DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon, or DC) is one of the world's largest hacker conventions, held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the first DEF CON taking place in June 1993. Many of the attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, security researchers, students, and hackers with a general interest in software, computer architecture, phone phreaking, hardware modification, and anything else that can be "hacked." The event consists of several tracks of speakers about computer- and hacking-related subjects, as well as social events Wargames and contests in everything from creating the longest Wi-Fi connection (aircrack-ng) and hacking computer systems to who can most effectively cool a beer in the Nevada heat.
Other contests, past and present, include lockpicking, robotics-related contests, art, slogan, coffee wars, scavenger hunt and Capture the Flag. Capture the Flag (CTF) is perhaps the best known of these contests. It is a hacking competition where teams of hackers attempt to attack and defend computers and networks using certain software and network structures. CTF has been emulated at other hacking conferences as well as in academic and military contexts.
Federal law enforcement agents from the FBI, DoD, United States Postal Inspection Service, DHS [Department of Homeland Security] via us-cert.gov and other agencies regularly attend DEF CON.
Video DEF CON
History
DEF CON was founded in 1993 by Jeff Moss as a farewell party for his friend, fellow hacker, and member of "Platinum Net", a Fido protocol based hacking network out of Canada. The party was planned for Las Vegas a few days before his friend was to leave the United States, because his father had accepted employment out of the country. However, his friend's father left early, taking his friend along, so Jeff was left alone with the entire party planned. Jeff decided to invite all his hacker friends to go to Las Vegas with him and have the party with them instead. Hacker friends from far and wide got together and laid the foundation for DEF CON, with roughly 100 people in attendance.
The term DEF CON comes from the movie WarGames, referencing the U.S. Armed Forces defense readiness condition (DEFCON). In the movie, Las Vegas was selected as a nuclear target, and since the event was being hosted in Las Vegas, it occurred to Jeff Moss to name the convention DEF CON. However, to a lesser extent, CON also stands for convention and DEF is taken from the letters on the number 3 on a telephone keypad, a reference to phreakers. Any variation of the spelling, other than "DEF CON", could be considered an infringement of the DEF CON brand. The official name of the conference includes a space in-between DEF and CON.
DEF CON was planned to be a one-time event, a party for his friend, but he kept getting e-mail from people encouraging him to host again the next year. After a while, he was convinced to host the event again, and the attendance nearly doubled the second year. In 2016, 22,000 people attended DEF CON 24.
For DEF CON's 20th Anniversary, a film was commissioned entitled DEFCON: The Documentary. The film follows the four days of the conference, events and people (attendees and staff), and covers history and philosophy behind DEF CON's success and unique experiences.
In January of 2018, the DEF CON China [Beta] event was announced. The conference will be held May 11-13, 2018 in Beijing, and it marks DEF CON's first conference outside the United States.
Black Badge
The Black Badge is the highest award DEF CON gives to contest winners of certain events. Capture the flag (CTF) winners sometimes earn these, as well as Hacker Jeopardy winners. The contests that are awarded Black Badges vary from year to year, and a Black Badge allows free entrance to DEF CON for life, potentially a value of thousands of dollars.
In April 2017, A DEF CON Black Badge was featured in an exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History entitled "Innovations in Defense: Artificial Intelligence and the Challenge of Cybersecurity". The badge belongs to ForAllSecure's Mayhem Cyber Reasoning System, the winner of the DARPA 2016 Cyber Grand Challenge at DEF CON 24 and the first non-human entity ever to earn a Black Badge.
Fundraising
Since DEF CON 11, fundraisers have been conducted for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The first fundraiser was a dunk tank and was an "official" event. The EFF now has an event named "The Summit" hosted by the Vegas 2.0 crew that is an open event and fundraiser. DEF CON 18 (2010) hosted a new fundraiser called MohawkCon.
Maps DEF CON
Notable incidents
High-profile issues which have garnered significant media attention.
Entertainment references
- DEF CON was also portrayed in The X-Files episode "Three of a Kind" featuring an appearance by The Lone Gunmen. DEF CON was portrayed as a United States government-sponsored convention instead of a civilian convention.
- A semi-fictionalized account of DEF CON 2, "Cyber Christ Meets Lady Luck" written by Winn Schwartau demonstrates some of the early DEF CON culture.
- A trip to DEF CON for a hacker showdown figures into the plot of "The Signal". Director William Eubank came to Las Vegas and screened the film at DEF CON Movie Night.
- A fictionalized version of DEF CON called "EXOCON" is the setting for the climax of Jason Bourne, the fifth film of the Bourne film series. The primary antagonist of the film, a fictionalized CIA director (played by Tommy Lee Jones), is a keynote speaker at the event, mimicking DEF CON 20's controversial keynote speaker, NSA director Keith B. Alexander.
- In the "Mr. Robot" Season 3 opener "eps3.0_power-saver-mode.h" Elliot and Darlene visit a qualifying tournament for the DEF CON Capture The Flag (CTF) contest. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice DEF CON's smiley-face-and-crossbones mascot Jack among the set decorations.
- Famed documentarian Werner Herzog included DEF CON in his 2016 film Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, a film described as a "playful yet chilling examination of our rapidly interconnecting online lives."
Venues, dates, and attendance
Each conference venue and date has been extracted from the DC archives for easy reference.
See also
- Black Hat Briefings
- Chaos Communication Congress (C3)
- Hack-Tic. 4-yearly European version
- Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE)
- Summercon. The first American hacker conference, organized by members of Phrack
- ToorCon. A yearly hacker conference held in San Diego, California since 1999
- Security BSides. A community supported conference with locations across the globe
References
Further reading
- "DefCon's Moss: Undercover Reporter Damages 'Neutral Zone'." Information Week. August 6, 2007.
- Mills, Elinor. "NSA director finally greets Defcon hackers." CNET. July 27, 2012.
- Newman, Lily Hay "To Fix Voting Machines, Hackers Tear Them Apart" WIRED August 1, 2017
External links
DEF CON
- Official website
- Official FAQ
- DEF CON Groups
- DEF CON v3 Tor .onion addresses
Multimedia
- DEF CON: The Documentary
- DEF CON: The Documentary on IMDb
- A first ever look inside the DEF CON NOC (2008)
- The Story of DEF CON - video interview with Jeff Moss, a.k.a. Dark Tangent, the founder of DEF CON
- Transcript, audio, video of Jess Moss describing DEF CON's inception
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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