After a five-year sabbatical, I am once again preparing myself to visit sunny Las Vegas to attend the annual Defcon computer security conference. Billed as “the largest underground hacking event in the world,” Defcon is always attended by an intriguing mixture of people, including computer professionals, amateurs, manufacturers, vendors, all branches of the U.S. government and military, political activists, and yes, even scary “hackers.”
In the early days of computing, those involved routinely called each other “hackers,” which simply meant that you had a desire to experiment, learn and perhaps figure out how to make your equipment perform tasks for which it was not originally designed. The computer industry as we now know it was founded by hackers who were willing to constantly push the envelope in pursuit of the ultimate computing experience.
Thanks to an ill-informed news media looking to label malicious computer activity, the term “hacker” has now come to define computer criminals up to no good. But, it wasn’t always that way; back in “the day,” Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both happy to be known as “hackers.” Computer criminals were called “crackers.” I refer you to the excellent book, “Hackers,” by Steven Levy, for a more thorough and enjoyable look at the subject.
Coming from around the world, most Defcon attendees are there to learn. Those like myself do not consider themselves to be super-elite computer geniuses, but rather, are looking for information to at least keep themselves in the race. The field of computer security is constantly evolving, and there’s no better place to get a quick crash course in the latest techniques used by the black hats and the white hats.
With seminars such as “Hacking traffic control systems,” “The year in digital civil liberties,” and “Home automation and defensive security measures,” there’s something for everyone. For many years, there has even been a game called “Spot the Fed,” in which one can win a free t-shirt by exposing the identity of a “Fed,” as in, someone who works the U.S. government. Perplexingly enough, the Feds regard it as all in good fun.
The Feds attend Defcon to look for underground bad guys, as well as to learn from the white-hat hackers and corporate security professionals. They are also there to recruit. Faced with an overwhelming flood of illicit computer activity, the Feds recruit from all groups, including the “black hats.” They are especially interested in “turning from the dark side” those amateur hackers who break into computer systems and networks, not so much for financial gain, but rather for the challenge of beating the system. In this regard, the Feds have taken an attitude of, “if you can’t beat ’em, hire ’em!” They are often successful when on-the-fringe hackers realize that their hacking hobby can earn them the same prison sentence as a member of the Russian Mafia. The hackers frequently decide that the risks of beating the system for fun are just too great.
And then there are the guys like me, who are just trying to figure out how to get those nasty viruses out of your Grandma’s computer.
I teach in depth about hackers, crackers and Feds in my class, “Fight the Internet Bad Guys and Win.” Everyone who uses a computer should take this class, especially people who think they don’t need to take it. Mark your calendars for July 24, 2014, 6:30 p.m. Then, visit the new South Oklahoma City Public Library, 2201 SW 134th Street, OKC 73170, for my next class presentation. Call (405) 979-2200 to reserve a seat.