I went to Defcon last weekend, which was a lot of fun. The only downside is that I caught some sort of bug and am now sick.
The sniffling and coughing isn't too bad, I suppose... but I also apparently lost my voice. I haven't been able to speak above a whisper for a couple of days now.
Not exactly how I planned on returning from vacation, but I suppose between airplanes and crowded conventions it's not entirely surprising. (As usual, there's a 'Defcon Crud' that refers to getting sick at Defcon, not too different from the 'Kuwaiti Crud' we encountered flying to Kuwait. I'm sure it all has something to do with encountering different viruses/bacteria than what we're used to at home.)
Aside from getting sick, though, I had a blast. Saw some talks, a demo or two, got to solder a badge and pick some locks and bought some cool things. There was a Voting Village, which showed various voting hardware and had talks discussing cyber security for elections. Apparently local election officials have made a lot of changes since the 2016 elections. I won't take their word for it that things are necessarily secure, but I figure I at least need to look into it more before flat out saying it isn't.
There was also a Car Hacking Village, and an Industrial Control System (ICS) Village, and a bunch of other things that seemed interesting. I asked some questions and got some recommendations on books to read for further study (like the Car Hacker's Handbook. This publisher, btw, had a vending booth t the convention with all sort of intriguing titles.)
Oh, and got to see some relatives, who are amazing btw.
See, one of my aunt's has a stepdaughter that lives in the area. I don't think I've met her since I was like, idk, eight or something at my grandparent's 50th (or 40th?) wedding anniversary, though we've been facebook friends for a while and I know one of my other aunts and uncles visit her when they come to Vegas for his poker tournaments.
So I figured, wth, I'd let her know I was in town and we could do lunch or dinner or something. Apparently she then told some of my other aunts I would be there, and since they (and another uncle) were living in Arizona they decided to drive down and visit. My cousin kept this all entirely as a surprise, so I had no clue they were coming.
They showed up at the restaurant where we were, and my aunt asked if we'd mind sharing a table. Someone was recording me when they did this, and apparently my reaction was priceless. Like... I was totally not expecting to see my aunt there, and almost didn't recognize her. Then I was processing her request, which was really strange (who asks to sit at another group's table? Especially when there are plenty of empty tables?) and then it dawned on me who it was and...
Yeah.
So that was pretty awesome, and they stayed in town a couple of days so I got to hang out with them more after Defcon wrapped up on Sunday. (My flight left Monday, so I had a bit of free time.)
I also... well, I didn't end up gambling At. All.
Not even once. I didn't expect to win, or anything, but I thought I'd figure out how much I was willing to lose and do something. Just because it's, you know, Vegas.
But between the convention and visiting with relatives I just didn't really have the time. And that's okay.
I picked up a few gadgets, though it may take a while before I can play with them. Did you know that there were USB-C cables that look exactly like your usual charging cables, but that can be programmed to deliver some sort of malicious payload?
I figure I'll eventually use one of my old phones, configure some sort of keylogger program or something, and then see how it all works.
I don't have any intentions of using this sort of stuff outside my own home, but it's pretty hard to defend against things you don't even know exist, and I'm curious. Like, how would the malicious payload look on my phone? What does it take to recover the data?
What sorts of things could indicate someone's using this irl, and could I spot it if/when it happens?
Oh, and someone I ran into on Friday said she wasn't going to use her badge for another conference (the Diana Initiative, smaller and covering some of the same things but more focused on women in the industry), so she gave it to me. In some ways, the smaller convention was nice... less of a crowd at the lock picking and soldering villages, and it's nice to see other women interested in the things I am.
Lock picking, like some of the other stuff I mentioned, is not something I intend to use seriously... people say they do it more for the art of it? It just seems like a cool thing to know, and understanding how locks work is kind of neat. I don't claim to be any good at it, but I did pick up a set of practice locks - they increase in difficulty level, so once you master one you go on to the next.
I did do a stint with the Ethics Village, a part of Defcon put in by my local group. Sat in on a 'coffee talk' with Joshua Steinman, which was interesting.
There was plenty more to do and see. I didn't participate in any of the (many, many) Capture the Flag events, for example. And figuring out what's up with the convention badge is apparently a regular thing.
So plenty of things to do, lots of stuff to learn, and I had fun... even if I'm currently slightly sick and unable to talk.
