yet, could it be? You’ve got a few months to find out.
Entries will be placed on the DEF CON Forums for voting, and there will be prizes. There will also be gratitude, and opportunities to inspire others with your special way of seeing the world. We can’t wait to see what you’ll make!
This has been a crazy couple of years.
A global pandemic turned DEF CON 28 into DEF CON Safe Mode. Some easing of the restrictions and some strict attendance rules gave us a hybrid con for DC29. An improvement, to be sure, but something short of a full DEF CON experience.
We want DEF CON 30 to have the energy of a reunion. We’ll be back togeher in a brand spanking new venue. We’ll be thirty years old - an amazing milestone for a hacker conference under any circumstances. In honor of all that, we’re calling DEF CON 30 ‘Hacker Homecoming’.
The first reason is that it’s literally a return home. After two years of separation, we’re looking forward to having more of our family under one roof, under the Vegas late summer sun.
There’s also a North American tradition called ‘Homecoming’. Secondary schools and colleges invite luminary alums back for a big celebration of the school’s history and a toast to its future. We intend to do just that for DC30. We’ll have some surprise guests from DEF CON’s illustrious past on hand to talk about the amazing places their life has taken them since joining the DC Community. We’ll also be laying out some of the map forward from our 30th Anniversary.
So please join us in the Caesar’s Forums if you can, and on the Discord if you can’t. Maybe even pack a fancy outfit for the homecoming dance. It’s high time for a reunion.
This year’s theme is about celebrating the past and getting geeked about the future, so we’re looking for smooth integration of old school hacker stylee with future vibes.
We took the color palette inspiration from arguably the most iconic DEF CON image of all time: the rooftop photo from DEF CON 1.
The photo is amazing for any number of reasons, but the most important is that even though it screams early 90s hacker culture, it also shows some of the essence of what DEF CON is even in the 2020s. It’s still a gathering of extraordinary digital misfits going Voltron in the Vegas night.
The fonts were also selected to be like a homecoming celebration, with some reverence for the past, some excitement about the future. The past is represented by the very 90s CityPop and Geom and the future by the futristic minimalism of Open Sans.
As always, we’ll be sharing movies, books, music and other random media to get you in the right frame of mind for maximum DEF CON. This year we’re even giving you an extra few months to get through the syllabus. Watch the DEF CON site for additions to all the lists. Pencils UP!
Movies:
Sneakers
The Imitation Game
Zero Days
Books:
The Shockwave Rider
The Cuckoo’s Egg
Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground
The Cult of the Dead Cow
DEF CON 30 is going to be a big deal, and we’re full speed ahead on planning. If you’ve got a stellar idea for a contest, this is your moment. Take advantage of the early opening to turn your idea into a real DEF CON Experience. The extra lead time helps us work with you to get the best ideas across the finish line, but only if you take advantage and get your submissions in.
You can read the rules and requirements on the Call for Contests Page. You can check the DC29 Contest forum for an idea of what we’ve accepted in the past.
Let’s see what you’ve got percolating out there, DEF CON fam. Let’s take DC30 up a notch.
The DEF CON 30 Call for Villages is already open! To see if your fave is already accepted, check out the Villages forum for DEF CON 30! Don't see what you want on the current list? Maybe that's your cue to submit a proposal!
For the truly ambitious, there is still a call open for the coveted title of CTF organizers! Only a little over two weeks left to put in your proposal to be the future of DEF CON Capture the Flag!
On the horizon very soon will be the Call for Contests! Polish those proposals for new DEF CON contests now and be ready for the call!
We only turn 30 once. Let's do it big!
DEF CON 30 may seem a long way off, but it’s never too soon to start planning. Especially for something as close to the heart of the DEF CON experience as Villages.
As always, we’re looking for new villages that will create welcoming, hands-on spaces for congoers to sharpen their skills, learn something new and maybe even find their newest obsession.
Space (both physical and metaphorical) is limited. Early submissions have increased chances of success. If the concept is strong but needs work, we can help but only if we have enough time.
You’ll want to famailiarize yourself with the requirements and submission guidelines at https://defcon.org/html/defcon-30/dc-30-cfv.html first. If you can meet the preconditions, and you have a stellar idea to propose, that’s the universe telling you it’s go time. Rise to meet your moment.
We can’t wait to see what’s on your mind.
The mighty and venerable Order of the Overflow is retiring from organizing the DEF CON CTF, and the torch must be passed. This means a rare opportunity for you, CTF enthusiasts.
Are you ready to create the next generation of elite CTF tournaments? Do you have the skill and creativity to elevate the game for the world’s best players? The drive to see your ideas through to completion? If this is you, it’s time for us to talk.
The lowdown is at https://defcon.org/html/links/dc-ctf-cfo.html. Get familiar, submit the CTF you want to see in the world. For the chosen, glory awaits.
The live music from DEF CON 29 is now available on the DEF CON Media Server! Whether you missed the party in Vegas or you just need a gang of .flac bops for your earbuds, media.defcon.org has you covered.
Get some, shake your groove things and pass it on.
More DEF CON 29 Village videos on the DEFCONConference YouTube channel - this time it's the Blue Team Village and The Car Hacking Village! Please enjoy and share with everyone you think could gain from the information.
The Village talks deluge continues, with talks from IoT Village, Blacks in CyberSecurity Village, and Aerospace Village all ready to stream to your heart's content on YouTube! As always, enjoy and pass it on.
The in-person talks from DEF CON 29 are now live on the DEF CON YouTube Channel! Time to catch up on some mighty fine panels and unique content you had to be in Vegas to see..UNTIL NOW!
DEF CON 29 was about two weeks ago - thanks again to everyone who helped make a success of it both in person and online. We’ve updated the press page to include a bunch of later-breaking stories. Watch this space for a list of write ups!
More DEF CON 29 goodies for your enjoyment - the talks from Adversary Village are live on our YouTube channel! Binge away - more Village goodness to come!
Congratulations to everyone who participated in any of the DEF CON 29 contests. Getting in the ring is 90 percent of the magic, and we hope that everyone had fun, learned something and met cool new people.
The contest results we have so far have been posted, and we'll be updating the page as we get more in!
The past few years have been crazy, but you can’t stop the signal, even with global cataclysm. We are so happy to be reunited with so many of our friends, both here in Las Vegas and in the virtual con space. It’s good to be together.
Thank you for your support through everything. Your unending enthusiasm sustains our work and the DEF CON community never disappoints. Thanks for following the stricter rules the pandemic made necessary. Thanks for being kind and patient with each other and with us as we navigate the swiftly changing landscape.
Next year is a big anniversary for DEF CON, and we’re already at work planning how to make the big 3-0 memorable. Here’s to next year reuniting even more of us.
In the meantime, keep in touch with us on the DEF CON Discord server. Join a local DC Group, or start one. Stay safe and healthy. DEF CON hearts you.
We’d like to shout out newly minted Photogoon Alex Chaveriat aka ‘Silk’ who spent his DEF CON 29 racing around the con floor finding cool projects to interview people about. If you follow the DC social media feeds you’ve probably seen some of his work this year. Thanks to everyone who gave him some time, and thanks to Alex for putting out so much quality stuff so quickly. Alex Chaveriat on YouTube
We're on the last day of DEF CON 29, both in the virtual and physical worlds. There's so much going on it's easy to miss a few things. Here's a brief listing of some of the press coverage of our events this year.
