Everyone at DEFCON went out of their way to get/learn/explore the Cisco flaw because of the way it was (poorly) handled…Angered and inspired by Cisco’s attempts to suppress news of the flaw earlier in the week, several computer security experts at the Defcon computer-security conference worked past midnight Saturday to discover and map out the vulnerability. I saw the PDF(s) actually being handed out to random people all over Vegas too. Link.
The vendor room at DEFCON is always a real treat. From metric tons of old computers to how-to books on everything you should and should ever even consider. I also ran in to the folks from the BBS Documentary; the audio interview will be posted up shortly. Here are some photos of neat old computers and parts that were for sale…Link.
RobotWarez is a contest that takes place at each DEFCON. Since the target audience is hackers, elegant approaches are rewarded, and simple brute force is not encouraged. When I was there, the robots were firing something with compressed air and doing a good job of knocking some cans over. Photos here and here.
…the world record holders for the longest distance for an unamplified Wi-Fi link (55.1 miles at 30mw) blasted through their own year old record today at the Defcon Wi-Fi Shootout. Team PAD shot their signal a distance of 125 miles from outside Las Vegas, Nevada to a location near St. George, Utah, winning them a new record in the “unamplified” category at the shootout. Link.
The 3rd annual lock picking contest went on at DEFCON. It’s pretty amazing to see the wide variety of tools, locks and lock pickers all in one spot and all handily dispensing of most locks in record time. Here are some photos of the lock picking in action (I was able to liberate a couple locks, but there was this young kid who schooled me and did it with his eyes closed, the show off)… Link.
I was going to write up the IR hacking talk, but Wired news online got to it before I had access so here ya go. A vulnerability in many hotel television infrared systems can allow a hacker to obtain guests’ names and their room numbers from the billing system. It can also let someone read the e-mail of guests who use web mail through the TV, putting business travelers at risk of corporate espionage. Link.
