DEF CON in the news

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

Indie film, "Defcon 2012".
New to me. Have not seen it. Seems to be "End-of-the-world" DEFCON not "Hacker-convention movie" DEFCON.


As mentioned by @_defcon_ on twitter:
URL2: Vanity Fair: "World War 3.0"

"III. The Dark Tangent

Dead Addict remembers his hand trembling as he dialed the number. What, he wondered, was the point of even making the call? He stopped, reminding himself: the Dark Tangent was counting on him.

In 1992, a very young man named Jeff Moss, whose hacker name is the Dark Tangent, wanted...

The article is not primarily about Defcon or jeff or Dead Addict, but there is a segment that includes them in the discussion.


URL3: Old-time hacktivists: Anonymous, you've crossed the line
Only one "Defcon" reference in the article:

The hackers went back to embarrassing Microsoft by exploiting security weaknesses in Windows, partying at DefCon in Las Vegas, and testing the line between white hat and gray hat security as they explored the limits and frontiers of technology.

[Bbox]

Re: DEF CON in the news

Duplicate post, Missed it above somehow, Can a Mod please delete.

Thanks

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

URL1=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/may/02/las-vegas-has-starring-role-cybersecurity-developm/

Every summer, the hacker community’s best and brightest convene in Las Vegas to discuss the latest in security technology — and the best ways to circumvent it.
...
“We sit here in Las Vegas not because it’s a beautiful place. I’d rather be in Santa Cruz. I’d really like to see green sometime,” said Al Melquist, a bank hacker during the 1990s who said he worked for various federal government agencies under the terms of his prison release for nearly two decades before starting his own file-sharing company. “You’ve got the ex-agents who want to be James Bond. You’ve got the ones who are agents that are James Bonds. We sit here because everything that goes into the country and out of the country goes through Vegas.”

Melquist heads up the Las Vegas area’s regional Def Con outfit, which estimates that as many as three-quarters of the world’s top-class hackers call Las Vegas home.

Heh.

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

URL1=http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/mi6-codebreaker-at-blackhat/

MI6 Codebreaker Attended U.S. Security Conference Before His Death,
By Kim Zetter, May 3, 2012 @ 6:33 pm

...
It’s believed Williams may have also attended Black Hat’s companion hacker conference, DefCon, which follows Black Hat and draws many of the same attendees. In 2010, Black Hat was held July 24 to 29, while DefCon ran from July 30 to Aug. 1.

Black Hat is one of the top security conferences in the world, targeting the professional security crowd, while DefCon is geared more specifically to hackers. Law enforcement agents, the military and undercover spies regularly attend both conferences — often undercover — to keep pace with the latest research and learn what hackers are up to. They also recruit hackers for professional work.

DefCon holds an annual spot-the-fed contest to out undercover agents as a good-natured sport. Attendees who spot a fed receive an “I spotted a Fed” T-shirt, while the outed agent gets a trophy T-shirt of his own to take back to his office, sporting the phrase “I was spotted at DefCon.”
...

URL2=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/03/gareth_williams_inquest/

GCHQ's spy death riddle shines light on UK hacker war
(Was Gareth Williams spotted at Blackhat or Defcon?)
By Duncan Campbell • Get more from this author
Posted in Crime, 3rd May 2012 11:14 GMT

...
Williams’ last espionage targets were participants in the Black Hat and Defcon 18 hacker and security conferences held in Las Vegas in July 2010. His SIS manager told the enquiry that Williams was one of a “group” of agents tasked to attend the conferences.

The inquest was told about the unique Defcon 18 badge that had been found in his flat. The gimmick features a reflective display and an embedded digital signal controller that geeks were invited to manipulate.
...

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

Ouch on the title of this article:

URL1=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139845/Spy-bag-escapology-conference-He-lock-picking-classes-just-weeks-death.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

MI6 'body-in-bag' spy learned to pick locks at Las Vegas escapology convention weeks before he died after being sent there to mix with criminals
By Chris Greenwood
PUBLISHED: 18:58 EST, 4 May 2012 | UPDATED: 22:56 EST, 4 May 2012

Spy Gareth Williams may have studied lock-picking and escapology weeks before his naked corpse was found in a padlocked bag.

It has emerged that MI6 sent the 31-year-old to mingle with hackers, fraudsters and other criminals at the Def Con conference in Las Vegas.

It included classes on opening padlocks without keys, escaping from handcuffs, tampering with objects without leaving traces and confounding drug tests.

The event is a magnet for spies from agencies across the world.
...

To read more, check out the website and URL.