AND!XOR’s DEF CON 29 Electronic Badge Is An Assembly Puzzle
Hackaday
Hands On: DEF CON 29 Badge Embraces The New Normal
Hackaday
Black Hat USA 2021 and DEF CON 29: What to expect from the security events
Tech Republic
Privacy Without Monopoly: DEFCON 29
EFF
We Have Questions for DEF CON's Puzzling Keynote Speaker, DHS Secretary Mayorkas
EFF
Hands-On: Whiskey Pirates DC29 Hardware Badge Blings With RISC-V
Hackaday
#DEFCON: Hacking RFID Attendance Systems with a Time Turner
infosecurity
#DEFCON: Why Social Media Security is Election Security
infosecurity
#DEFCON: A Bad eBook Can Take Over Your Kindle (or Worse)
infosecurity
#DEFCON: Ransomware Moves from Nuisance to Scourge
infosecurity
Black Hat USA 2021 & DefCon 29: Hybride IT-Security-Konferenzen starten in Kürze
Heise.de
The Cybersecurity 202: The year’s biggest cybersecurity conferences are back, but limited
The Washington Post
In case you didn't know, you can head over to defcon.org/signal for a link to updated badge firmware and instructions! We hope you enjoy DEF CON 29, In-person, or from wherever you may be!
The DEF CON 29 pre-reg at shop.defcon.org is now closed. You can still get a badge with cash payment onsite while they last, and you can purchase the Human+ Discord role directly on our Discord (discord.gg/defcon) or at plus.defcon.org Thanks to everyone for supporting DEF CON this year, whether you’re attending virtually or here with us in Las Vegas. DEF CON ❤️ U. Tomorrow it begins!
Get a head start on DEF CON 29 with this year’s Original Soundtrack! It’s waiting for you on the DEF CON media server right now. Like, right now. You have your assignment.
media.defcon.org/DEF CON 29/
Thanks to @A_P_Delchi and Hackers with Disabilities for creating this helpful accessibility guide to DC29. Don’t hesitate to reach out if we can help maximize your DEF CON, either through goons or via social media.
Arriving early in Vegas? Check out Black Hat’s Arsenal and Business Hall for free!
This year, we’ve partnered with our friends at Black Hat to offer a free Black Hat Business Pass to all Def Con In-Person Badge holders. The pass would normally cost $250, but if you fill out their form here, you can get in for free. You’ll just need to show your DEF CON confirmation receipt when you pick up you Black Hat Business Hall pass over at Mandalay Bay.
Black Hat Business Hall hours:
Wednesday, August 4, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday, August 5, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Here’s the full URL for registering: https://blackhat.informatech.com/2021/index/registrations/DEFCON
Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America's Elections' - an HBO documentary starring Harri Hursti and featuring the Defcon Voting Village has been nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Investigative Documentary category! Congratulations to @HarriHursti and @VotingVillageDC!
#Badgesighting! #DEFCON29 human badges for Virtual have started to arrive! Join the forums badge hacking thread to compare notes, pictures, and discover puzzles: forum.defcon.org/node/238291 #badgelife
Congratulations to the winners of the DEF CON 29 Short Story Contest!
In FIRST place we have "Networks" by Gwisinkoht!
In SECOND place is "Repository Upload" by Alfred Rowdy!
People's Choice award goes to "FAICT" by Serum!
for the full post: forum.defcon.org/node/238015 #DEFCON
Notice for #defcon29 in-person attendees: Online registration closes July 29. That's your last chance to buy a guaranteed badge. After that it's cash at the door, but please know that we’ve only got about 1,000 spaces for cash customers.
To be certain you get in, registering online by the 29th is your best bet. We don’t want to turn anyone away but we will once we reach capacity. Please consider pre-reg at http://shop.defcon.org if you don't want to YOLO it at the door.
Masks and proof of vaccination remain 100% required.
We’ve sold out of badges for online-only attendees. The Human Plus role on the DEF CON Discord (discord.gg/defcon) will be available to purchase soon on the server itself. In the meantime, remember to log in to the Discord to get familiar with the layout and say hi to everyone in the #LineCon channel!
DEF CON is pleased to announce the return of the Policy Department for DEF CON 29. This means more content for attendees (both in-person and virtual) interested in buidling bridges between the worlds of hackers and policymakers. The Evening Lounge format is back, too! We’ll be posting all the Policy updates at The DEF CON 29 Policy Page, so if this is your thing, make sure to bookmark it and check back often.
Workshops are back for DEF CON 29! We’ve got a wide variety of topics from a great roster of presenters, all of which you can peruse at your leisure on the Workshops page.
If you find a workshop that you want in on, you can sign up starting at 0900 PDT on Tuesday July 6. Seats generally fill quickly, so consider some pre-game finger stretches and warming up your mouse with some light gaming.
It’s July, people. We’re in the home stretch!
Friendly reminder - if you’re planning to get vaccinated in order to join us for DEF CON 29 in Vegas, there’s only about 5 weeks left until the con. You need about that long from the first shot for the full effect (depending on vendor, of course) so you should get things started.
Help us judge the entries to the DEF CON 29 Art contest! Your vote decides the community choice award - so don’t let the results be decided without your input! You can see the lineup in the DEF CON Forums at https://forum.defcon.org/node/237564 and you can vote for as many as your heart desires. Shout out to everyone who shared their work!
DEF CON 29 update update:
Good news, everyone! We have re-opened badge sales for virtual attendees! The gods of the supply chain have smiled on our undertaking and blessed us with additional stock. Take advantage at shop.defcon.org!
DEF CON 29 update:
We've sold out of the virtual attendee badges for DEF CON 29. Thank you to all the remote attendees who supported us by ordering a badge. Online attendees can still support DEF CON by purchasing a Human+ code at shop.defcon.org.
DEF CON 29 in-person update from The Dark Tangent:
In-person DC29 is a GO. Attendance numbers have been cautiously predicted, badge orders are in, conference space footprint is confirmed. Planning at full tilt. Read the whole thing on DT’s blog.
The first batch of the DEF CON 29 Speaker lineup is live, people. It’s up there on the DC29 website, just waiting to inform your Con decision-making. Don’t let it shine there in vain. Click on over, have a look-see. Get informed, get inspired, and most importantly get amped. DEF CON 29 is just over the horizon now. Hope we’ll see all of you there.
DEF CON 29 Update! You can now read all about the the Workshops accepted for DEF CON 29 over on the forums. It's coming together, people.
DEF CON 29 is our first hybrid con, and the first time we’ve had more than one price for badges. It’s caused a few questions. To answer them, we’ve created this handy price comparison chart.
If you bought your badge through Black Hat, you’ve purchased the $300 onsite option. If you haven’t signed up yet, badges are available at shop.defcon.org. To upgrade to Human+ status on the Discord, visit plus.defcon.org.
Thank you so much for supporting DEF CON in this crazy time – we can’t wait to be together again in August.
The moment has arrived! You can reserve your badge for DEF CON in Vegas or the DEF CON online-only event right now at shop.defcon.org. Your pre-purchase allows us to accurately predict attendance, and it guarantees you a physical badge and secures your space if the venue is forced to restrict capacity. We thank you for your support and flexibility – hard numbers are the only way we can responsibly make a physical DEF CON happen this year.
Cash at the door will still be honored for as long as spaces last, but there is a chance we’ll have to turn away cash customers if we reach capacity for our venues.
For everyone who can’t be with us in person, the Safe Mode option continues over on Discord and we expect to start mailing out badges in early July.
We’ve got an FAQ page for all of your questions, and you can always get in touch with us at info@defcon.org. Thank you again for the support - we can’t wait for August 5!
We’ve got some sparkly new DEF CON 29 items in the shop.defcon.org store! Official Tees in both fitted and straight cut, hoodies and a sticker set. Support DEF CON and get your look right - it’s a win/win.
#cantstopthesignal
The DEF CON 29 quals are complete, the mighty PPP have won the day, and many other teams have qualified. Congratulations to the Plaid Parliament of Pwning and a hearty thank you to all the other teams who participated. Check out the results and challenges!
