I tend to think of Defcon as a sort of massive free-for-all, with thousands of hackers all trying to be the one that replaces the speaker’s Powerpoint slide with a skull and crossbones, that sort of thing. In fact, it’s just a bunch of people who like to fiddle with stuff — whether it’s security, hardware, code, or what. It’s the people who tend to not just think “I wonder if…” but who… → Read More
Defcon, the hacker conference, wrapped up yesterday, and while I spent all day knee-deep in Forumula 1 coverage word got out about a $1,500 cellphone interceptor. The device—it’s more of a mishmash of devices kinda of clunked together than a singular device—exploits weaknesses in the GSM phone standard, and could be used to intercept and record the conversations you have on your… → Read More
The world-famous Defcon hacker conference is currently ongoing in Las Vegas, and we already have our first bit of controversy. (I fully expect plenty of “evil hackers do bad things” stories to pop up in the coming hours.) A social engineering contest that encouraged participants to try to social engineer their way into major corporations has drawn the ire of THE MAN, specifically the FBI. → Read More
The infamous DefCon hacking and security convention is underway, and of course when you put together hundreds of talented coders, hackers, and modders, something fun is probably going to happen. And it’s definitely going to happen if you outfit all your con-goers with electronic badges equipped with a microcontroller and tell them to go wild.
This year, the badges also had a microphone and LED… → Read More
Kudos to the Obama Administration for hiring Jeff Moss, of Defcon fame. The Defcon founder is now a part of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. He’ll report directly to Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security. → Read More
DefCon, the annual hacker conference, has a strict policy concerning journalists: filming attendees without their permission is off limits. Dateline NBC’s Michelle Madigan registered for the conference as a programmer, not a journalist, and was said to be lurking around with a hidden pinhole camera allegedly trying to catch a federal agent on camera. Madigan was in attendance at what she… → Read More
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