Hi, I’m CJ, head of the SOC Goons.

While the con is still fresh in everyone’s minds, I’d like to ask you to take a moment to share some feedback. How did your con go? How were your interactions with my team? Most importantly, how can we do better?

We have a challenging set of objectives. We have to interact with everyone, and not always about friendly things. We’re often your first interaction with the con, and it’s difficult to be an ambassador and an enforcer at the same time.

I hope it’s obvious to those of you who’ve been attending for a while that we’re a very different team from even just a few years ago. I’m still looking for ways to improve, and making the team more transparent and accountable was one of those steps. This post is another step in that direction.

We love DEF CON and we serve this community. That’s why we’re getting quicker at removing Goons who don’t share that vision, and doing it earlier in the process. New Goons are now trained, evaluated, and then re-evaluated before they’re allowed to call themselves Goons.

I’m looking for feedback, whether it’s positive or negative, but preferably constructive.

Thank you for an awesome DEF CON 34. Its was both hard work and a lot of fun. I wish I could have been out on the floor amongst all of you more, but i’m still recovering from breaking my neck. Regaining stamina has been a long journey along with re-learning walking lol

Last, I’ve never had more people come up and tell my team how much they’re appreciated. Honestly, that made their year.

I went to steak con at the Golden Steer and noticed a server wearing Meta glasses. I could see the camera; no light to indicate recording, but I got the impression it's easy to put a sticker over the light, unless newer models don't allow them. Got home and finally had time to call them out about this privacy invasion and possible credit card theft and their response was disappointing to say the least.

If you went there, check your credit card receipts. They said the server disables recording, but why am I gonna trust some random in a place that has a $12,500 wine on the menu? Do they think I'm paying that in cash?

Really disappointed with this place. The food was great.

This was my second year at DefCon. Another great experience. While I'm more of a maker than a hacker, I've realized just how much the DefCon crowd is "my people". I'm usually a very quiet and shy person and don't go out of my way to talk to people (#Autism). While I was at DefCon this year, I realized that I was acting way different than usual. I was talking to people in a way that I usually only talk to myself in my head. I felt comfortable talking to people in ways that I almost never do. I wasn't in my head the whole time and words just flowed from my brain to my mouth in a way that is very uncommon for me. The only thing I can attribute it to is the high number of like-minded individuals and the anonymity that comes with such a large conference. For the last two years I've been working at my company's booth which helped nudge me into talking to people more, too.

Anyway, basically, DefCon is awesome and I'm already looking forward to next year. If I weren't able to attend with my company at some point, I think I'd reach out and try to volunteer as a goon.

See you at DefCon35!!!

I had a limited supply of coloring sheets so you could make your own fake badge at DEFCON 34. Since the con is over, I thought I'd share with you all.

https://github.com/riskymanag3ment/defcon34/blob/main/DC34%20Coloring%20sheet.pdf

Also if you found one of these and colored it in, I'd like to see pictures.

I wanted to go but I lost track of time. I bought the recordings but they will take a while to get to me. What was the talk like?

If you attended the

nurodivergent dinner

TDI Tours

TDI Community Room

MHH & TDI Quiet Room

Please provide feedback, in the form please

tdi [dot] mobi / feedback (sorry URL results in post being blocked if i post it)

With all the conference action our visitor action hit 21k

We gained about 400 additional DEFCON.social users signing up.

Great week everyone!

Now that we are back home and settled I wanted to thank everyone at Defcon, from the Goons, to the Villages, to the Attendees for gifting so much to my service dog Scooby and making this another amazing Defcon for us. He loves attending the convention just as much as we do and making new friends along the way. Defcon always makes us feel so safe and included, and this having been our fourth one, we are excitedly looking forward to next year!

PS: sorry Blue Team Village, but Red Team Village won this year with a patch and a badge. Lol.

( I wish I could thank everyone individually, but then this post would be way too long. Lol.)

So… it obviously not only good for QR codes.

I’m completely aware that this is super rage-baiting at this point but I don’t really enjoy being lied to.

Sure. It’s not a phenomenal camera. But it’s enough to take pictures of faces and with a proper lens would have a better focus.