Friendly DEF CON 29 CTF reminder - this weekend the mighty Order of the Overflow is hosting the Qualifier event! It’s not often that the path to glory comes into such sharp focus - be ready to meet your destiny. Godspeed to all of the teams who will be battling it out for 48 straight beginning UTC 00:00 May 1st. The information you need is at oooverflow.io and @oooverflow, the courage you need has been inside you all along.
DEF CON 29 is closer than it has ever been. Just let yourself feel it.
Sunday 5/2, at 12pm PDT we're having an online memorial for Dan Kaminsky on the DEF CON Discord server. Come share your favorite stories and join us in celebrating a hacker whose life elevated the whole community.
We've had some questions about our warrant canary, and we wanted to let everyone know that it was just an accidental reversion to the previous version during a site wide update. We're putting some measures in place to avoid this kind of confusion in the future, but rest assured, all is well, and no action has been taken against us!
I am announcing this now because the longer we wait and gather data the harder it will be for everyone to make plans, so we are announcing our intentions to kick things off.
DEF CON 29 will be a hybrid conference, partially in-person, and partially online. DEF CON will not be a “normal” con, but more like DEF CON “Different.” The situation we face this year is unique and will require us to do things differently, simplify our plans, and in a fast-moving environment be flexible to change.
Read the rest of the Dark Tangent's DEF CON 29 Announcement
If you didn’t get to participate in the DEF CON China Party, we have your back. We’ve got a full archive of the presentations and music for you to browse through at your convenience. We can’t provide you the experience of seeing The Dark Tangent’s avatar zooming across the virtual skyline with his jetboots, but the rest of the experience is on tap for you. Enjoy, and pass it on.
It’s official. DEF CON season has arrived. DEF CON 29 will be happening this August in one form or another and that means it’s time to announce the theme!
The theme for DEF CON 29 is (imagine a drum roll here) ‘You Can’t Stop the Signal’.
The signal can be a few things. It’s the powerful force that draws DEF CON together as a community, across miles, across years, even in global lockdown. It can be the magnet that draws us to the people trying to solve the same puzzles we are, who want to learn how everything works as much as we do. And it’s how we instinctively know that the technology we live with can be better, and we are the ones to figure out how.
We’ve put together a style guide that lays out a bunch of our inspirations for this year, from visual aesthetic to music, to movies and books. We hope it inspires you in whatever you’re creating for DC29, and we hope it gives you the same powerful sense of community and possibility that we feel.
The style guide also governs the Art Contest, so if you're artistically inclined we hope you'll find a nugget or two in there to inspire your entries. We look forward to seeing what you come up with and we thank you for being the kind of amazing, unstoppable community that keeps us coming back.
The DEF CON China Party is upon us! Join the festivities over the web! The links go live 20/3 1100 Beijing time or 19/3 2000 PDT
Live feed (no interaction)
Android APK (Interaction from Phone, Android only.)
Windows (VR experience with/without headsets)
The Dark Tangent's interview with Steve Wozniak
PW: DCCP
Musicians! Friendly reminder that our DEF CON 29 Call for Music and Soundtrack is open until June 1. If you want to get your sweet sweet choons in front of the DC29 crowd, get up on it!l
We’re proud to announce another live online event! We’re working with our partners at Baidu and hosting a full one-day DEF CON China Party. Join us on March 20 in a specially built XRspace VR environment for a full day of our famous style of fun with music, speakers, contests and an interview with legendary hacker Steve Wozniak.
We’ll be announcing more details as the day approaches, so keep an eye on the party page for updates. We hope you’ll be able to join us, even if you don’t have a VR setup. See you there!
This week’s DEF CON Movie Night flick is Ridley Scott’s ‘Matchstick Men’. Great performances, beautiful cinematography and more than a little social engineering action.
Join us in the DEF CON Discord 8pm PST Saturday (discord.gg/defcon) in the movie-night-text channel!
The DEF CON 29 Call for Everything Spotlight for today is on Call for Contests!
Wanna get your contest into DC29? It’s easy.
1. Have the most incredible idea
2. Submit via the link below
3. See dream realized. Be a legend.
Complete info and guidelines:
https://defcon.org/html/defcon-29/dc-29-cfce.html
DEF CON 29 approaches. It looms. Darn near impends. Be still, and you can hear it – the DEF CON Call for Everything ringing though the air.
The CfE is when DEF CON throws open the doors and invites everyone’s best proposals in for a visit. Speaking proposals, ideas for vilages, prospective demo labs, contests, trainings, music, art - literally everything. You write up all the delightful things you want to share with the community, and we find a way to bring the best of them to life at DEF CON.
The Call for Everything page lists all the ways you can participate in the creation of the next DEF CON, along with the relevant details and deadlines, including some new questions intended to get your thoughts on whether this year’s con should be in-person, online or some of both.
So visit the CfE page, read the guidelines, and get your best ideas together. Let’s DO this thing!
This week's DEF CON Movie Night will be a YouTube simultaneous screening of a movie partially shot at DEF CON 23! It's the inimitable Werner Herzog's 'Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World'. Herzog is the legendary documentary filmmaker of Grizzly Man' and 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' and a literal half century of straight up mad moviemaking genius. He's also got a part in 'The Mandalorian', in case legendary documentaries aren't your jam.
Herzog's team came to DEF CON 23 looking for some footage of the frontiers of digital connection - this was the year of the Wired magazine Jeep hack where Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek shut down Andy Greenberg's Jeep from across the country. I personally may have wished more DEF CON footage survived the edit, it's a really interesting and unsettling look at the emerging world of constant, instantaneous interconnectivity.
Join us Saturday at 8pm PST in the DEF CON discord (discord.gg/defcon) in the #movie-night-text channel!
The global pandemic of 2020 changed a lot of plans, and DEF CON was no exception. We couldn’t safely hold either of our planned in-person events, so we regretfully cancelled DEF CON 28 in Las Vegas and DEF CON China 2 in Beijing.
Fortunately, we’re a hacker community. We adapt. We reimagine. We find a way.
We created DEF CON Safe Mode, and held our first online conference. With that experience under our belt, we threw our first online New Year’s Eve party to ring in 2021.
Now we’re proud to announce another live online event, this time in VR! Along with our DEF CON China partners at Baidu we’ll be hosting a full one-day DEF CON party experience with contests, music and speakers, all in Virtual Reality.
We’ll be announcing the dates and details soon, so watch this space. We’ll also make sure you can check it out even without VR gear. Let’s make 2021 a year of increased friendship and connection for the global hacker community - no matter what conditions may come. We are hackers, and we find a way.
Start the new year on a solid musical footing with a massive cache of free bangers from the #DEFCONNYE party! Multiple DJs, multiple formats, maximum groove. Get you some.
Very cool video about the kind of crazy effort people put in to the #defcon Badge Hacking contest. Spoofing the badge is always a mighty challenge - but this team went above and beyond.
#urinalcake #badgelife thanks to @alexchaveriat for making the video!
Movie Night 1-16 - 'Charade'
Let's all take a break from doomscrolling social media and treat ourselves to 90 or so minutes of the delightful effervescence of Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Paris in the "lightly comedic mystery thriller" Charade. It's a beautifully shot film, with sparkling chemistry between the leads and a great score by Henry Mancini. You will be charmed.
8PM PST Saturday in the movie-night-text channel of discord.gg/defcon. Be there or be an equilateral rectangle.
The Dark Tangent gives an interview on DEF CON's origin story and the hacker way of life way back in 1997 at DEF CON 5.
Just a little note to thank everyone who came out to our New Year’s Eve Party! It was fun to hang out with so many of you, and very satisfying to ring in the New Year with our community.
These are difficult times for many of us, and maintaining our connections is an important part of staying healthy. Please feel free to visit forum.defcon.org for conversation, links to DEF CON Groups around the world and information about our upcoming events. We want you to stay safe, stay healthy and stay in touch.
