This article is about the computer security convention. For other uses, see Defcon (disambiguation).
DEF CON
Status
Active
Genre
Security Conference, Hacker Conference
Frequency
Annual
Venue
Varies
Location(s)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Years active
30
Inaugurated
June 9, 1993 (1993-06-09)[1]
Founder
Jeff Moss
Previous event
August 10–13, 2023
Next event
August 8–11, 2024
Attendance
Over 30,000
Website
defcon.org
Part of a series on
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Groups
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Publications
2600: The Hacker Quarterly
Hacker News
Nuts and Volts
Phrack
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DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many 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, hardware modification, conference badges, and anything else that can be "hacked". The event consists of several tracks of speakers about computer- and hacking-related subjects, as well as cyber-security challenges and competitions (known as hacking wargames). Contests held during the event are extremely varied and can range from creating the longest Wi-Fi connection to finding the most effective way to cool a beer in the Nevada heat.[2]
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 and is a hacking competition where teams of hackers attempt to attack and defend computers and networks using software and network structures. CTF has been emulated at other hacking conferences as well as in academic and military contexts (as red team exercises).
Federal law enforcement agents from the FBI, DoD, United States Postal Inspection Service, DHS (via CISA) and other agencies regularly attend DEF CON.[3][4] Some have considered DEF CON to be the "world's largest" hacker con given its attendee size and the number of other conferences modeling themselves after it.
^Cite error: The named reference Zetter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"DEFCON 15 FAQ's". Retrieved 9 Feb 2011. Lots of people come to DEFCON and are doing their job; security professionals, federal agents, and the press.
DEFCON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEFCON took place in June 1993 and...
The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces. For security reasons, the US military does not announce...
DefCon Dos (meaning DEFense CONdition TWO) is a rap metal band from Madrid, Spain. Greatly influenced by hip hop bands Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and...
including support from actor Erin Gray and the FBI. Hadnagy contributed to DEFCON by helping create a social engineering competition in 2009 and sponsoring...
security flaw in [the salesforce.com] application or database." In 2017, at DEFCON, two security engineers were let go after giving a presentation on an internal...
DefCon Zero is an album by Cloak-n-Dagga, a group composed of rappers Canibus and Phoenix Orion, released on October 25, 2005 through Head Trauma Records...
Lant left Venom[when?] in order to concentrate on his groove metal band Def-Con-One. He was also a part of the metal band Dryll together with former Venom...
around the world. Black Hat USA, held in Las Vegas immediately before DEFCON, is one of the largest computer security events in the world. BlueHat Conference...
being the first "modern" hacker con, although Summercon was around before it. It inspired later conventions such as DEFCON and HOPE.[citation needed] All...
website. In August 1998, they presented their popular Back Orifice tool at DEFCON 6. In February 2000, the cDc was the subject of an 11-minute documentary...
Levison presented the Dark Internet Mail Environment (DIME) protocol at DEFCON. "Hacker Sentenced For Providing Data Theft Tool in National Identity Theft...
decided to independently distribute the audio version of his book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation since Amazon's system would not distribute...
8, 2010. Bonacich, Drago. "DefCon Dos Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 16, 2023. A rap/metal act from Spain, DefCon Dos started playing covers of...
more activities require the use of such cards.[citation needed] During DEFCON 24, Weston Hecker presented Hacking Hotel Keys, and Point Of Sales Systems...
record hackers admitting to crimes at that year's DEFCON in Las Vegas, Nevada. After being outed by DEFCON founder Jeff Moss during an assembly, she was...
It was presented by DEFCON Communications and Cambridge Technology Partners. It was founded by Jeff Moss, who also founded DEFCON, and is currently the...
administration, where he remained until 2009. He has been a speaker at DEFCON, an annual hacker conference, the first time at the 7th conference in 1999...
grey hat was first publicly used in the computer security context when DEFCON announced the first scheduled Black Hat Briefings in 1996, although it...
framework released by the Cult of the Dead Cow on August 11, 2023, at DEFCON 31. Described by its authors as "like Tor, but for apps", it is written...
types, but was previously undemonstrated. A demonstration was done during DEFCON 23. Microchip (2001), HC301 KeeLoq Code Hopping Encoder (PDF), Microchip...
1, and an Android version was released for free on Google Play. At the DEFCON conference in Las Vegas in August 2014, McAfee warned people not to use...
called hacker conventions or "hacker cons". These events include SummerCon (Summer), DEFCON, HoHoCon (Christmas), ShmooCon (February), Black Hat Conference...
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