We don't want to be a target of any State or Federal fishing expeditions." An FAQ for Defcon said this about credit card payments in 2019: "Do we take credit cards? Are you JOKING? No, we only accept cash - no checks, no money orders, no travelers checks. It's a far cry from past Defcons, which had a strict cash-only policy out of privacy concerns for its attendees. See also: What is Tor? Your guide to using the private browserĭefcon organizers created the badge as a way for supporters to provide funding for the conference, but it also allows them to turn over evidence to law enforcement officials if any illegal content pops up from those users. This process makes it easier for the conference to identify bad actors who post illegal content on Discord.
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While the entire conference is free to attend and watch, if you want to post images and links, or to use the voice and video chat functions, you'll need to pay $20 for a "Human Plus" badge through PayPal. Other requirements include having a verified email account with your Discord, or a phone number associated with the account. For the majority of users who choose to remain anonymous, they'll remain in a "read-only" mode unless they provide more information. The ability to interact and participate in Defcon will be determined by how much information you provide. 9, with different channels set for the different "villages" happening at Defcon. Rather than using its own livestreaming service like Apple did for its WWDC or a video chat tool like Zoom, Defcon is happening on Discord, an online chat platform that most hackers are familiar with.
"Hosting a public event on the internet always carries a responsibility to prepare for bad actors," Melanie Ensign, Defcon's press lead, said in a statement.ĭefcon's transparency report published at its closing ceremony in 2019. It marks a stark contrast with Defcon's usual privacy-first ethos, just another example of our surreal times. To deal with a potential flood of issues, Defcon's organizers set up tiers of privileges for the online event, so that the more potential you have to cause harm, the easier it is for you to be caught. Now imagine what happens when a convention for hackers goes online. The broader shift to go remote, from weddings to schools, has invited trouble, such as hackers hijacking synagogue services to spam anti-Semitic slurs and interrupting virtual classes with pornography.
Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference and various gaming events have gone the digital route as a result of the coronavirus pandemic - Defcon's move exponentially increases the opportunity for harassment - an issue it's long struggled with. While Defcon isn't the first conference to go virtual. The hacking that goes on at Defcon is primarily for educational purposes - taking over a voting machine to show how easily it can be done, or the conference itself creating badges with Easter eggs you can only unlock if you have the technical chops.īut it's also paved with high-tech hijinks, like hundreds of fake Wi-Fi networks intended to trick people into connecting to them and a fake ATM machine in 2009 that could steal card data from unsuspecting victims. With Defcon going virtual this summer, it's open to anyone with an internet connection, meaning organizers will have to brace themselves for a new challenge: moderating a conference of thousands of hackers who have the technical skills to disrupt an online event.
Each year has brought reports of incidents of sexual harassment, and the conference banned two people for life for harassing women in 2017. In 2017, Defcon released its first transparency report, and it's gone through that same process at the close of every conference since then.