This week’s NYE edition of DEF CON’s Movie Night is being hosted by the Cult of the Dead Cow! The OG hacker supergroup will be in the movie night channel sharing a curated list of videos, telling tales and answering your questions.
If you know the Cult of the Dead Cow, you don’t need us to tell you how cool this is. If you don’t, just know they’ve been holding down the elite hacker strike force space since before you hacked your Teddy Ruxpin, and this is the perfect time to fill in that crucial gap in your grasp of hacker lore.
Follow us on defcon.org and @defcon for times and video listings, and visit cultdeadcow.com to see what the cult is up to now.
DEF CON wants to be the soundtrack to your New Year’s Eve! Our party is packed with live DJ sets from all kinds of artists, both new and familiar. To get you familiar with the musical lineup in advance, we’ve got a list of the performers on the NYE Party Page!
Sample, evaluate and plan accordingly. Let's shake off 2020 together with some beat therapy.
We're bringing back the #DEFCONAwards for the @defcon #NewYearsEve party! Nominations open now!
Voting on those nominations begins on the 28th. Nominate for Hacker of the Year, biggest Blow Hard and 8 more categories - make your voice heard!
We’ve set up a sparkly new DEF CON store at shop.defcon.org to meet all of your various swag needs. We hope that it will be a smoother experience for everyone, with more options, more responsiveness and some room to grow. We’d love for you to check it out, and to check back for new items and replenished stock of your old favorites. Thank you as always for your support of DEF CON.
DEF CON ❤️ U.
Hard as it may be to believe, the Snowden revelations are over 7 years old. The news cycle has accelerated so much in the intervening years that it seems like a relic from a different age, a slower timeline where a big story could make headlines for weeks instead of getting buried by four equally unsettling headlines before dinnertime.
Wherever you stand on the ethics of the disclosure, this glimpse at the scope of the US domestic surveillance apparatus has had enormous impact on the way the public views its privacy. In the last few weeks, Snowden's name has been in the news again as he accepts a permanent residency in Russia and his name is floated for a Presidential pardon. This seems like a good time to watch the documentary Citizenfour. Let's examine this artifact together and figure out if it hits different in 2020. I suspect strongly that it will.
Download .ical file: DC Movie NIght - Citizenfour.ics
Good news from our friends at Order of the Overflow! Another DEF CON 29 CTF Pre-qualifying event has been announced!
The HXPCTF event on December 18, 2020 will be your next chance to get your team into the running for the Big Show - are you prepared?
follow @oooverflow on Twitter for updates, follow the links below to learn more and sign up.
The road to glory begins with a single step. Take that step.
ctftime.org/event/1134
The Most Dangerous Game' was made in 1932, but you can still hear its echoes in modern cinema. It's a surprisingly tense pre-code thriller about bored rich creeps who hunt humans for sport, and it walked so 'Predator' could run. Good fun, and a subtext that finds its way into movies a lot more often than you think. Watch this space for some more discussion of the film and join us in the DEF CON Discord Server Saturday Night at 8pm PST (discord.gg/defcon/) in movie-night-text and movie-night-voice.
This week, we are going to continue the simul-tubing experiment with 'IT! The Terror from Beyond Space" - a solid sci-fi thriller from 1958 that's one of the main inspirations for 'Alien'.
In case it isn't readable, that movie poster promises $50,000 to anyone who can prove the creature from the movie is NOT on Mars. You gotta respect a film that stands behind its premise.
Please join us November 28, 8PM PST in the DEF CON Discord (discord.gg/defcon/) in movie-night-text.
#defconmovienight update for November 21
Next week's movie will be the classic 80s hacker film 'War Games'.
"But how? Don't the terms and conditions at discord forbid sharing copyrighted content?"
Fair question.
If we showed the movie in discord, we could run into issues. However, 'War Games' is showing for free on YouTube, praised be the internets.
So the plan is to make it a double header. For the first hour, we'll show a talk from DEF CON 16 where The Dark Tangent interviews David Scott Lewis, engineer, consultant and the model for the David Lightman character in War Games. It's a fascinating interview that will give you a lot of insight into the main feature. If you want to watch it early, it's available at https://youtu.be/hHDJpYBVgz0.
Then, when the interview is over, we'll all synchronize watches and start up 'War Games' on YouTube. We'll still hang out and talk in movie-night-text like every week.
Hopefully, stuff like this expands the pool of available content to be Movie Nighted, and if it works we'll do it again from time to time.
Hope you'll join us at 8pm PST, November 21 in discord.gg/defcon/ in movie-night-text and movie-night-voice, and help us kick things up a notch.
This week's movie night will feature the 2014 hacker movie 'Algorithm', and we'll be joined by the writer/director Jon Schiefer! Bring your questions and join us on Saturday at 8pm Pacific Time in the DEF CON Discord (https://discord.gg/defcon/) in channels movie-night-voice and movie-night-text.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3293462/
Download iCal
In honor of the five new states that legalized marijuana in this week's US elections, DEF CON Movie Night is showing the original 'Reefer Madness'. First released in1936, this anti-marijuana propaganda piece began as a church-funded film called 'Tell Your Children'. Designed to scare kids away from 'jazz cigarettes', the plot revolves wide-eyed teens lurching from innocence to utter depravity after a brief dalliance with what was likely some very weak-sauce Depression-era weed. Unintentional hilarity follows.
The filmmakers overplay their hand to such an extent that the film probably encouraged more stoners than it inhibited, and it became a cult favorite of pot enthusiasts and connoisseurs of badfilm in the 70s and inspired a remake in the 2000s.
We'll also be showing the (very) short film created in 1942 by the US government to encourage the growing of hemp. 'Hemp for Victory' was produced and for many years disavowed by the Department of Agriculture, and while it's not as riotously funny as 'Reefer Madness' it is not without charm. It's also pretty informative about the business side of a pretty remarkable family of plants.
Join us for some laughs and a pinch of agriculture propaganda at 8pm Pacific on Saturday Nov 7 in the DEF CON Discord (https://discord.gg/defcon/) in movie-night-text and movie-night-voice. Download iCal
Waiting on election results? Pass the time by getting yourself up to speed on the many facets of election security! We've got a bunch of resources you can peruse. Take what you need, share where it's needed, follow @VotingVillageDC on Twitter and if you can, get involved in the fight for secure elections.
Get Involved! DEF CON Election Security Forum
DEF CON Voting Village Presentations:
DEF CON Safe Mode Voting Village Playlist
DEF CON 27 Voting Village Playlist
DEF CON 26 Voting Village Playlist
DEF CON 25 Voting Village Playlist
DEF CON Voting Village Official Reports:
DC27
DC26
DC25
Save the Date:
DEF CON’s first New Year’s Eve Party
December 31, 2020 through January 1, 2021 (Download iCal)
Let’s ring in the New Year together! We’re putting together a free online party for the global DEF CON Community. Join us on our Discord server (https://discord.gg/defcon/) for some low-key DC-style amusements like Hacker Jeopardy, Drunk Hacker History, live music, movies - you know how we do. No talks, no lines, plenty of hacker fellowship and shenanigans.
We’ll provide the tunes, the games and contests, even some ‘celebrity’ bartenders. You just bring your dancing shoes and the refreshments of your choice.
#Halloween2020 falls on a #defconmovienight - so we’re showing George Romero's groundbreaking (and public domain!) zombie thriller ‘Night of the Living Dead’!
If Halloween is on hold where you are, join us at 8pm PDT (GMT-7) 10/31 in discord.gg/defcon in movie-night-text and movie-night-voice!
#defconmovienight this Saturday will be an old school hacker doc double feature: #freedomdowntime and #unauthorizedaccess. Join us October 17 at 8pm PDT (GMT-7) in discord.gg/defcon in movie-night-text https://forum.defcon.org/node/235346
This week’s #defconmovienight selection is ‘Algiers’ nominated for 4 Oscars and American debut film of #hedylamarr - screen legend and patent holder for an early frequency-hopping ‘secret communication device’.
