DefCon revisited -- other reports on the conference

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

My report on DefCon is at:

  http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9707/16/netly.news/index.html

Attached are some followup notes from conference attendees.

-Declan

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Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 04:26:23 -0800
From: Szechuan Death <sdeath@ackphft.matsu.alaska.edu>
Subject: Def Con 5 Summary

God _DAMN_ that was fun!!!  >;->

(Despite the fact that I lost a shoe running away from a security guard, and
had to pitch the other one and my Rastafarian wig to satisfy my paranoia
about getting caught, it was well worth it...  besides, the barbed-wire
gouges are healing nicely, and I'll be getting a tetanus shot tomorrow...)

Let's see - my picks for Best of 'Con:

Mudge, because he's damned good (even if he _does_ work with NT)
Bruce Schneier, because he's - Bruce Schneier...
Val, for the dress (I still think the boots were masochistic, tho)
and Winn Schwartau for being such a good sport at Hacker Jeopardy, even if
he _did_ sound eerily like Alex Trebek.

Next year (if they have a Def Con next year) I'm coming back with a power
drill, Security Hex drivers, and a set of black pajamas - one of those
security cameras _will_ be mine...

_Are_ they going to have a Def Con next year?  Please say yes - Def Con 6 is
something to look forward to through a bleak and cold Alaskan winter...
>;->

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Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 01:57:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: Fyodor <fyodor@dhp.com>
Subject: DC5

Wow, the list sure is quiet.  I imagine this is because everyone is
recovering from last weekend!  And probably reading their overflowing
mailboxes.  Or at least repeatedly pressing 'd'.

So how did it go??  Us lamers who couldn't make it want to know.  Speaking
of which, did anyone get a video tape together?  I'll buy it!

What did Mudge talk about?  Did he expose any gaping holes?  He tends to
do that sometimes.  What about *Hobbit*?  Did he give any new information,
or was it mostly a rehash of his (excellent) CIFS paper?

And how was the bitch?  Did anyone go to her "discussion"?  Did it go as
"well" as her IRC chats (before she was canceled)?.

[...]

**********

Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:44:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: krys <krystali@safari.net>
Subject: Re: DC5


> Wow, the list sure is quiet.  I imagine this is because everyone is
> recovering from last weekend!  And probably reading their overflowing
> mailboxes.  Or at least repeatedly pressing 'd'.

I can't speak for the rest of the list, but I'm still walking around in a
dazed state, and hearing the ching-ching of thousands of slot machines in
my head. Apparently, it's going to take me a bit longer than anticipated
to recover.

> What did Mudge talk about?  Did he expose any gaping holes?  He tends to
> do that sometimes.  What about *Hobbit*?  Did he give any new information,
> or was it mostly a rehash of his (excellent) CIFS paper?

Mudge and Hobbit ended up combining their talks, and they were both
excellent, and quite informative. They spoke on various NT issues,
including CIFS and SMB and Microsoft's rehashing of bad password schemes
among other things. Unfortunately, I was still half asleep at the time. I
hope someone got audio of this - I'd really like a copy.

> And how was the bitch?  Did anyone go to her "discussion"?  Did it go as
> "well" as her IRC chats (before she was canceled)?.

The Happy Hacker Panel was a blast. Disorder did a great job of fielding
questions, as did Matt. Jon and Bronc were a lot more quiet, but they
answered some questions as well. Carolyn did a great job of making
a fool of herself. We did learn a few things, though:

1. Carolyn hacks her toaster.
2. Carolyn thinks sending http commands to the ssh port is a good idea.
3. Carolyn doesn't mind asking stupid questions. (This one was a real
shocker.)
4. Dis and 303 went to a lot of trouble to get Carolyn a copy of "Secrets
of a Super Hacker", which they so kindly had everyone autograph. Alas, she
already owned a copy.
5. One of Carolyn's favorite hacking methods is calling people and asking
them for their root password.


> Has anyone done a write-up of the highlights of the experience?  I noticed
> that Declan has a brief piece on the Netlynews today.  He'll probably post
> the first couple paragraphs here anyway, so I'll save him the trouble:

The only thing I've seen so far, other than what you posted from
NetlyNews, was a horrible AP piece, also posted here.

> Well, hopefully others will enlighten us with their DC5 experience when
> things calm down a bit.

Other than the lack of a working T1, I thought most things went well. It's
a shame se7en's speech was scheduled at the same time as the happy hacker
panel, though. I would have liked to hear what he had to say.

Uhm.. has anyone else heard rumor of the hotel's satellite dishes being
piled up on the 26th floor?

-krys

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Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 13:58:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: Xservo <servo@garbage.netrox.net>
Subject: Re: DC5

26th floor? well i do know there the coax ended up (flea).
yeah i saw someone running down the hall with a dish and thought 'oh we
are going to have a satellite phone for demo' then i was told to "move,
you didn't see anything" uhhh ok.....

wtf!

-xs



-------------------------
Declan McCullagh
Time Inc.
The Netly News Network
Washington Correspondent
http://netlynews.com/