Tag: Defcon

Digital Right to Repair Movement seeks Allies at DEF CON

A grass roots movement to win a legal right to repair digital devices arrived at DEF CON in Las Vegas on Saturday with a message for an estimated 30,000 attendees: ‘fight for repair.’

Voting Machine Maker Defends Refusal of White-Hat Hacker Testing at DEF-CON

Voting machine maker Election Systems & Software (ES&S) defended its decision not to participate in a white-hat hacking event at this year’s DEF-CON to test the security of voting systems, saying such hack-a-thons could actually jeopardize election security and invite hackers to disrupt electronic voting systems.

John McAfee addresses the crowd at DEFCON 22

McAfee sideshow eclipses Defcon’s real security breakthroughs | Security – InfoWorld

The onetime technology wunderkind, who left a job working for Lockheed to turn his curiosity about computer viruses into a thriving, global corporation showed up at two Las Vegas hacker cons last week: B-Sides Las Vegas and DEFCON. He offered some off-the-cuff rebukes to firms like Google. He also rambled long and hard about the dark forces that pursue him: the U.S. government, the government of Belize, Central American drug cartels and script kiddies desperate for his (virtual) scalp. Everywhere he goes, people take his picture. Who are they working for? The phones and computers he buys are bugged. His movements are being tracked. Those in attendance were admonished to beware of government snooping — especially via mobile applications. “Without privacy there is no freedom,” McAfee intoned.   Listening to McAfee rant, it’s easy to forget there were plenty of folks walking the halls of Defcon, Black Hat, and B-Sides […]

Security Experts call for Action on Connected Auto Safety

A non-profit group that represents prominent computer security researchers has issued an open letter to the automotive industry calling for more collaboration on cyber security issues. The group, I Am The Cavalry said the automotive industry needs to elevate cyber security to put it on par with other vehicle safety issues. The announcement, on Friday at DEF CON 22 in Las Vegas – an annual hacker conference – included a letter to CEOs in the automotive industry, calling for the adoption of “five key capabilities that create a baseline for safety relating to the computer systems in cars.” The letter asks for safety to be built into the design of computer systems in vehicles. “Increasing reliance on computer systems and internet connectivity in cars is opening up a whole new area of consumer risk, much of which is still being investigated and understood,” the group said. “Modern cars are computers […]