Join us Saturday at 8pm PDT (GMT-7) in discord.gg/defcon in movie-night-text and movie-night-voice
DEF CON movie night returns 10/3 with another public domain jewel—1950 meta-noir ‘D.O.A’. Decades ahead of its time, DOA subverts the hardened gumshoe genre by forcing the protagonist to solve his own poisoning before he dies. It’s truly one of the greats—don't sleep on this one.
Join us at 8pm PDT (GMT-7) in discord.gg/defcon in movie-night-text and movie-night-voice. BYO Good-n-Plenty.
The DEF CON Safe mode mega torrent races to its #finalform - DEF CON Groups presentations, art, social media reactions.. get your hands on everything on https://media.defcon.org!
Friendly #defconsafemode reminder - we recorded the Q and A sessions for a bunch of the #defcon talks, so even if you've watched the talks on YouTube you might wanna check on this playlist of speaker/attendee interaction.
The DEF CON Safe Mode Glitch Hoodie is back in stock. Keep your look hacker fresh and be the envy of all who behold you. Available while supplies last in the DEF CON eBay Store.
The DEF CON Safe Mode enormo-torrent is live! Make sure your internets are hydrated and limber - there’s over 400 videos in there. Villages, contests, PCAPs and tons of music. Indulge your inner info-glutton, and make sure to #passitalong.
The first round of press links from DEF CON Safe Mode is live on defcon.org. We'll update as we find more links. If you find something interesting we missed, let us know at info@defcon.org.
Now that #DEFCONSafeMode is in the books, we’ve got a thread for feedback on #defconforums. Share your stories, make suggestions, pass along your thoughts on our first virtual event. We are beyond grateful that so many of you took the leap of faith with us, and we want to hear from you.
Luminous humans of #DEFCON, #SafeMode is now in the books. The time to celebrate the many Contest Winners is at hand. We also celebrate everyone who competed - just the tiniest bit less, to keep everybody motivated. Congratulations to those who found glory. Encouragement and gratitude to those who didn’t this time. The real victory is the friends we made along the way, who were inside our hearts all along.
We want to offer our heartfelt thanks to everyone who entered the DEF CON Safe Mode Art Contest. We’re always amazed at the level of talent in this community.
This year’s runner up is a stylish meditation on the profusion of connectivities that characterize modern life by Rita Tu.
Much like Highlanders, however, in the end there can be only one. This year’s highlander is @hannahdiazart. The entry has both wide-eyed discovery (very on theme) and boxes full of random electronics (super relatable). Also a robot dinosaur. It communicates something about the hacker spirit that is both warm and life-affirming.
Congratulations to Hannah and Rita and thanks again to everyone who participated.
To get the party started, we’re releasing a bunch of the content early. Over on the media server, we’ve got all of the main stage talks and materials, the soundtrack, demo labs, art, CTF, music - take what you like. Completists out there, we see you. There’s a very thicc torrent file as well. Take some time to watch the talks you’ve been waiting for at your leisure, so you’re ready for the live Q&A sessions starting Thursday. This will be the first DEF CON where you won’t have to pick between main stage talks and the rest of the show, so take advantage. If you had plans, we apologize.
So close now!
DEF CON Safe Mode is almost here! We hope you’re as excited as we are. For everyone looking to support DEF CON in this unusually difficult time, we have a new option for you to consider - Human PLUS.
Safe Mode is free to all Humans, but you can upgrade to Human Plus for $20 USD on the DEF CON Discord for a few upgraded privileges. You get stuff like the ability to post pics and links, change your nick, access to Plus only chill out rooms and the good feeling that you’ve helped keep DEF CON alive until we meet again in Vegas. The information is all spelled out on https://defcon.org/dc-safemode-plus.html.
Your support makes DEF CON possible, and we appreciate all the encouragement and enthusiasm you’ve brought to this first-time online event. Thanks for sticking with us - we can’t wait until we get to do it again in person. DEF CON hearts you.
More DEF CON Safe Mode News - The Villages Page is LIVE! Check out the 30 (!) villages that are taking part and start planning your Con. Links are provided to the appropriate DEF CON forum nodes for each village and the various info you’ll need to participate. We’re almost there, people. #getpsyched!
The ever-popular DEF CON Demo Labs are returning for #defconsafemode! Support open-source hotness and the work of your fellow hackers and maybe even get some inspiration for your own projects. The full list of offerings is live on the DEF CON Demo Labs Page!
It’s #defconsafemode alert time again! The main track talk schedule and speaker page for #defcon28 is now #live! Permission to get psyched is #granted. More announcements on the way!
This. Is. Happening.
Here at the DEF CON Research Institute, we’ve been working hard to unlock the perfect blend of mind-expanding content and sweaty dancefloor abandon that makes the perfect Con experience. You’ll be happy to know that we’re applying that research to the #defconsafemode experiment.
Friday and Saturday night, we’ll be providing tasty beats from the likes of Miss Jackalope, Skittish and Bus and Ninjula. Head over to the Safe Mode Entertainment Page for the complete lineup.
The DEF CON Safe Mode badge is here! This year’s model is created by the inimitable LostboY, veteran DEF CON badge and Mystery Challenge creator. While the physical format may be unfamiliar to the youngest among you, seasoned players will recognize it as a ‘cassette tape’ - an analog recording format consisting of a ribbon of magnetic tape and a plastic housing to keep your dirty fingers away from said tape. More on the DEF CON Safe Mode Badge Page
DEF CON Safe Mode is almost here! If you’re just getting around to checking out the offerings, here’s a little roundup of the stuff you need to know.
Visit the Forums: The planning for the many events of DEF CON Safe Mode is all happening on the DEF CON Forums. Whether you want to register for an event, offer to help out with a village, or just get a start on planning your DC weekend, you can find the relevant thread in the DC28 planning forum.
#Badgelife is still in effect: The DEF CON community creates a lot of really amazing badges, many of which are available for sale and/or trade. You can catch up with the community badges on the DEF CON Forums #badgeleife thread. You can also follow the hashtag #badgelife on Twitter and Instagram.
Of course, DEF CON has a badge this year, too. We’ll be announcing it quite soon. It’s the creation of returning puzzle master LosT (@1o57), so you’ll want to set aside some time to unock its mysteries.
Swag: If you’re wondering how to get your hands on DEF CON Safe Mode swag this year, we’ve got you covered over on the DEF CON eBay store!
So dive in! Get yourself set up on Discord and Twitch, fire up the DEF CON stream on soma fm for some musical inspiration and get your mind right. DEF CON 28 will be upon us before you know it.
We’ve got some brand new #DEFCONSafeMode items available at the DEF CON eBay store - a very cool pin, new flag, and a new tee and hoody with our beloved Jack in #glitchmode. Tighten up your Zoom game with a fresh new look!
Attention #Badgelife enthusiasts - the #DEFCONForums has a dedicated thread for people who want to talk badges, including #safemode badges. Share, swap, sell, window-shop - join the conversation!
Reminder to all the hacker scribes out there - the DEF CON Safe Mode Short Story Contest closes July 1! Don't let procrastination rob you of your chance at glory and fabulous prizes!
DEF CON Safe Mode Reminder:
We’re keeping a calendar over on the DEF CON Forums with all the deadlines for content. As a bunch of these deadlines are imminent, it’s worth throwing a bookmark down on it. While you’re there you can also get involved in all sorts of planning discussions - your help and feedback are a big part of making this happen. Don’t miss the opportunity to help shape DEF CON Safe Mode.
To DEF CON, Black lives matter. Justice matters. Accountability matters.