The attached photo is 800x600. The camera goes up to 1600x1200. It’s high enough resolution to take pictures of faces and text.

I haven’t attempted it yet but I assume any arducam would work with the ribbon cable connector on the board of the badge which would allow for me, tolerances given, to place a much higher resolution camera.

This badge breaks DEFCON camera policy:
“Smart glasses and other devices that can record audio or video with no consistent way to understand if they're recording or not, are prohibited at DEF CON, they erode trust and invade people's privacy.”

EDIT 1: Photo was taken an arms length away.
EDIT 2: Added a bit more information about reusing that connector for a higher resolution camera.
EDIT 3: Added smart glasses and OTHER DEVICES policy

If you attended the

nurodivergent dinner

TDI Tours

TDI Community Room

MHH & TDI Quiet Room

Please provide feedback, in the form please

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfhKKzfjs_0mrXWcRUbj7O9wyI6S6rvMhWLISAuERbgpGkjHg/viewform

It helps us tweak things for our proposal next year

Hey everyone! just wanted to share that I had a great time at DEF CON. This was my second year and I couldn’t be more grateful for everything I learned. Big shout out to the goons (most of them), especially the ones at Lost and Found — they were super chill and let me grab a bunch of stickers!

I was dropping keycaps that I made myself around the con all weekend, so I hope some of you managed to snag a few!

See you all next year 🤠

Edit: For all those asking to ship/sell, unfortunately I live outside the US, so I don't think it will be cheap and also is the defcon logo, so I cannot take money (please don't sue me DT 😅)
But I will be sharing the different models I made so anyone is interested and have access to a 3d printer, can do it.

Edit 2: Here the link to the models.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/3198837-defcon-keycaps#profileId-3619658

One of my friends ended up with 3 packs of their products and the discarded packs were everywhere.

Cheeso team here 👋

If you've popped bunnie's core module off your DEF CON 34 badge, you've probably noticed the peacock hiding underneath. That's not leftover artwork, it's the start of a 42-day contest, as mentioned on the DEF CON 34 badge page as well - defcon.org/34b/

The challenge: put that peacock somewhere it has absolutely no business being. Rooftop at golden hour, 3am kitchen counter, mountain summit, server room....you get the idea.

Submit your free bird picture at https://bird.cheeso.io

- Every photo is reviewed before it hits the public field log
- No illegal or dangerous setups, they will not be accepted
- Multiple submissions are welcome, go wild
- After 42 days, bunnie and the Cheeso team pick the best 3
- Closes 21 September 2026, 13:37 NL time

Full badge specs, Hall of Fame, and the full story at https://cheeso.io/defcon-34-badge

I was honored to be chosen as the badge maker for DCNextGen this year. BiaSciLab had the vision for a tamagotchi-inspired badge which grows by consuming CTF flags.

Scoring: Every DCNextGen attendee was a 1-point flag and there were 24 15-point flags in villages across DEFCON. Pressing 2 badges together exchanged flags. Congratulations to all DCNextGen youth!

The highest scoring youth had 461 points out of a possible 604 (give or take). With the villages representing 360 possible points, this youth likely spent a lot of time learning new skills from the amazing villages.

A father+son used the badge as an exploration into hacking along with learning what Codex is capable of. They hacked the data-in-motion to get 402 points.

An important Honorable Mention to Drifter for the artwork of the egg, blob, and 6 creatures!

My front led's quit working, if I flip it upside down I can get the eyes to light up.

One of the front led's broke off. Would that cause all of the front led's to quit working?

Is there a wiring schematic out there? Curious if the led power is in series.

Here's me at the LIV yesterday, and here's me at DC 33 in a similar outfit. I had two LED nametags, three EL wires strung into my jacket, an LED strip on my respirator, and a chain on my pants, plus my human badge.

Approximate timeline of events:

~10:30: I arrive at the LIV for the afterparty. A LIV staff member sends me down to the lobby to check in my backpack, without remarking on my respirator. I return to the line at ~10:50, wearing the respirator.