[astcell]

Re: DEF CON in the news

MI6 gets in free this year?

[dc0de]

Re: DEF CON in the news

MI6 gets in free this year?

Only if they check in with empty gym bags?

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

URL1=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120527001959.htm

'Hackers of justice' sought via competition
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The industry ministry will host its first-ever computer hacking competition this fiscal year, aiming to find "hackers of justice" who can protect the nation following a recent series of cyber-attacks on government-related targets, officials said.
...
... Officials also plan to research how DEF CON, the world's premiere hacking competition held annually in Las Vegas since 1993, is organized.
...

More in the article, especially fun is the comment about an attempt in 2003 to run a CTF-like contest, but cancelled after bad press and social commentary equating "hackers" with "criminals"

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

URL1=http://www.federalnewsradio.com/411/2890348/NSA-hiring-reforms-serve-as-model-for-government

NSA hiring reforms serve as model for government
Wednesday - 6/6/2012, 2:26am ET
Kathy Hutson, director of human resources, NSA
By Julia Ziegler
Federal News Radio

Recruitment with a twist

In 2011, NSA was one of several government agencies that took a trip to the annual DEF CON hackers conference in Las Vegas looking for some new talent. It's just one of several ways, Hutson said, the agency is taking advantage of unique opportunities to find the next wave of cybersecurity professionals.

This was the only mention of "DEF CON" in this story. The link in this story takes the reader to an older story from 2011 about Defcon and recruiting talent.

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

URL1=http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/13/media-tech-summit-symantec-idUSL1E8HCGM920120613

RPT-Reuters Summit-UPDATE 1-Experts warn of shortage of U.S. cyber pros
Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:59am EDT

...
* Hacking expert Jeff Moss sees no short-term solution
* Moss says U.S. government poaching talent from companies
...
Moss, who founded the Defcon and Black Hat hacking conferences that are held in Las Vegas each summer, said that U.S. government agencies are so desperate to fill positions that they are poaching security experts from private firms.

...

Government officials from normally secretive agencies, including the National Security Agency, FBI and U.S. military, attend Defcon each year to recruit gifted hacking geeks who they might not otherwise be able to identify.

[soapbox]
When I see these claims of shortages, I ask, "If there is a shortage of a skill, then shouldn't wages for that skill rise to compete for the best talent?"

This is especially of interest when you consider how many lawyers there are, and how many people with degrees for business, that are far more abundant, but often make quite a bit more than the people with skills that include claimed, "shortages."

Shortage and surplus can be resolved by altering the market price, which will create incentives for people to provide the skills that are desired.

So long as "managers" which are in abundant supply make more than the, "skilled laborers," what incentive exists for the shortage to be filled by a greater number of skilled people?

What is really being claimed when people talk of "shortage" is, "a shortage of cheap labor." If annual salaries for the desired positions were $500,000/year for the desired skills, how long would there be a shortage?
[/soapbox]

[astcell]

Re: DEF CON in the news

Translation: "There is a shortage of college educated hackers with 20 years experience who are under 30 years old and will work for $8/hr."

I see this ALL the time.

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

URL1=http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/13/def-con-documentary/
"A history of hacking: Documentary captures essence of Def Con"
November 13, 2012 8:00 AM
Meghan Kelly

...
Moss chose a film crew headed up by Jason Scott Sadofsky (pictured above), who is known in the industry for his documentary on the old bulletin board systems (the predecessor to today’s social networks) as well as his website Textfiles, which archives content from those systems.
...

Visit URL for full article.

[Dragonflowerr]

Re: DEF CON in the news

Defcon briefly mentioned as a result of the arrest of Jonathan Lee Riches, who sued many people, and organizations, including Defcon, for impersonating a relative of Adam Lanza, the sniper in Sandy Hook.

Dragonflowerr

[TheCotMan]

Re: DEF CON in the news

Defcon briefly mentioned as a result of the arrest of Jonathan Lee Riches, who sued many people, and organizations, including Defcon, for impersonating a relative of Adam Lanza, the sniper in Sandy Hook.

Dragonflowerr

Would you provide a citation for this if you have one?
(Station, date, and approximate time if on live TV.)

(Was this recent, or a comment on an item from 2006?: URL=http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/nevada/nvdce/2:2006cv00293/47295/1/0.pdf dismissed: https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Ne..._Defcon_et_al/)

[neil]

Re: DEF CON in the news

There's a new article up on the Vanity Fair site called "Silent War", which discusses the history and growing concerns of cyber warfare. It even mentions us here at DEF CON, and one of our long time speakers, Wes Brown.

Have yourself a look at: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/20...rican-business