Acts performed by those with a badge are performed by the consent of all of us - because the authority of the badge ultimately does not belong to its bearer. The authority of the badge is on loan from us, the people.
There are real inequities in the way the law is applied to Black people in America. These inequities, rooted in the very foundations of the country, are stubborn things. They persist, and we are all accountable for them. With that accountability comes an obligation to make things right, to see justice done wherever it’s been denied, and work for a better tomorrow.
We have donated $5,000 to The Bail Project and $5,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in hopes that our little company can show some solidarity with the movement and help build that better world we all want.
As far as I’m concerned, none of this is political, or even controversial. I’m not interested in debating anyone’s humanity, or anyone’s right to equal treatment under the law. Good faith discussions about the best way to do the right thing, however, are always welcome. Moments where real change is possible are rare. Let’s not waste this one.
- The Dark Tangent
Art courtesy of @spuxo on instagram
We postponed the DEF CON China 2 event, hoping we'd be able to pick another date in 2020. Sadly, even now in mid-June we have too many unresolved concerns to go forward. We're cancelling DEF CON China 2, but we're hopeful we can return to Beijing in 2021. You can read DT's blog post about it in the DEF CON forums.
Swag alert! The DEF CON store has a ton of new #DEFCONisCanceled goodies for your delectation. The much requested mask is here, along with hats, pins and stickers. Thanks to everyone for your support while we construct #defconsafemode - stay tuned for even more new swag items in the coming days! Stay safe, and stay in touch.
DEF CON Safe Mode is growing fast - check out these links to some of the Villages that are signing up to take part! New CFPs are opening up by the day. But don't stop there - jump into the forums and join the discussion. Your feedback is a crucial part of creating a great Con, so join us as we build this thing out. Exciting, ain't it?
From IOT Village: >> https://twitch.tv/iotvillage << Make sure to follow IoT Village on Twitch to get updates about our talks that go live on May 28th and 29th along with the talks that will be hosted there later this year for our @defcon CFP!!!
https://twitter.com/iotvillage/status/1262574224855744514?s=21
From Crypto and Privacy Village (@CryptoVillage): We're back! Our Call for Participation is officially open! For details on the Crypto & Privacy Village: Glitched CFP - check out our site!
https://twitter.com/CryptoVillage/status/1263184313861865473
From ICS Village: Submit your CFP @defcon for the Village!
https://twitter.com/ICS_Village/status/1265653986230763520
From the Voting Village: Reminder: @defcon Voting Machine Hacking Village @VotingVillageDC speaker track CFP is OPEN!
Call for Papers deadline June 12, 2020, at 5:00 PM PT
More information : https://forum.defcon.org/node/232527#post232527
The DEF CON eBay store is back online! Thanks for bearing with us while we got everything sorted out. DEF CON Safe Mode merchandise (and all other DC merch, for that matter) will be available only on the DEF CON eBay store.
Stay tuned for new #defconiscanceled items, stay safe, and stay in touch with us on the DEF CON FORUMS!
Over on the #defconforums we're building a whole new section for #defcongroups with mini forums for each #DCG! Share pictures, meeting info, project ideas, collaborate with other groups - make it yours.
Let's get them rocking!
https://forum.defcon.org/DEFCONGroups
Congratulations to A*O*E, the winners of the DEF CON Safe Mode CTF Qualifiers, and our heartfelt thanks to the amazing team at Order of the Overflow for hosting a great event.
This year's @defcon Quals are over, but you don't have to stop yet! The scoreboard has been made static and the challenges are still available! Everyone can see challenge info, interact with the challenges (they'll stay up for a few days) and check the flags they can retrieve!/
https://scoreboard.oooverflow.io/#/
@oooverflow
The moment has arrived - the DEF CON CTF Quals are happening TODAY! Winner gets a seat at the DEF CON Safe Mode CTF event and a shot at everlasting glory. We wish the best of luck to all the contestants. Stay up to date with all the CTF updates by following our brilliant hosts, Order of the Overflow.
Godspeed, one and all.
https://www.oooverflow.io/
@oooverflow
We’ve updated the DEF CON Safe Mode Swag page with Women’s cut shirts.
We’re gratified by the response from the hacker community and we’re working to create more options for commemorating #defconsafemode. Keep checking our site for updates. Thanks for your patience.
The ‘DEF CON is canceled’ meme has crossed over into real life, courtesy of COVID-19. In early March we had hopes that things would be stable by August. That is no longer realistic. Currently there’s no way to gather everyone together and keep them safe, so The Dark Tangent has decided to cancel the in-person event.
We will try an experiment this year - an online DEF CON. Please read The Dark Tangent’s more detailed thoughts on the situation and then head over to the Forums to get involved. There is a DEF CON Safe Mode FAQ that should help to answer common questions.
We wish there was better news, but we hackers are a resilient bunch. Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay in touch so we can all be together virtually this August 6-9 and again for DEF CON 29 in person.
We've got an update from @thedarktangent entitled COVID-19 vs DEF CON v2. Please check it out for our latest thinking on #DEFCON28.
The TL;DR is that we're moving up the timetable - we'll have our announcement no later than May 15.
Press Registration for DEF CON 28 is OPEN. We’ve posted the relevant information on the press registration page, so head over and get familiar if you want to reserve a spot. If you’ve got a question that’s not answered there, hit us up at press@defcon.org and we’ll get you sorted out. As ever, we have a limited number of press badges, so it’s a good idea not to wait too long. We look forward to hearing from you!
From today until Memorial Day, you can view the full HBO documentary Kill Chain for free on HBO's YouTube Channel! The topic of this doc is election security and features our very own DEF CON Voting Village! Check it out!
Reminder: DEF CON's art contest is back! Deadline June 15.
Also, we want to partner with a few artists from the DEF CON community for some themed art for DC28. If #discovery and DEF CON inspire you, get at us at pictures@defcon.org
Books. We love ‘em. And right now, we have a major reading opportunity happening for all of us, at the same time. What better way to make use of this moment than to read something together?
Enter the #defconbookclub! Starting In April, we’re inviting you to join us - we’ll all read a book together and discuss it in its own Forum thread. Nikita has set up all the relevant info here: https://forum.defcon.org/node/231147
The first task is picking the book, and we’re asking for nominations. Let’s keep it Non-technical, thematically connected to ‘Discovery’ and reasonably easy to locate. Suggestions can go in the info thread.
We’re excited about this. Let’s make the most of this downtime together.
Calling all teachers of the hacking arts! We’re looking to turn the Monday after DEF CON 28 into a full day of trainings! We’re calling for all-day (8 hours with breaks) sessions on meaty technical topics.
If this sounds like your jam, check out the requirements and compensation info at https://defcon.org/html/defcon-28/dc-28-cft.html.
If you want to keep an eye on this new project as it develops, check in with the trainings thread on the DEF CON Forums. This is new territory for us - help us make it happen!
Attention hackers! OOO has made the difficult decision to postpone DEF CON CTF Quals to give teams a chance to take care of essentials and family during this phase of the pandemic. The new date will be the weekend of May 16th! Still online.
https://oooverflow.io/dc-ctf-2020-quals/
Like everyone, we’re watching the Covid-19 situation intently. @thedarktangent lays out his thoughts RE: DEF CON 28 in a Forum post here:
forum.defcon.org/node/231015
The #tldr is we’re going forward w/Con prep for now. We’ll update if that changes & revisit the issue June 1.
The DEF CON calendar on the DEF CON Forums is pretty handy. It can be even more handy if you participate - add your Def Con Group’s meeting info, comment on your favorite village’s deadlines. It’s an interactive way to keep up w/the defconiverse.
forum.defcon.org
We’re bringing back the Art Contest for DEF CON with a few fun twists. If you want in, sharpen up your crayons - the deadline is June 15, 2020, and it will be upon us faster than you think.
Submissions should be mailed to pictures@defcon.org.
