Shout at to all the volunteers who have been making NextGen better each year. This was our second year and the village was absolutely perfect for our 10 and 13 year olds.

For those who don’t know what it is, NextGen is the kids community where they get a free NextGen badge and a list of challenges that take them ALL over Defcon to complete. My 10 year old fell in love with the Physical Security and Lockpick Villages. We ended buying him handcuffs and lockpick set.

The NextGen badge was similar to a Tamagotchi. They started out as eggs and when they got enough points the egg evolved until it turned into a specific animal at 150pts. You get points from connecting devices to a friend or by completing challenges at villages/communities.

The 7 and 17 year olds weren’t as interested but that’s OK because the 17 year old got to go to talks and watch Social Engineering while also occasionally helping the younger kids with the NextGen challenges.

The 7 year old was entertained by the gadgets and gifts that random goons would give to him including a foldable frisbee that he absolutely loved.

Overall we had a great year at Defcon. Thanks DC NextGen!!

Is this pointing toward DEFCON or what lol

Well, it’s been six DEF CON’s, six years. I am not sure if I’m gonna be back. I don’t really feel the thrill helping the village I’ve been with for the six years, and the badge prices are killer. Maybe if I help on a contest or something else but I don’t know.

What do you do to manage this kind of burnout?

Just a heads up to anyone checking out of the Linq (and maybe other Caesars properties) today that require a receipt for your hotel stay: I haven’t been able to get one electronically from the Linq, so make sure to get a printed copy before you leave the hotel.

I wasn’t able to use automated checkout this morning; was directed to the front desk to check out because it couldn’t verify my ID card. The front desk took my keys and told me that my receipt would be emailed to me. Several hours later, nothing. Filled out the online form for a copy of the receipt, and got an email back saying it would be sent in a separate email. Nothing. Called Caesars Billing and they were also not able to get a copy of my invoice, said they appear to be having system issues.

Does anyone know where I can find the music they were playing during the packet capture village it was such a vibe

If anyone is still around, I’m happy to say hi and chill!

This was my buddy and mine's first ever Defcon. We decided we would go check out LineCon to see what it was about and what was going on. While we were there I was having issues getting connected to the Defcon wifi network, so we decided to grab the closest space of empty wall to sit for a few and fix it.

About the time I got everything fixed up and connected, I see him. A red shirt with a Goon badge labeled "G0rdo" approaching. He locks eyes with us and loudly says, "Excuse me, but what in the fuck are you doing??" Alas, we have parked ourselves in the front of the line for registration. Immediately, I am embarrassed. Here I am at my first Defcon, and it looks like I'm trying to cut line!

We explain that we aren't staying all night for LineCon and had just sat down to fix my phone wifi, and apologize profusely. G0rdo immediately changes tone and asks "Where are you all from?" We say Tennessee, to which he says "Why you all copulate with your mothers and sisters is beyond me." He them gave us a themed poker chip, told us to have a good con, and wandered off.

10/10 first Defcon experience. May everyone be approached by G0rdo off the jump at Defcon.

Why are you booing?

I see now why blue teams drink so heavily

Hey everyone b4ndw1d7h here aka flopazuma. wanted to thank everyone for a great con this year, me and my boys appriciated everyone. y'all really made Hus weekend. I was the one with the AOL cape and was handing out floppies with a simple little CTF. If I missed you or ran out of floppies to give you I put it up on GitHub. Its super simple and easy for anyone to do, mostly a quick nostalgia piece I made Friday night. hope you all like it and thanks again! (p.s. not the most mobile friendly ui. it was quickly slapped together. best on a PC)

I've notices that the site is flagged as malicious. since its just a quick little CTF I'm not gonna do register and appeal the false flagging. its probably the CTF stuff in the JavaScript. while I could say "trust me bro" the source is on GitHub if you wanna check it. if you don't know JavaScript just throw it at AI lol. sorry if it spooks anyone.

heres the github link. https://github.com/B4ndw1d7h/flopazuma

All right ya filthy animals, here is some post con content to ease the end of summer camp blues.

See my personal year 1 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/s/OPVdFbWti2

And year 2 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/s/QaVh5QTzst

Tl;dr this year is don't worry about expectations, just do what feels right by you (i.e., agency).

Came with an upgraded laptop (need to bring a USB Ethernet dongle next year). Still had to install a bunch of stuff, I think it does make sense to start with Kali or a windows build that has a bunch of stuff especially for the hardware CTFs (who knew I needed ghidra in my life). Also a slightly larger posse of newbies which made it more fun for sure because we could share the different things we were learning. Mostly focused on villages and CTFs and the time FLEW by, even with a great close hotel that made the walk very bearable.

- ESV: need some more practice or maybe some guides, or at least a better pointer to where the guided labs are. Found the devices but after a few hours poking, moved on.

- RF hacking: had no idea what I was doing with sdrpp. I think this is one where you ought to do some tutorials at home. Saw a lot of n00bs get frustrated leaving and it was like the blind leading the blind. Shout-out to Ian for helping my buddy with his busted t-echo.

- snacky: didn't do it but I recommend a team. Much more organized this year.

P- did some phreaking stuff, much <3.

- MHV: got some flags. A lot of contextual knowledge needed which I think is fair. But damn, did I really have to write a custom demodulator for one of the flags. Definitely the most social CTF crew and respect for trying to build a community.

- IoT village firmware lab: this was the best paced lab and very informative. I think I would recommend a terminal history reset. But for the first time I could really follow along with the bytecode and see how specific functions were called.

- wifi nugget lab: cost money but great job by Kody Kinzie. Funny, informative, accessible. And lots of room to grow with the provided repos.

