Sexiest Geeks Alive

Last weekend I stepped into a swirling vortex of geek. I went to my first DEFCON (Cyan’s 12th), which happened to be across the street from the Star Trek Convention.

I had no idea, really, what to expect at DEFCON 16. It is one of the largest conventions of hackers in the world, self-described as “underground.” For three days, security experts talk about real-world examples of both building and breaking the systems which operate just about everything we touch. Hacking is a pretty impersonal activity where even collaboration is done remotely, but at DEFCON hackers come together and can meet their opposition (in the form of other hackers & the Feds), can talk smack using keyboards *and* voices, can brag and be praised for their achievements. It’s a place filled with the jubilant energy of a tribe coming together — only this tribe’s primary activities brings anything but joy to their targets.

Cyan and others warned me before I left that I needed to shut off wifi, bluetooth, IR — anything at all that might provide a portal into either my MacBook Pro or my iPhone. Upon arrival, I was further warned never to hand over my gear to anyone and to avoid using the ATMs inside the conference hotel, the Riviera. I have to admit this ongoing sense of danger both scared and excited me, making me only more eager to experience the “most hostile network on the planet.”

Upon arrival, I met up with friends who I met through Twitter events, @chadscott & @tpbrown. Together with @mentalartist, they formed my main daytime posse/guard for the entire weekend. They led me to the registration counter where I gave a man some cash and he handed me a badge without saying a word. No credit cards, checks, names, or even handles are ever exchanged at any point — a mind-bending concept for an event organizer like myself. We took a quick tour around the vendor area where tshirts, network boxes and books were for sale and it became clear to me that black was the official color of the hacker universe. There was also some fetishwear available for women, but I didn’t see very many potential customers. I peeked inside the public lounge area where the “Wall of Sheep” was projected: a display of the IP addresses, usernames, and partial passwords of people who logged on carelessly, leaving their systems open and ready for attack.

We then proceeded to a talk on exposing and exploiting security flaws in social networking websites by Nathan Hamiel and Shawn Moyer. It was the start of my opening my mind to a different reality. I’m not a programmer (much less a hacker) so most of the panels this weekend were over my head, but I was struck by the mode of thinking that permeated the conversations both on- and off-stage. I began to understand that, more than anything, I was at a conference of gamers. The world in which they play was not created by some dungeonmaster using game theory and dice. They play in the world where we all live. Their gameboard consists of security systems, the internet, anything at all which is electronic. Even the mechanical world was in play as evidenced by the folks in Lockpick Village (yes, physical locks). The hackers respect people who are good at playing the game and consider them worthy opponents. When describing an attack on a well-designed system, there’s a noticable tone of joy because it’s always more fun when the two sides in a game are evenly matched. When attacks are thwarted, their targets gain points and become even more desirable. Most of the world, however, is discussed with frustration and disdain. A poorly designed security system appears to be perceived as an insult. When they talk publicly about methods for pwning vulnerable systems, the hackers position themselves as being obligated to crack things open in order to teach a lesson with an eye towards improving future security measures, but in practice they start to resemble the bullies who stuff weaker kids into trashcans in front of the rest of the school. There is an element of a nerd uprising underneath all this.

That night we headed out to the Facebook party where YTCracker, the original nerdcore rapper, was DJing and performing. His rhymes only underscored the sense of menace that formed a background buzz at DEFCON. The party was lots of fun and YT was great! If you ever get a chance to hear him perform or DJ, cancel your other plans and go.

On Day 2, I saw an amazing presentation by Ne0nRa1n & Joe “Kingpin” Grand on using biofeedback to control a video game, in this case they used the rhythm of the heartbeat to control a shooting game. It was AMAZING. I love the idea of hacking the electrical and mechanical impulses in our bodies.

We then decided on indulging our Trekkie selves by jumping into the Star Trek Convention to have lunch at Quark’s place in the Hilton’s Star Trek Experience. We had quite the free-ranging conversation filled with allusions to various original & spin-off series species with a little Ghostbusters, Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars thrown in for good measure. @tpbrown kept trying to use his DEFCON badge’s embedded TV-b-gone to shut off the Olympics to no avail. We ooh’d and ahh’d over various fan costumes and were jealous of the two hackers who successfully snuck into the Star Trek vendor area. I think that was, by far, the nerdiest conversation I had ever been in. And, yes, I was the only female at the table, but I didn’t let that stop me! I was grinning and laughing and loving every minute!

Sunday we took it pretty easy, hanging out in the lounge and getting USB ports soldered onto our badges so we could hack them before we skipped out to spend a little time sipping drinks poolside. There came a point when it was necessary to take a mental break from the intensity.

Overall, this was an amazing conference. I am definitely planning to come back next year. Maybe by then I’ll have figured out a new way to hack my brain.