A419320 - defcon convention
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
An annual computer convention whose name appears to be a reference to the movie WarGames.
Founded in 1993 by the Dark Tangent,
defcon was originally a small group of people with an unhealthy interest
in other people's computers. Over the years it has transmogrified into
a large and unruly party, held - during the hottest time of the year -
in Las Vegas, a city located
in a desert. Early defcons occured in buildings that were later torn down, while recent defcons have been held in buildings that *ought* to be torn down1. This convention, which is ostencibly an event to learn about computer security,
is characterized by the attendance of thousands of people who gather to
drink, listen to loud music, and
break into each other's computers.
Defcon attendees can be loosely grouped
into five catagories:
a) security professionals who consume lots
of overpriced alcohol,
b) skilled amateurs (Sadly, anyone displaying a slight aptitude can find a job before they develop skills. This means that skilled amateurs are only slightly more common than
passenger pigeons and
dodos.)
c) groupies with 31337 html skills
d) government officials who alternately beg for people
people to stop breaking into computers, and try to recruit people to break into computers; a difficult task since most of the individuals with the skills the government wants already have jobs that pay better than government wages. (This is why the government tries to find skilled amateurs.)
e) reporters who come to document the attendees' shockingly bad fashion sense.
Security luminaries such as Mudge, Bruce Schneier, Brian Martin and Hobbit usually attend, and talks run the gamut from detailed assembly language discussions of buffer overflows to multimedia extravaganzas like the cDc's release of BO2K. Defcon festivities include games like spot the fed, capture the flag, the TCP/IP drinking game, and hacker jeopardy. (Hacker jeopardy differs from the TV version in a number of ways, the most notable of which being that the TV version doesn't have scantily clad women on stage or require contestants to drink beer if they answer incorrectly.) Starting in 1996, attendees have been encouraged to dress up for Saturday night's Black and White Ball. Eclectic Dance music is provided by attendees who take turns as DJs.
Despite the reputation it has, defcon is mostly harmless.
1Rumors has it that the owners of these buildings are attempting to lure in a convention of drunken astrophysicists, thereby avoiding the cost of building destruction and removal.