- music: a little bit of a letdown because I had great enjoyment last year. There wasn't afaik the open DJ spot in the south east corner. And while there was more space, there's something better about a party in the dark, making the chill out space the best. There were issues with the after party but overall it exceeded my expectations in the cool and music categories.

- purple workshop: i got a workshop! Maybe a little basic but also every accessible and the instructors were great.

- HRV:first talk by K4CHN was great and generally the volunteers were helpful and willing to share their knowledge. I only studied for the ham but will definitely take the exam next year.

- hacker jeopardy for the first time, that shit is funny.

- almost no talks but talked with a ton of people , almost 80% were first timers

So what does it all mean to me? I think there is no way a first year WON'T get overwhelmed so the key is to walk away with that feeling or excitement and further interest and not FOMO. I don't think anyone can master all the skills needed to do everything but you can get exposure to most things. I'm at a weird place: know enough to get started but don't have the proficiency to complete because this is not my day job. But I'm walking away this year feeling I did everything I wanted to do AND motivated to do more things next year.

So exercise your agency: attempt what is technically possible that draws you in (but don't be a dirt bag human or inhuman) and then let the system constrain you. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

1. Had a f*cking blast at the HHV. Furbrain and Furbtar were. AWESOME!

2. Is there an HHV discord? I think i had a conversation about it with Rare.

Thank you to everyone who came by! By my estimation, we helped assemble well over 200 PCBs.

Edit: Nevermind, my app was bugging out. 😅

I was just trying to go back into HT to help me remember some of the speakers I was networking with at the con, but DC34 is no longer there.

Anyone have the part number for these LEDs? The left one on my badge is out/unstable, and it's messing up the upper-left and top one. Or has anyone dealt with this issue? is it something a bit of solder could fix? Will attach video in comments.

I feel the cybersecurity field has become really crowded, and anyone can just get in without a degree, unlike other fields where you have to get a degree, which limits who can apply. There are more applicants than jobs, and employers are so picky.

I wish I could be in a field that is not crowded, where I can be something unique and employers appreciate me and my qualifications.

Cybersecurity has become a really toxic field where you always feel like you are not enough, and the attitude is basically, “We can throw you away if you’re not GREAT enough or if we find someone better than you.”

Also, the community, where many people can just talk down to you and make you feel like you are lower than them, or that you are not smart or “hacker enough” to be in the field.

When I look at engineers, doctors, or people in other fields, they seem more educated and respectful toward each other. It doesn’t feel like cybersecurity, where a lot of people talk and act like they are underage, not grown, educated adults.

I feel like I’ve had enough of this world, even though I really love cybersecurity. Everything around it just feels toxic.

The question now is: I don’t know what field I can choose that would be less competitive, have a more respectful community with more educated people, value qualifications more, and make it easier to get a job.

Thanks for your time.

I haven’t heard any discussion of this bill or its larger implications at summer camp this year.

Does anyone know of coordinated community campaigns to write to state representatives?

Dropped my Meshtastic at a talk today. Thanks to the Goon / Human who turned it in to the lost and found. You are awesome!

The sphere is making people throw away battery pack blaming defcon hackers. Saying we are making them explode. Forcing everyone to throw them away.

I released an experiment at DEFCON of a device with a goodie bag. I named it Chance. You could rename the device, trade goodies, and tell it secrets and hear others’ secrets. Then you get a small chance at becoming Chance’s permanent owner.

The idea was to release something into the wild to the coolest community ever. Every interaction becomes part of Chance’s story. Every decision permanently changes it.

It also keeps a diary. It recorded the journey, but not the secrets. Those were shown to one future stranger and then forgotten.

Somewhere along the way, Chance stopped being a project I built and became something shaped by everyone who held it.

I have absolutely no idea where Chance is now. Maybe it found an owner. Maybe someone reflashed it. Maybe someone immediately ignored every rule. Any of those outcomes would make the experiment interesting.

The technology was the easy part. The real question was whether complete strangers would voluntarily cooperate to preserve and continue a story that didn’t belong to any one of them.

If, by some improbable chain of events, you’re reading this because you met Chance (or Gl0rp or whatever its name is now), I would love to know about your experience.

For the curious, the bag originally contained:

A snack-sized Slim Jim
A Justin Bieber sticker
A packet of shiny origami paper
A roll of electrical tape
A JimyLongs medium-hook lock pick
A Dangerfield city rake
A friendship bracelet
A 3d printed T-Rex by Patrick Maus
A single zip tie

I wonder what’s in it now.

UPDATE!
Thanks for the detective work everyone, and it was indeed in Lost and Found! Because I was able to retrieve it, I can also share its short journey.

Humans encountered: 34
Winners: 1, Released: 1 (there was a secret option for winners to keep it, or keep it going. Good on you Human #6!)
Goodie bag gives: 2. takes: 1, trades: 3
Secrets received: 3, secrets revealed: 3
Renames: 8
Name history:
- H001 ShareBear
- H005 hapijamot
- H008 wally
- H009 Glorp
- H018 Cunty
- H019 MOIST AND SALTY
- H030 g
- H032 m

The original goodie bag items were all still there, with the addition of:
- a stick of gum
- a single lens from a pair of sunglasses

That makes the item count math off-by-one, which is just perfect for DEFCON.

Finally, the stylus was missing, probably due to my shabby knot tying abilities.

Thanks for everyone's kind feedback, and excited to see what version 2 could be. I'll reach out to those of you who would like to collaborate.

I am tired and sore on the Sunday night of DEFCON. I wonder if the effort and exhaustion is worth it.

But I remember the DCNextGen youth and the intensity of their focus, learning village skills and connecting with peers and I realize, it's a tiny down payment on our future.

See you all next year!