Info and rules are on the Artwork Contest Page.
We can't wait to see what you create!
The DEF CON 28 CFP is LIVE! The time has come to whip that idea into submission-ready shape - you have until May 1 and we can offer a lot more help if you don’t wait til the last minute. Let's light this candle!
The time has come, everyone! The DEF CON 28 Call for EVERYTHING is LIVE! We're throwing open the door on a ton of different opportunities to participate in the CON.
If you're looking to get involved, this is your moment to shine. We're looking for new contests and events, Workshops, Villages, Parties, Demo Labs and even Musical Performers. Every DEF CON, hundreds of amazing hackers contact us with ideas to take DC to the next level. You can be one of those amazing humans - just look through the cornucopia of options on the CFE page, read the rules, and get in where you fit in!
There's no better way to get involved than rolling up your sleeves and making something to share. If your idea looks like a good fit, we'll get you the resources to realize your vision.
Discover what you have to share. Discover what it feels like when you share it. Let's make this DEF CON unforgettable.
The long wait is over - registration for the qualification round of the DEF CON 28 CTF is OPEN. It is, as they say, ON.
Assemble your squad. Register with the fine folks at Order of the Overflow at scoreboard.oooverflow.io. Glory awaits.
The #defconforums app has been upgraded to version 2.3. We fixed a bunch of bugs and got new floor mats - come on in! forum.defcon.org
Call for Music:
The DEF CON 28 preparations are in full swing, and it’s time to put out the call for music! We have a lot of spaces to fill with groovy sounds, and we want your help. DJs, shredders, yodelers - if you have what it takes to move the DEF CON crowd, read the rules, fill out the application and show us what you’ve got.
Call for Soundtrack Entries:
DEF CON has a soundtrack. Not just the one playing in your head as you navigate the venue in search of more things to hack, either. DEF CON has a real-deal soundtrack full of hot tracks donated by super-cool artists like Information Society, BT, MC Frontalot - and maybe YOU.
You know you want to have a track of yours handed out to the DEF CON 28 attendees. Fill out the form and apply - immortality awaits.
In light of global precautions being announced to combat the coronavirus outbreak, we’ve decided to postpone DEF CON China 2.0. We regret inconveniencing any of you. Know that we are committed to holding the event once it’s safe to do so.
If you want a refund on purchased tickets, please submit a refund request to your ticket broker. If you'd rather that we hold your reservation for our new dates, you don't have to do anything and we'll keep your tickets on file.
The situation is still developing. We’re working to find alternative dates for DEF CON China 2.0. Keep in touch with us on social media and defcon.org. We’ll share our plans as soon as we’re able.
Our hearts go out to our many friends in the affected regions. We encourage everyone to stay safe, and we look forward to reuniting when this is behind us.
We've posted the videos from DEF CON China 1.0 to YouTube and media.defcon.org - please enjoy them and share widely.
DEF CON China 2.0 is happening April 17-19 in the same Beijing location - you can find out about attending and participating on defcon.org.
Get your Open Source Project out there with DEF CON Demo Labs!
In Demo Labs we give you some time and space to share your open source project with the DEF CON audience. It's a great way to get feedback on your work, find collaborators and get your idea into the hands of the right audience. You can find out the details here:
https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-china-2/dc-cn-2-cfd.html
Villages are a signature part of the DEF CON experience. All-day, hands-on hacker spaces where you can learn something new, level up your skills and interact with friendly experts and fellow enthusiasts. We're always looking for new village ideas - if you've got one for #defconchina2, we want to hear from you! The best way to get involved in the DEF CON experience is to roll up your sleeves and start sharing what you know. Read about the Village requirements here:
https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-china-2/dc-cn-2-cfv.html
Scavenger Hunt. Wireless CTF. HackFortress. Do you have a fun contest idea that can measure up to some of DEF CON's legendary contests? We want to hear about it. If the idea is promising, we'll pitch in to help you make it happen at DEF CON China 2. Let's do it, people. This is how the legends are made.
The info you need is here: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-china-2/dc-cn-2-cfce.html
The concept is simple, but for us it drives everything.
Learning how something works, how it doesn't, or how you can make it do something amazing and off-label for the very first time.
Meeting people who know what you're talking about, or people who know that one thing you're trying to learn.
The skill you never expected to develop, the contest a near-stranger talked you into, the group of friends you didn't know you'd meet.
All the best and most exciting parts of DEF CON are the moments of discovery. So that's our theme.
To translate that feeling into the physical space of DEF CON 2020, we offer these bits of inspiration.
The color palette is derived from internet publications of the early 1990s. It was the breakthrough moment of The Web. As people raced to define the new frontier, magazines like Mondo2000 and Wired tried to convey the excitement with loud colors and edgy layouts.
The style we took from 90s 'zine culture - an amazing, boundlessly creative and wildly unprofessional DIY movement that, just like the internet, invited everyone to stop consuming culture and start creating and sharing it. Ideas over production value, attitude over polish, getting your ideas out over getting them perfect.
We hope you'll take that anarchic DIY spirit with you when you're working on whatever you're bringing to DEF CON. We can't wait to discover what you create.
DEF CON China 2.0 tickets are on sale now! We're returning to 751 D Park in Beijing April 17-19. We will be bringing our famous mix of world-class speakers, hands on learning and exciting contests and entertainment. We'd love to see you there!
Tickets are priced as follows:
Student Rate (with valid undergraduate or lower student ID) $US82 / ¥488
Early Bird Rate (purchased by 29 February) $US115 / ¥688
Regular Rate (1 March Through April 15) $US180 / ¥1088
There are several ways to get your tickets:
Cash at the door - DEF CON accepts local currency at the venue - the price is ¥1088 (regular rate).
For everyone who wants to purchase tickets prior to the event, we can offer several payment options through 4Hou's billing portal.
Pay Pal - guests with a PayPal account can use it to make a payment in US dollars:
Buy with Paypal (en)
WePay and Ali Pay - guests with WePay and AliPay can use those accounts to pay through the Chinese-language section of the 4hou portal:
Buy with Ali Pay/ WePay (cn)
Invoices - business entities wishing to pay via invoice or seeking a bulk ticket discount can contact 4hou directly by calling the Helpline at +8610-64780062 or email shankala@4hou.com.
Another reminder: DEF CON China 2.0 has an open CFP! We’re looking for presenters with exciting ideas to share in Beijing April 17-19 2020. If that’s you, get cracking! The sooner we hear from you the better your chances. Check out the submission information on the DEF CON website and get at us. Act now - CFP Reviewers are standing by!
New for DEF CON China 2.0 - 2-day technical Training Sessions on April 15-16! Call for Trainers is officially open!
Don't miss this opportunity to teach in a new city and expand your social circle. Also, money. Submit your proposal promptly if you want a spot.
Joe Grand has posted a video about the DEF CON 27 badge!
More videos from the DEF CON 27 Villages - Red Team and Blue Team Villages this time! Keep the Force in balance by watching all of them! As always, enjoy and share widely.
Blue Team Videos
Red Team Videos
Big DEF CON 27 village video rollout today - #transporthax with presentations from @CarHackVillage @AviationVillage and @hack_the_sea village! Set aside some time and get up on all the vehicle hack info. Share widely.
More DEF CON China 2 news - the Call For Papers is officially open! If you’ve got something amazing to present in Beijing this April, we’re ready to hear from you. You’ve got until February 3, 2020 to get your proposal in to us, but sooner is better.
If you’ve got a presentation that’s worthy but needs some attention to make it across the finish line, our amazing CFP Review Board can help. Time permitting, of course. Drop it on us five minutes before the deadline and this kind of personal attention becomes ... unlikely, so don’t let procrastination hijack your opportunity.
