defcon

Hacking the Defcon badges

Most badges from conferences and trade shows end up in the trash. Not so the badges from the Defcon security show, which are stylized, mysterious, and highly customized electronics equipment designed to be hacked.

Instead, they end up as collector's items. Bidding on eBay for a Defcon 17 badge from last weekend had reached $81 on Tuesday with three days to go, while a 2007 badge was at $33.99.

The Defcon badges and badge hacking contest, both highly anticipated at the conference each summer, not only give the hackers a mental challenge to figure out what the devices … Read more

At Black Hat and Defcon, hackers talk shop

This week's gatherings in Las Vegas are for those who know how to hack--and for those who want to stop them.

Hacking the Defcon badges Defcon badges, designed to be hacked, get turned into a polygraph, blue box dialer, sound sensitive blimp navigator and a device for defeating facial recognition systems. • Photos: Defcon badge inspires hacks (Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills) August 5, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Hanging with hackers can make you paranoid Compromised ATMs, virus-infected USB drives, badges with built-in microphones and security experts getting hacked--no wonder it's scary going to Black … Read more

Defcon: What to leave at home and other do's and don'ts

Attending Defcon and Black Hat can make you feel a bit like a deer in a forest full of hunters.

With virus-infected USB drives, Wi-Fi network sniffing, badges with built-in microphones and even security experts getting hacked, it seems like it's only a matter of time until your number comes up if you're not careful.

I asked some security experts for suggestions on what they do to protect themselves at the events and here is what they said.

Do's: • Have minimal software on your laptop, such as only the operating system and necessary applications.

• Make a backup … Read more

Hanging with hackers can make you paranoid

At a hacker conference no one is safe.

When I first went to Defcon in 1995, the halls were mobbed with teenagers and attendees seemed more concerned with freeing Kevin Mitnick and seeing strippers than hacking each others' computers.

Jump forward to Defcon 17 this year, which was held over the weekend in Las Vegas, things certainly have changed. The attendees are older and wiser and employed, most of the feds aren't in stealth mode, and even the most savvy of hackers is justifiably paranoid.

"Welcome to the hacker world," said Defcon founder Jeff Moss.

The evolving … Read more

BOL 1032: Chat room says no

We could have talked about yet another Apple tablet rumor but the chat room vetoed it. The chat room rulez! We do discuss Google's CEO leaving the Apple board and Microsoft shipping the normal Windows 7 to Europeans. And also robots that can run. That's not a good idea. Especially if they run towards you.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1032

Google’s Schmidt resigns from Apple board http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10301612-37.html

Microsoft: No browserless Windows 7 after all http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10301299-56.html

FCC’s Speed Shockingly Fast Looking Into iPhone-Google Voice Fiasco http://www.businessinsider.com/fccs-speed-shockingly-fast-looking-into-iphone-google-voice-fiasco-2009-8

AT&T Does Not Manage or Approve Apps for the App Store http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090803/att-does-not-manage-or-approve-apps-for-the-app-store-though-we-may-bitch-about-the-ones-we-dislike/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22069

Apple tried to silence owner of exploding iPod with gagging order http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article6736587.ece

Analyst claims first hand knowledge of Apple gaming, home media center tablet http://www.9to5mac.com/apple-tablet-september-barrons

Defcon air traffic control hacker: Excuse me while I change your aircraft's flight plan http://deals.venturebeat.com/2009/08/01/defcon-hacker-excuse-me-while-i-change-your-aircrafts-flight-plan/

Verizon drops pricing on almost all existing smartphones to under $99 http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/08/02/verizon-drops-pricing-on-almost-all-existing-smartphones-to-under-99/

Radio Shack rebadged “The Shack” in mobile push http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/08/02/radio.shack.rebranding/ http://www.radioshack.com/theshack/

Robot Runs For Real http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93586-Robot-Runs-For-Real

Ask Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra a question on Buzz Out Loud http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-10301736-10.html… Read more

Using software updates to spread malware

LAS VEGAS--Two researchers from Israeli security firm Radware have figured out a way to trick computers into downloading malware or take over a computer by hijacking the communications during the update process for Skype and other applications.

About 100 applications, many among the most popular on CNET's Download.com, can be targeted, said Itzik Kotler, team leader of Radware's security operations center, before his presentation here at the Defcon conference.

Kotler and colleague Tomer Bitton are releasing a tool called Ippon (which means "game over" in Judo) that enables the attack and offers a 3D view … Read more

From iPhones to smart grids at Black Hat, Defcon

My favorite security show each year is one at which there are no sales pitches, the speakers favor black T-shirts and dyed hair over suits and ties, and the talks tend to be controversial enough to prompt legal threats and even arrests.

I'm talking about Defcon, which starts Thursday and runs through Sunday. The event turns part of the Las Vegas strip into a geek equivalent of "Animal House" for a three-day weekend every summer.

Started in 1993 by Jeff Moss, aka Dark Tangent, Defcon brings together some of the top security experts from around the world, … Read more

Researchers to offer tool for breaking into Oracle databases

During their presentation at the Black Hat and Defcon hacker conferences next week in Las Vegas, security experts will release a tool that can be used to break into Oracle databases.

Chris Gates and Mario Ceballos will present Oracle Pentesting Methodology and give out "all the tools to break the 'unbreakable' Oracle as Metasploit auxiliary modules," according to a summary of their presentation on the Defcon Web site.

The tools are designed to help companies determine whether their systems are vulnerable, Gates said in an e-mail response to questions from CNET News. "There wasn't a good … Read more

ATM vendor gets security talk pulled from conferences

Last year it was smartcards and this year it's ATMs.

It's almost security conference season in Las Vegas and with one month to go, a presentation has been pulled from Black Hat and Defcon.

Juniper Networks says it pulled a talk about a flaw in ATM software that one of its researchers was scheduled to give at the security conferences, after the ATM vendor complained.

In his presentation entitled "Jackpotting Automated Teller Machines," Barnaby Jack was planning to discuss local and remote attack vectors on ATMs and provide a live demonstration of an attack on an … Read more