Intro
I want to start this out that one of the items on my bucket list was to go to Defcon. While at Defcon the first day, we also went to Pawn Stars Pawn shop where I purchased a nice round. Sadly Chamblee’s candy store was closed. Also I guess it is common in Las Vegas for the entrances of stores or shop to spray mist of water. I read that it’s supposed to help lower the temperature. Of course I took pictures in front of the Pawn Stars sign.
The insides of the Pawn Shop was much smaller than I pictured. A lot less of interesting stuff. The end half of the store was just for Pawn Stars merch. Which I got this nice polio shirt. I also bought a few cool stickers with the logo on it.
We also had dinner at this great restaurant called Raising Canes. The chicken tenders were off the chart good, they were soft and easy to eat. The fries were soft and great tasting, also the service was fantastic.
The next day I went to DefCon BBQ, while it was very hot out they were also giving everyone in line sunscreen and water. The food was good, I had two hotdogs. They were HUGE hotdogs so I only had one and saved the last one for later which I later accidently dropped.
One night we went to this restaurant that was mafia themed. When you enter the door a person asks if you have a reservation and allows you to enter the restaurant space by a secret door. The inside of the restaurant was very dark. The service was okay. The food was expensive but it was also decent. I got Chicken Parm. There was a lot of food that I took some home to have for lunch.
The Badge
By the time I got my badge, they have ran out the fancy ones and only had paper badges. A couple of days later I was in the Merch line cashing out the coat I got and the lady said that I should go back to the badge area and get a one of those fancy badges. I did exactly that and was able to get a fancy badge. Next year I might try to purchase my badge ahead of time.
Merch Line
Speaking of merch, holy moly the line was long the first day I went. A day or two later I got the conference as early as I could and got into the merch line before it opened. A lot of the “good” merch was gone but I bought this sweet looking Defcon 33 winter coat. I have not tired it on yet but I cannot wait to try it on when it starts getting cold. Also, while kinda related while in the airport I bought this nice looking sweatshirt that is really soft. Once again I am going to wait until fall until I wear it so it stays soft as long as possible.
I originally was also going to sit in line for the Vendors but they did not open until a hour later and I had no intention standing in a line for that long so I did not purchase anything from any vendors.
The Villages
There are a lot of very cool interesting villages at DefCon. After getting my merch I spend the rest of the day wandering around the different villages. There was a “scamBaiting” villages where you call up scammers and waste their time so that they cannot steal from other people.
They had this software built where it takes a known phone number used by a scammer and spoofs the number, and you can talk to the scammer. They even have a built in VM where you install software that scammer wanted to install.
In a different but equally exciting village was a homemade vessel made by some drug smugglers that was seized by the coast guard. They had it in display where you could control it via a remote. It was really cool to see one up close and be able to touch it. It looked like the drug smugglers might of 3d printed the top of the vessel. There was other cool boats and boat controls in the village.
I did a beginner CTF challenges, which was really easy. It was basically just caesar ciphers and basic challenges. I visited the lock picking village which was cool. I brought my lock picks with me, I was kinda worried that the TSA would take them but I put them in my checked baggage and they seemed fined.
Also I went to the tamper village and hung out there for a while trying to bypass these certain tamper proof objects. They were using Monster cans but I didn’t really try to use it because I did not want the metal to cut my hands. Especially since other people have probably touched the metal too.
The physical security village was another cool village. They had mini doors where you could try different techniques of entering a door. I have heard about the “under the door” tool but have never tried it until at DefCon. It is definitely harder than it looks. They also had a contest where if you could escape from handcuffs around your back in 30 seconds ( I forget the exact time period ) you would get a free handcuff key.
The day I wander around the Villages, I took over 10k steps. Usually I am lucky to get 5k. The hotel we stayed at was the Residence Inn, which was across the street from the conference. It was a good ten minute walk including walking across the street.
The room was really nice, it was big, had a really soft couch and a fridge, oven and microwave. Maybe the best part of the hotel was the breakfast. One day they had the world’s best pancakes. I had to have like 3+ servings. The next day was equally good French Toast.
While eating breakfast we met this wonderful guy who was staying at the same hotel, he was a professor at a college in California. He gave some career advice and we talked cybersecurity.
At the Scam Baiting village while I attending there was a documentary crew interviewing people about scambaiting. They were from NatGeo so I think there might be a upcoming documentary about DefCon on the horizon. They even had people signing video releases. They even recorded one guy talking to a scammer on the phone.
At the Phreaker Village, they had a payphones and free captain crunch whistles where you could try it on the payphones. I was not able to do it but, it was fun trying. I cannot carry a tone apparently. Especially since I have never used a pay phone before. Of course during my day in the Villages I grabbed a ton of stickers. If I knew that I could of brought stickers to hand out I would of created some with my own designs to hand out. Can’t wait for next year to come up with some sweet stickers designs. There was a lot of cool looking stickers being handed out. Also there was a huge banner where people could put their stickers
Talks
The first day I waited in line for the Social Engineering talks but the goon said that it would another couple of hours and it was likely that I would not get in. It taught me the important lesson that if I wanted to see a talk I needed to get in line an hour or thirty minutes before.
The next day I saw an new talk, red teaming with AI or something similar to that. I got in line early and waited. Turns out I did not read the information close enough it was a talk about how they performs attacks on AI and put it in on Hack The Box. I stayed the whole time, but I felt like it wasted my hour or so. A lot of people started to leave once they realized that it was not about using AI to help with red teaming. After the talk I went to the villages. I realize that it’s not worth waiting in line when I could see the video on YouTube or online.
Cost of items in Vegas
We quickly realized that the price in Vegas is remarkable high, a bottle soda was $4ish dollars. We decided to go to Walmart and get some items to make lunch, drinks and snacks for the next couple of days. The prices at Walmart was not bad but the prices at the hotel and the conference center was costly. Of course I bought a six pack of Mountain Dew, some bread, cheese and big bottle of water. In the morning I made two sandwiches to keep in my book bag for lunch, instead of spending a fortune for food.I also packed a Mountain Dew for the day. I do admit I did purchase some bottle Mountain Dew from a vending machine after I finished the Mountain dew I packed. I also had a Pepsi.
At night there was a pool party where I went twice. The first time I did not buy anything to drink. The party also had Tacos which I did not eat. But the second time I went to the pool party, I got a alcoholic drink which costed like $20. But it was a nice drink, usually I do not part in drinking but I decided to “hang loose” and try it. I asked the bartender what he suggested, he listed a bunch of drinks, which I said I wanted rum, then he asked if I like sweet, and put in a bunch of other liquids.
After getting the drink I tired to not drink it too fast as I am not an experienced drinker and alcohol usually makes me tired. But a guy was sitting next to me and asked if I wanted to play this cybersecurity game called “Credential Shuffle“, the game is kind of like Uno but with a cybersecurity twist. If I was being honest I didn’t really understand how to play. It was loud as there was electronic music blasting but it was a fun game.
Lonely Hackers Chat
After talking and meeting some people at Def Con, they shared with me with this chat called Lonely hackers. It’s meant for people who go to DefCon but do not know anyone. I would suggest to join the chat and message people in the group. They also have a party or meet up during DefCon I believe.