R00tz Asylum

[number6]

CANCELED

Twitter: https://twitter.com/r00tzasylum
Website: https://r00tz.org/

10th Anniversary!
A place where kids learn white-hat hacking to better the world through Hands-On Workshops And Games, Kids Learn Reverse Engineering, Soldering, Cryptography And How To Responsibly Disclose Security Bugs.

r00tz Asylum is a nonprofit dedicated to teaching kids around the world how to love being white-hat hackers. A white-hat hacker is someone who enjoys thinking of innovative new ways to make, break and use anything to create a better world.

[b0n3tohack]

Any updates on r00tz location this year?

[The Dark Tangent]

Hey b0n3tohack

Unfortunately we were notified that R00tz is not happening this year, and may not happen again in the future.

It is too late in convention planning for us to design a replacement for DEF CON 30, and for DC 31 we'll know if Rootz is back or if we start a DEF CON Kids after the con.

[b0n3tohack]

Ugh.. This info really should have been updated earlier. The website says it is happening - https://r00tz.org/.

R00tz is the main reason we were coming with our 16yo daughter and we even invited another family and their daughter. After purchasing flights/hotels/DC tickets to now know that it is canceled is very disappointing.

[dirtscout]

Yikes. Glad I checked. Dang, I was going to bring my kids this year! Need to get in touch and see what happened, hope they aren't closing shop.

[HackerBoxes]

Speaking as a parent and an educator, I would suggest that most village presentations, along with a lot of other DEF CON content, is quite accessible and meaningful for our younger community members. Also, please visit us at the HackerBoxes table in the Vendor Room. Kids can grab a FREE mini kit to bring over to the Soldering Skills Village and talk to one of our teachers about the new HackerBox BYTE SIZE offerings - designed specifically for curious minds 10-110.

[bitpusher]

Thanks HackerBoxes! I'll be around with my family, and will be sure to swing by!

[M3rlin0um]

ups! My son (14) will join me this year. Flight from Germany... there's no point in cancelling it. Are there any alternatives for Teenagers to mingle, hang out and do some tech-stuff?

[number6]

Long before DEF CON had "DEF CON Kids" which become "DEF CON R00tz" then "R00tz Asylum" people as young as 12-16 attended DEF CON. Back then, we didn't have the diversity of villages we have today.

Consider the skills of your child, and capacity to learn. Review the lists of villages, and look to see which villages have any kinds of "hands-on" presentations or learning opportunities. Many of these are designed to work with "total newbies" (people with experience in other technical disciplines, but little to no experience in the topic being presented.)

Some that come to mind? The Lockpicking Village is a great place for intro hands-on information on learning something new, with little technical skill form other disciplines required to start, just lockpicks which can sometimes be borrowed, and other times purchased in the vendor area. "Capture the Packet" contest (related to the packet hacking village) has often had a primer before the contest to help people learn about packet capture and what to look for, but you will almost certainly need to have your own laptop/notebook to play. The "DC DarkNet" now appearing to return as "Darknet NG" has a long history of being a contest where teams are encouraged to help people with little experience join and participate and learn along the way. There are contests for fun and socializing like the Tinfoil hat contest and the sticker design contest.

The Crypto & Privacy Village sometimes has contests for people new to code breaking and attacking encrypted data, which progress to ever increasing difficulty. Try the Packet Hacking Village, though a computer with a packet sniffer would likely be required. It may be possible to use a windows laptop and just boot from a USB thumb-drive to a "Live OS" with some limitations on storage.

A new-ish section is "Demo Labs" which I expect to be a collection of demos with a wide range of skills required depending on the demonstration being provided. Review these demolabs for items that your child might enjoy and have skills to learn more from seeing the demo.

Outside of these, review the skills your child presently has, and review the villages with them to see which might be a good challenge and fit to their existing skills. All of the people that attended some of the earliest DEF CON were once 14 years old, and often were ahead of the curve, learning details about things society demanded were "not meant for teenagers." You have some idea of what skills and knowledge your 14 year old has. Use that and their feedback in a review of what villages are available to find what they might enjoy attending. Create a priority list for all of the things. You can always visit a thing you expected to be a good fit, and if you find it is not, leave it and try the next item on the list.

I am going to guess that you are not alone, and other parents plan to bring their kids to DEF CON. It will be more likely for other teenagers to be found in contests and villages as a result of no DEF CON R00tZ Asylum. You could try a grass-roots call for an *unofficial* meeting for teens that planned to attend R00tz Asylum, and see if they want to meet a specific day and time in one of the Chill-out areas. (Check the maps https://defcon.org/html/defcon-30/dc-30-venue.html to identify chill-out spaces that might work and see the room number/name to help you inform people of the specific chill-out room you selected.) You could take to twitter and use hashtag "#defcon" and also include an "@defcon" mention with a call for parents and kids all together to meet. Make your tweet short, to the point, mention reason/purpose, and specific meeting location and time and which chill-out space. Meet with other parents and other kids. Encourage kids to share their plans with each other, and same with parents. Suggest daily meetings to discuss what worked and what didn't with each others. If the "@defcon" twitter account can re-tweet your idea, that can help it get reach to more people. This is how unofficial things can later become official. If you plan on doing something like this, maybe also wear a unique hat which you announce ahead of time, and encourage other parents to wear as well to help you all identify each other when roaming the conference space.

[M3rlin0um]

Thanks so much number6 this is really helpful advice :))

[qumqats]

https://www.se.community/events/youth-challenge/

[M3rlin0um]

Great! That's what I've been looking for! Love it! Thnx