the largest hacking conference happens
in about
two months defcon 29
and we just exited defcon 28 which was
safe mode which was remote
defcon 29 it's hybrid and i'm gonna
share with you
the top three reasons i love def con and
i go
two reasons which tend to give me pause
and one which can kinda go either way
like me with my coffee i go dark roast
and
light roast sometimes covered in whipped
cream and sprinkles number one though
is the content the content at defcon
is incredible it's not just the talks
because you do get
talks not only just have a technical
nature and all the exploits that
happened during the previous year
but also ones like jason scott sharing
about text-based adventure games and
archive the web you can also find tons
of villages like the lock-picking
village or the social engineering
village
so even if you're not a technical
developer but you're just a general geek
you can come and learn how to do
lock picking number two absolutely needs
to be
the contests and i don't know why all of
these start with the letter c
but the contests are incredible at def
con and it doesn't matter whether you're
technical or non-technical
there's contests for you whether it's
hack fortress or
darknet which i'm obviously biased for
since i helped run it
or hacker jeopardy or the scavenger hunt
which is just
finding funny items and bringing to that
table and those people
are amazing who run that contest
every one of the contests i feel has
just an incredible group behind it
to just help you win just
have fun and enjoy the contests at def
con you will find one that you enjoy
number three is the biggest one for me
it is the
biggest sea of the lot and that's
the community the community at defcon is
absolutely
fantastic and it's a huge conference it
is 30
000 people this year is def con 29 we're
just coming out of defcon 28 which was
safe mode which was all virtual
this year is going to be hybrid but the
community at defcon
has to be one of the best ones i've met
because everyone
loves being there they love teaching and
they love
learning so you find other individuals
who are passionate now
here's the thing with that big of a
group yes you're going to find people
you don't get along with
but that's what's so much fun with the
conference is because
of the villages because of the contests
you can find your tribe at defcon
which you get to go hang out with and
some of the best ways to meet people
are simply the defcon forums twitter is
really active during the time
but with this year it being hybrid
discord is where all the action's
going to happen spinning to the two
things i don't like about defcon
or at least they give me pause each year
when i'm going to reserve my ticket in
the hotel
and it's another c but it's a small one
which is the cost
the cost is relatively inexpensive
compared to
other conferences but there is still a
lot of cost
you're paying for your flight you're
paying for your hotel you're often
paying for
your conference ticket i'm a little
lucky here because not only do i have a
black badge
but i also am a contest runner so that
also gives you
entry for free but the cost does add up
you're paying about
300 either your ticket you're paying
upwards of
six seven eight hundred dollars for your
hotel though if you book
early and use the defcon block there is
a pretty
hefty discount for it which is great on
number three you're paying for your
flight
and this ties into my second kind of
just
hate it just i really really struggle
with this one
and it's the clock i don't i don't know
what to go see where it is it's the time
zone change
i'm from the east coast and flying to
the west coast it's a three-hour time
difference in a four-hour flight
so that's a seven-hour swing so when my
flight takes off at noon
i land at 1pm vegas time
now that's not bad i like traveling over
there it feels like you just gained a
bunch of time
but coming back it stinks
it just stinks because you're flying out
either as a red-eye at midnight
in high land at seven a.m
eight a.m and it just wrecks my next
week but the honest truth is
it's worth it defcon is absolutely worth
it now the last one which can go
either way like my coffee habit is
it's remote this year and it's on site
this year it's a hybrid
defcon 29 is this weird mix of
on-site not on site and i understand
this is going to be a learning process
and because of kovid it kind of has to
happen
but the reason why this is both a pro in
a con
is kind of interesting i'm guessing def
con is only going to have
five to six thousand people on site as
opposed to
the 30 000 people which means
on the pro side it's gonna be intimate
you're gonna meet people
really closely you're going to be able
to hang out with
some of the die-hard fans
of defcon which is gonna be so cool
where you're gonna might feel the fomo
of or the fear of missing out if you're
on site because you're missing out on
some of the online memes
and jokes and interactions at that side
of the community
or if you're online you're gonna feel
like you're missing out on some of the
the gatherings and groups and maybe even
some of the villages
and if you're on site it's going to be
smaller
the vendor area is going to be smaller
not as many contests most of them are
going to be ran
online darknet is going to be online
this year so that one
is going to be a a stretch having said
all of these things
i am stoked to be on site this year i've
missed my friends and i
miss that environment so whether you're
going online
whether you are going in person i hope
you join the community
and hack on