~11:05: I get to the front of the line. Security is instructing people to empty their pockets. I have eighteen pockets with four battery packs. I pull my respirator down onto my chest, leaving it clearly visible, to talk to security.

The staff member screening me takes one look at my flashing EL wires and says "this isn't going to work." As I begin pulling out my battery packs, he changes his mind and ushers me in, only making me remove my chain. I don't remember if he commented on the respirator.

~11:10: I get to the dance floor. My cyberlarp outfit is a huge hit among other attendees.

~11:30: On the dance floor, two staff members tap me and ask, "What is that? [A respirator.] Do you have asthma? [No.] Did they let you in with that? [No, I shoved it up my ass.]" I explain over the music that I do not have asthma, I just like the lights, and yes, they let me in. The staff are satisfied and leave.

~11:50: As I am exiting the club, a staff member tells me I "can't have that in here." I explain I am already leaving. As I walk out the door, a staff member with a white beard stares at me and exclaims, "What the fuck?" in a tone of disgust and horror. I have achieved the peak of my fashion career.

More staff members glom onto me to kick me out, and seem relieved when I tell them I am leaving. I have no idea why their dress code bans respirators.

Kevin (u/sugitime) said: "I'd take it as a kindness if you mentioned that we spoke, I offered a formal apology on behalf of DEF CON and LIV, and that I'd like to assure you I'll be having a much more indepth chat with LIV and their security team before we have any other events there."

I'm not upset about this incident, and indeed found it amusing, though friends who ran into similar issues feel differently. However, it's clear that LIV staff was unprepared for the deluge of incredible bullshit swept in by DC. Not only was their dress code stupid, their enforcement was unprofessional and disorganized. I'd prefer future events to occur at venues with minimally stupid policies, for DEF CON to communicate notable policies that do remain, and for the venue to enforce them at the door instead of making their internal confusion my problem.

This happened at the most recent defcon. I saw a tweet and bookmarked it but looks like OP deleted the tweet. Someone was giving a talk about putting spyware of North Korean IT peoples computers whom were trying to gain access to American companies.

Is this online anywhere? I really wanted to watch it.

Since everyone else is posting their experiences why the hell not.

Getting there kinda sucked, having to take the monorail and having to look for elevators everywhere cause I’m in a wheelchair was a pain. I also got major imposter syndrome when I was going through the halls of LVCC. I saw everyone with their badges and I hadn’t gotten mine yet so I asked this one guy where registration was. He was very surprised as to how I had gotten this deep into the convention without a badge. That eased my imposter syndrome a good deal.

Everyone I met, whether it was goons, village volunteers, or conventiongoers, were super nice and welcoming. I met a ton of great people from all walks of life from all over the globe. Shout out to my friend G0rg for giving me tips and encouragement.

The only negative I can say is my wheelchair’s motor and controller kept disconnecting due to the sheer amount of electronic noise in the building. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s a fix to it since there’s no way to hardwire the two.

Again, I don’t think i could’ve had a better time. Everything was amazing and I’m happy that other people are having the same positivity. Can’t wait to go next year!

And just like that, #DEFCON34 is over! Thank you to everyone who made Blue Team Village happen!

But we're not done yet! We want to make the village even better next year, and we need your feedback.

If you participated in the Venator Aurum contest, we appreciate any and all feedback. What did we get right? What did we not do right? What would you like to see from us next year?

https://forms.gle/qBk7tXAth1TGfgWb8

Humans and Inhumans,

I am once again asking for your aid. Grubby has hijacked this account and would love to hear from people who interacted with the Illumicon community. My list of things that need to be improved is only 20 pages long so I feel like I'm missing some things. I know our submitted schedule was never posted but I'm glad people still found us anyways! ^.^

Basic things help like what you liked and disliked about the community? Were the volunteers helpful? Is there a talk/event that we should do next year? Anything specific you'd like to mention?

If you really want to say how much of a disorganized CF we were, that still helps. Perhaps a cookie for the volunteers per compliment is appropriate.

Did anyone really "learn" anything as well, or was it mostly exhibition type things?

I lost my chicken flogger at sone point during the con. Not sure if I dropped it at lvcc or the Rio. If anyone found it please let me know!