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Warning: Not All ATMs At DefCon Are What They Appear To Be

Mark Wilson — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:20:00 +0000

The infamous DefCon hackers convention is going on in Las Vegas right now. And, just a word of advice. If you’re going to visit, grab your cash before entering the conference.

This completely fake ATM, equipped to skim debit cards, was discovered in the Riviera Hotel Casino right outside the hotel’s security office. Conveniently, it also happened to be right out of the line of sight of surveillance cameras.

Whether the kiosk was merely a DefCon prank or a serious and malicious attempt to steal bank account information is unknown. But not having been suckered myself, I’ll admit that the ATM prop is at least a little funny. And if there were a little man inside just nabbing people’s debit cards, it would have been even funnier. [Wired via CrunchGear]

DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light

Rosa Golijan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:30:00 +0000

DefCon’s badges encourage hacking. In fact, the best hacks at the conference receive a black über badge signifying free lifetime admission. But why compete for the über badges when you can use steal them with this year’s winning hack?

You have to hand it to the guy behind this DefCon 17’s winning badge hack. He really wanted one of those black über badges and figured out how to get it, one way or the other. While it may look like one of those tacky Mickey’s Christmas Parade hats sold at Disney, the pulsing series of LEDs embedded in the bill of the cap confuses facial recognition systems. We’ll never know whether his design would’ve truly allowed the guy to sneak into the room where the badges are stored or not, but it’s quite an achievement to make a cat burglar’s dream toy out of these badges:

While this kills that old 100% accuracy claim regarding facial recognition, there aren’t any details about how the hack is meant to thwart facial recognition systems. Does it have to do with how 3D images are analysed? Does anyone have any insight? Specs? Cookies of your choice to whoever satisfies my curiosity on this topic. [Wired]

A Look Inside Defcon’s Network Ops Room, The Most Secure Conference Wi-Fi You’ll Ever See

John Mahoney — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Network access at conferences sucks, pretty much without exception. That is, unless it’s built by the badge-wearing network ops volunteers of the Defcon hacker convention, who are affectionately referred to as the “Goons” (read: IT badasses). Wired’s Threat Level got a chance to look behind the scenes and snap some great photos of the network gear (and chain link fences, and padlocks, and German Shepherds) that make the Defcon network the fortress that it needs to be to keep a network full of hackers from tearing each other apart.

A Cisco fibre switch (top) handles all of the traffic on the 20 megabit internet link, and the whole thing runs behind an OpenBSD firewall. Around 40 Aruba AP-70 access points distribute the network, which are basically only radios hooked to AC power; they receive all configuration info from the main network system to prevent WAP takeovers:

The whole thing sits behind this padlocked chain fence, which is manned by a 24/7 armed security guard.

Hit up Threat Level for the full set, including a portrait of Tomoe the German Shepherd, the Goons’ last line of defence. [Threat Level photos by Dave Bullock via /.]

Wired Previews Hackable Defcon 16 Badge

Matt Hickey — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:00:20 +0000

Wired got a sneak peek at one of the more fun aspects of this coming weekend’s Defcon, the hackable badge. Last year’s badge was hacked in just ten minutes, but it didn’t have an SD card slot at USB support. The new card has fewer features than last year’s but is more powerful. And it comes with a longer battery life, good news. But not everything is known, and that’s kind of the point to these fun trinkets. [Wired]

NBC’s DefCon Mole – The Walk of Shame

Seamus Byrne — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:15:38 +0000

Reading the story about NBC’s undercover reporter getting ousted from hacker convention DefCon was enjoyable. Watching the video… that’s something really special. Here’s the whole story, from beginning to end. My favorite moment: a heckler says, “You must feel like Lindsay Lohan right now.”

My second favorite moment: the geek giggling at the end.

[via boingboing]

DefCon Uber Badge Hacked in 10 Minutes

Seamus Byrne — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 02:24:41 +0000

Now, now, don’t get too excited. Creator Joe Grand designed it to be hacked. Still, 10 minutes is a pretty respectable time for the soldering, reprogramming and reflashing job done by Dave Bullock, Wired’s photographer at the event. The badge features an LED display with scrolling text, and it even has an easter egg (typing in 31337 outputs “$kingpin$”, the board maker’s handle.) [Wired, but beautiful photos from Dave]

NBC’s DefCon Mole Outed, Stalked by Hackers and Press

Seamus Byrne — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:32:14 +0000

Michelle Madigan, Dateline NBC’s DefCon mole, armed with hidden camera, was trying to sneak in as a programmer and tape hackers admitting to illegal activity. Instead, DefCon’s NBC mole uncovered the plot.

DefCon staff lured her to a large hall telling her that the Spot the Fed contest was in session and that she could get a picture of an undercover federal agent at the contest. When she sat down, Jeff Moss, DefCon’s founder, announced that they were changing the game. Instead of Spot the Fed, they were going to play Spot the Undercover Reporter and then announced, “And there’s one in here right now.” Madigan, realizing she’d been had, jumped from her seat and bolted out the door with reporters carrying cameras chasing after her through the parking lot and to her car.

(Journalists at DefCon have to comply by strict rules of engagement not to be dirty snitches.) *checking photo* Yea, she doesn’t stick out at all.

Madigan was last seen being chased by two dozen reporters hoping to interview her. Press eating the press. [Wired]