The sniffling and coughing isn't too bad, I suppose... but I also apparently lost my voice. I haven't been able to speak above a whisper for a couple of days now.
Not exactly how I planned on returning from vacation, but I suppose between airplanes and crowded conventions it's not entirely surprising. (As usual, there's a 'Defcon Crud' that refers to getting sick at Defcon, not too different from the 'Kuwaiti Crud' we encountered flying to Kuwait. I'm sure it all has something to do with encountering different viruses/bacteria than what we're used to at home.)
Aside from getting sick, though, I had a blast. Saw some talks, a demo or two, got to solder a badge and pick some locks and bought some cool things. There was a Voting Village, which showed various voting hardware and had talks discussing cyber security for elections. Apparently local election officials have made a lot of changes since the 2016 elections. I won't take their word for it that things are necessarily secure, but I figure I at least need to look into it more before flat out saying it isn't.
There was also a Car Hacking Village, and an Industrial Control System (ICS) Village, and a bunch of other things that seemed interesting. I asked some questions and got some recommendations on books to read for further study (like the Car Hacker's Handbook. This publisher, btw, had a vending booth t the convention with all sort of intriguing titles.)
Oh, and got to see some relatives, who are amazing btw.
See, one of my aunt's has a stepdaughter that lives in the area. I don't think I've met her since I was like, idk, eight or something at my grandparent's 50th (or 40th?) wedding anniversary, though we've been facebook friends for a while and I know one of my other aunts and uncles visit her when they come to Vegas for his poker tournaments.
So I figured, wth, I'd let her know I was in town and we could do lunch or dinner or something. Apparently she then told some of my other aunts I would be there, and since they (and another uncle) were living in Arizona they decided to drive down and visit. My cousin kept this all entirely as a surprise, so I had no clue they were coming.
They showed up at the restaurant where we were, and my aunt asked if we'd mind sharing a table. Someone was recording me when they did this, and apparently my reaction was priceless. Like... I was totally not expecting to see my aunt there, and almost didn't recognize her. Then I was processing her request, which was really strange (who asks to sit at another group's table? Especially when there are plenty of empty tables?) and then it dawned on me who it was and...
Yeah.
So that was pretty awesome, and they stayed in town a couple of days so I got to hang out with them more after Defcon wrapped up on Sunday. (My flight left Monday, so I had a bit of free time.)
I also... well, I didn't end up gambling At. All.
Not even once. I didn't expect to win, or anything, but I thought I'd figure out how much I was willing to lose and do something. Just because it's, you know, Vegas.
But between the convention and visiting with relatives I just didn't really have the time. And that's okay.
I picked up a few gadgets, though it may take a while before I can play with them. Did you know that there were USB-C cables that look exactly like your usual charging cables, but that can be programmed to deliver some sort of malicious payload?
I figure I'll eventually use one of my old phones, configure some sort of keylogger program or something, and then see how it all works.
I don't have any intentions of using this sort of stuff outside my own home, but it's pretty hard to defend against things you don't even know exist, and I'm curious. Like, how would the malicious payload look on my phone? What does it take to recover the data?
What sorts of things could indicate someone's using this irl, and could I spot it if/when it happens?
Oh, and someone I ran into on Friday said she wasn't going to use her badge for another conference (the Diana Initiative, smaller and covering some of the same things but more focused on women in the industry), so she gave it to me. In some ways, the smaller convention was nice... less of a crowd at the lock picking and soldering villages, and it's nice to see other women interested in the things I am.
Lock picking, like some of the other stuff I mentioned, is not something I intend to use seriously... people say they do it more for the art of it? It just seems like a cool thing to know, and understanding how locks work is kind of neat. I don't claim to be any good at it, but I did pick up a set of practice locks - they increase in difficulty level, so once you master one you go on to the next.
I did do a stint with the Ethics Village, a part of Defcon put in by my local group. Sat in on a 'coffee talk' with Joshua Steinman, which was interesting.
There was plenty more to do and see. I didn't participate in any of the (many, many) Capture the Flag events, for example. And figuring out what's up with the convention badge is apparently a regular thing.
So plenty of things to do, lots of stuff to learn, and I had fun... even if I'm currently slightly sick and unable to talk.
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