KeriBlog

Cars, Security & a Peek into my Life

How I Went Online at Black Hat and DefCon

I didn’t. That’s the safest way.

When I absolutely had to, I connected from my hotel room, uncomfortably… they all have to stay somewhere.  And hotel WiFi networks are like, a sport.

  • 1 – if you have a newer laptop like mine, it didn’t come with an ethernet port. That $30 attachment gives you one
  • 2 – surge protect your laptop. Don’t plug $000s into a shoddy socket, and I doubt you’re backed up, I’ve mentioned this
  • 3 – I cover my camera

Don’t forget old-fashioned pen & paper.

Every year the press makes a big sensationalized deal about DefCon being “the most hostile network in the world“. Duh guys; it’s the world’s largest security conference, it’d be dissapointing if it wasn’t.

At DefCon they have the ‘Wall of Sheep‘.

It’s a ‘wall of shame’.  The network is passively watched, and if your security sucks, your username and password will be captured, displayed and mocked.

There was a time when the full name and password were displayed.  Not for years now though. And you know, DefCon felt different this year, I’ll explain in another post.

The easiest way to protect your phone in an uncertain enviroment:

  • 1 – turn off your Wifi
  • 2 – turn off your data connection
  • 3 – put your phone into ‘Airplane mode’ (extreme, but effective)

 

 

DefCon Badges are Worth Keeping

Human badge on the left, speaker badge on the right.

Admission is cash only, no information is exchanged, and there is no preferential treatment, you have to wait in a line of thousands. Then you receive a badge designated “human”.

This is my press badge. I did have to register for that, after passing through a door marked “non-human”.

Each year the badge is different, there’s an anticipation about it and the complex puzzle game competition starring the badge.  Neat, eh?! The badge is a game.

They are functioning circuit boards, and came with pieces to solder on, so you could hook up to a monitor and explore around, plus they interacted with one another, which were all pieces of the puzzle… read a better description at Wired.

Interesting the Egyptian theme carried on, it was on last year’s badge.

Polar opposite eh, a disc of metal.  I wore two last year (human and press), so I clank-clanked everywhere I went.

A DefCon17 Uber Badge.

Uber Badge – Free access for life, no waiting in line ever again, the ultimate badge.  A handful are awarded each year to the contest winners.

And ready? The first ever DefCon1 badge.

 Congratulations on 20 years, DefCon! :)

 

 

 

Inside DefCon19

Quite proud of this video.

I’m 98% sure this was the only footage in the *world* of inside this year’s DefCon – the world’s largest hacker conference.

Which happened all together far too fast for my liking. I realize it’s trite to say it, but…. did that just actually happen? That’s how I’m feeling.

Here’s the full video of the snippet you see at the end. This was looped on a giant screen in the rotunda.

Inside DefCon19

Come along for a tour inside DefCon19 at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Quite proud of this video.

I’m 98% sure this is the only footage in the *world* of inside this year’s DefCon19 – the world’s largest hacker conference.

Which happened all together far too fast for my liking. I realize it’s trite to say it, but…. did that just actually happen? That’s how I’m feeling.

Here’s the full video of the snippet you see at the end. This was looped on a giant screen in the rotunda.