For speakers coming from outside of China, we provide hotel accommodations and we can offer up to $US900 toward airfare. You can learn all the details your heart desires at the DEF CON China 2.0 CFP Page. We look forward to seeing what you’re working on.
More DEF CON Village talks for your perusal - 17 mind-embiggening presentations from @ReconVillage!
Dig in and spread the word.
DEF CON 27 Village talks keep coming - This time it's 19 talks from the Packet Hacking Village (@wallofsheep) for all of the packet ninjas out there. Enjoy, and spread the word!
The shadowy cabal known as Order of the Overflow has announced the remaining qualifying events for the DEF CON 28 CTF! Winning HITCON, CTFZone, HXPCTF, or PlaidCTF will get you a shot at DEF CON 28 CTF glory! Plan accordingly - assemble your squad, pick your contests and prepare for cybercombat.
Godspeed to all. See you in Vegas!
More DEF CON 27 Village talks released - 18 presentations from Social Engineering Village (@sevillage) covering a wide variety of Social Engineering topics. Enjoy, and spread the word!
The presentations from DEF CON 27's many Villages are coming online! First out of the chute is Wireless Village. We've got 15 talks, ranging from a deep dive into WiFi 6 to reverse engineering a wireless model railroad. If wireless is your jam, get into a cozy spot and treat yourself. As always, share with those you think could benefit. More villages on the way.
Some more good news for your weekend - DEF CON CHINA 2 has official dates! We'll be back in Beijing's 751 D Park Art District April 16-19, 2020! We'll be bringing new talks and more hands-on Village experiences, and we hope we'll see you there. This will be our third event in China, and we've got big plans to make it the best yet.
If you're interested in participating at DC China 2, make sure to keep an eye on our website and social media. We'll be announcing the Calls for Content soon and we can't wait to see what you've got to share.
Join us, and spread the word.
As part of our ongoing Hackucation As A Service (HaaS) initiative, we're rolling out hundreds of hours of compelling content from DEF CON 27 on our YouTube channel. Today's installment - all the presentations from the DEF CON 27 main tracks. The Village videos will follow over the next week or so. Enjoy responsibly* and please pass on the info to all those you think might benefit. Sharing is caring.
Many thanks to all of the presenters who shared their knowledge with us at DEF CON 27, and all of the attendees who power DEF CON's efforts to hackucate the world. We can't wait to join you again at DEF CON 28.
*Binging best practices include choosing a comfortable spot with access to power and bandwidth, frequent stretching and crucially, hydration. Headphones are optional but recommended in cases where you might be observed by fellow commuters or supervisors.
From The news release on social-engineer.org:
It is that time of year again—we finally recovered from DEF CON (yes it takes months), and we analyzed all the data, crunched all the numbers, and produced yet another report for your reading enjoyment. Read on...
Voting Village organizer Harri Hursti and Rachel Tobac’s viral video from the DEF CON Voting Village both made it into John Oliver’s discussion of Election Security!
The live music from DEF CON 27 is up on the DEF CON Media Server! AAC, FLAC, Opus - name your flavor. Your ears deserve a little love this weekend - fire up your internet guzzlers and treat 'em right!
Attention hackers! Aside from the prequal events, you will all have a chance to qualify for DEF CON 28 CTF through the DEF CON CTF Qualifying event!
#DC28Quals will be held March 27! Start practicing now!
Stay up to date with all the CTF updates by following our brilliant hosts, Order of the Overflow.
https://www.oooverflow.io/
@oooverflow
The DEF CON Forums upgrades continue - we’ve got version 2.1.1 of the Android and iOS forum apps live in their respective stores - ready to meet all of your posting needs.
We’d appreciate your feedback - you can post your thoughts at https://forum.defcon.org/node/229993?p=230032
The DEF CON Voting Village has released its findings from DEF CON 27!
This is the third year we've hosted the Voting Village, and this year we were able to give attendees access to over 100 machines, all of which are currently certified for use in at least one US jurisdiction. The units tested included direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines, electronic poll books, Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs), Optical scanners and Hybrid systems.
The hackers at DEF CON once again compromised every single machine over the 2.5 day event, many of them with trivial attacks that require no sophistication or special knowledge on the part of the attacker. In too many cases physical ports remain unprotected, passwords remain unset or left in default configurations and security features of the underlying commercial hardware are left unused or even disabled.
In addition to showing the security weaknesses found in the wide variety of election tech on display, the Voting Village team's report shares its strong recommendations for improving election security, most notably the urgent need for paper ballots and rigorous post-election audits.
For any of those recommendations to become real, voters need to get informed and get the attention of their elected representatives about these issues.
You can also share your thoughts and get involved in the ongoing Voting Village conversation on the DEF CON Forums. We're very interested in what you have to contribute.
The DEF CON 27 Voting Village Report is going to be released tomorrow! Congresspeople Rep. Jackie Speier and Senator Ron Wyden will be on hand for the discussion of all the new things we learned about election security this summer.
The event will be held in Washington DC at the US Capitol Visitor Center - Congressional Auditorium and Atrium at 2pm on September 26.
Of course, we'll be sharing the report when it's available as well, so stay tuned.
From the article " Aviation security is taking off—and taking after car security" on the Parallax:
“The hackers, security researchers, government organizations, and private airlines involved in the aviation-hacking exhibition of the world’s largest hacking confab, held here in August, all say the chances of your next commercial flight getting hacked are extremely small. But the scenario is also the inspiration for DEF CON’s “Aviation Village”: They want to keep it that way.”
Some more early release video from DEF CON 27 to brighten your day - please enjoy the Cult of the Dead Cow panel. If you are familiar with cDc, you know why this is so cool. If you are unfamiliar, it's time to get familiar.
Soak in some True School vibes, learn some lore and pass it on.
#swagalert! If you’ve been wanting to get your hands on the DEF CON China 1.0 badge and lanyard, we have good news! We have a limited number of them available at our eBay store. Don’t delay - offer good while supplies last.
To kick off your weekend, here's another DEF CON 27 early release video! It's a quick one - Brent Stone shows you a live demo of reverse engineering a bunch of passenger vehicle CAN networks in under 10 minutes.
The GitHub is here: https://github.com/brent-stone/CAN_Reverse_Engineering.
As always, enjoy and pass it on!
The DEF CON press archive page is updated, for anyone who wants to get a sampling of how our little desert party was covered in the media this year. We’ll update as new stuff comes in.
Let's ease into the weekend with another early release talk from DEF CON 27. This one is a deep dive into those elevator emergency phones and what kind of phreaking opportunities they provide, courtesy of WillC.
Enjoy, and as always, pass it along.
The DEF CON 27 contest winners page is now online for your examination! Congratulations to everyone who got in the ring and competed, and double congrats to everyone who managed to emerge victorious.
Another DEF CON 27 early release video! Please enjoy Patrick Wardle's talk on 'Harnessing Weapons of Mac Destruction' - a fascinating walk through the process of subverting and weaponizing existing Mac malware and highlighting both the challenges and benefits of such an approach.
As always, pass it on.
Another DEF CON 27 Early Release Video!
Joe Grand shares with you the secrets and mysteries of the DC27 badge. Get up to speed!
The first video in the early release chute is the Panel Discussion about DEF CON's exploration of the idea of running a SecureDrop. It's entitled "DEF CON wants to help hackers anonymously submit bugs to the government: Let's discuss."
You can join in the long-term conversation about this in the DEF CON Forums:
https://forum.defcon.org/node/229621?view=thread
We're interested in your feedback. Check out the video and let us know what you think.
DEF CON 27 is in the books, but it’s never too early to start planning for DEF CON 28! Well, maybe last week would have been too early. This week, however, is perfect.
The hotel registration link for DEF CON 28 at the Caesars Forum August 6-9, 2020 is open for business. If you want to make sure you get in on that sweet, sweet DEF CON room block action, we’re ready for you.
