DEF CON 34

As expected, this post is late due to my attendance at this year's DEF CON.

What is DEF CON?

My original post from DEF CON 33 had a great summary of what this conference entails, so I won't reinvent the wheel and attempt to rewrite a summary.

Starting in 1993, it was originally a party for "Platinum Net" members, which evolved into a hacker gathering after the organizer left before the event. Over the years, the annual gathering grew into what we now know as the "Haxkor Summer Camp" or "Haxkor Mecha."

This conference spans three days and includes vendors, villages (specialized groups), standard groups, events, and talks. If you can think of it, there’s a non-zero chance a group or village has what you’re looking for.

In my own words, I would call it a huge Haxkor Summer party mixed with a conference.

My Experience:

August 5th:

This day was pre-conference day, which was mostly prepping for the upcoming chaos. Prior to the evening meetups at the Linq, I had met up with my group to grab lunch and just hang out and catch up with each other. That lunch was a phenomenal way to start our weekend, as it had solidified that I was no longer that alone dude at the conference just trying to find my place.

Once all of that settled, I made my way to the Linq meetup, where I was assisting one of my groups' gatherings to ensure things went smoothly. Being an almost unknown person, I was able to speed through a lot of the organization and validation of the prize giveaways, since they did not have "lore about me, per se." The initial meetup went smoothly, and I even got to meet Scooby (if you know, you know) and so many awesome people.

Once that had wrapped up, I knew the next day was game time.

August 6th:

This day for most is Linecon, which entails standing in line in the morning to obtain your badge for the rest of the day. However, this year would be slightly different, as I was getting a village badge since I was going to be working a lot with the Red Team Village. Though I did not have to go get a badge, I went with my crew, as some of them were still getting normal badges and we don't leave each other behind. Being able to see Linecon from a different perspective was pretty cool.

Now, after seeing Linecon, we went to snag breakfast and then wait for our village badges to show up, as this would be key for setup later. After badge pickup, most people go to party and hang out; however, for the villages, we have a limited time to get our stuff into the area and unpack.

Once our time slot came, we went into the village with a few volunteers. Someone tried to tailgate our group, at which point he swiftly found out that I was not having it and made friends with a goon quite quickly.

As for the setup, this went very smoothly, and we were able to get everything set up within about an hour and a half, leaving the evening for part two of the Linq meetup, which was even more insane than the evening prior, as many more people had shown up to chat with us and get pumped up for the conference ahead. This day came to a close early, as we knew the next day was game day.

August 7th:

The first official day of the conference started early for the Red Team Village, as we had to show up and essentially get all volunteers spun up on the tasking for the shift and prepare for the wave of people about to crash. I had started in the front of the main line, keeping order and helping guide people to various areas, which was a small headache at first, as the HackerTracker app did not reflect the up-to-date Red Team Village schedule, so a bit of growing pains had occurred.

Once we got into the groove of it, everything went super smoothly, and we had the crowd under control, and the talks and workshops were running like a well-seasoned C2 framework. To my surprise, though, someone whom I had met last year recognized me and came up blown away that I was a lead volunteer, when the last time they spoke to me I was but a humble newcomer to DEF CON with barely any connections.

Following my shift for main volunteering, I was able to meet up with another friend, and we got to explore the vendor hall, acquire some cool merch, and meet up with The Cyber Mentor crew at Noob Village, which was awesome.

After some messing around, I returned to the village to help wrap up for the day and rush over to help prep for the official Red Team Village party, where I got to help keep out people trying to sneak in or socially engineer their way in. The party was amazing; you would have to be there to experience the awesome atmosphere.

Following the party was a bit of a blur, as I remember getting food and then not much else. (Sorry, it was a long day.)

August 8th:

Conference day two started much like the prior one, except I did not have dedicated volunteer time, so I only had to be present to get the ball rolling and then could go on about my shenanigans.

Once I was free, I met up with another friend and was able to get lunch and hang out, which was a feat in itself, as the place we went to was quite busy. But it was a great change of pace. From this point, I split off from my group to meet up with someone from TCM and spent a while chatting with them, and even got to meet some new faces, which was awesome. Following this, I went to a talk my mentor had been set to give, which my TCM friend came along to, and it was a great time seeing the talk and allowing people to connect.

After the talk, the main event was just grabbing dinner with the crew and hanging out the rest of the night, which I left a bit early in preparation for Sunday.

August 9th:

Now, Sunday, the final conference day, should have been smooth sailing: just show up, hang out, then pack up. However, this was not the case.

Starting out, I helped out in the morning, as the volume of people still present was unknown, so it was all hands on deck. I am glad I was present, as a metric ton of people showed up. Though a lot were there, we were still able to keep things calm and collected.

Now, after everything had calmed down, I stepped away, as I had a talk to prepare for.....

Yes, not only was I a volunteer for the Red Team Village, I also was a speaker. Now, I am not going to give the subject or even the time, as I am not in this for the fame or the ability to gloat. I simply wanted to bring attention to a subject and give back to the community. I will say I was not expecting the number of people who showed up, as I expected like 20 people, not a full house. So if you were there and somehow figured out who I am, thank you!

Once the talk was over, we had to hurry up and pack everything up and get it loaded out, which took very little time, which was quite nice. The night ended with grabbing dinner with the group and a bit of social engineering (wink wink). Then I proceeded to crash and sleep, which I definitely needed.

Summary:

This year was different. I did not meet as many famous people, but I found a place where I belong and made connections that I would never have made without being at the right place at the right time. I will write more about the journey of my talk at a later point in time, but I wanted to get this on paper, as everyone in this field should go to this conference. The connections you make will be a force multiplier.

Advice Redux:

• DRINK WATER (seriously, it's Vegas, you need water)
• Don't go to main talks unless you know the people, they are recorded
• Wear lightweight, broken-in shoes and maybe even compression socks
• Get out of your comfort zone and make friends; we all start somewhere
• Avoid the strip, it's overhyped
• Bring a burner laptop/phone if you're feeling paranoid