personalsecurity

A Trip to Vegas for DEF CON 34

TLDR; Skip to the bottom to ignore the trip story, skim the pictures, see the highlights and points

DEF CON 34, this was my third time attending DEF CON. This will be my second post about DEF CON. The post about DEF CON 32 was my first. Every time I attend, I am more and more in awe with the community. It is from the day before I arrive to the day after I leave, I just cannot wait for the next time I get to experience DEF CON. This time, I wanted to "record" the experience so that I could share it with the public. By "record" I took really awful notes - when I remember - to share highlights of pieces I have seen over the last three years.

Expect this to be formatted in a "day of the life" going to Vegas and attending the conference. After the chronological order there will be the new gear, new plans as well as my closing thoughts.

Preparation

Every time I go to a conference whether I am simply attending the conference or working at the conference I pack too many electronics. My carry on, always over packed. In my defense, I usually end up utilizing everything I pack, but, I know it is unnecessary.

Prepping my gear and packing my bags

One thing I did as well was upgrade my phone. I should have done this and tested way further out from the conference as I hit numerous hurdles I was not expecting. I brought my old phone as backup, but, that did not help realistically. This was my first experience using Graphene OS.

Along with Graphene OS, this was my first experience using F-Droid. I was able to pick up a bunch of open source tools through an alternate store for the first time (ignoring my sideloading history). I also added an app called Markleaf. This is how I took all my notes/reminders for the trip. My raw notes are at the end of the post (I redacted a friend's name, everything else unedited).

Day by Day

The entire trip spanned five days, two of which were travel days. In hindsight, if Ham Radio is of interest, I would recommend coming a day earlier as you can do additional courses on the Thursday. If you want to experience the entire "Hacker Summer Camp" you should expect to stay 10 to 14 days. I think I will try that in the future. Hacker Summer Camp includes BSides Las Vegas, Black Hat and DEF CON. I have heard BSides Las Vegas is comparable to what DEF CON "used to be". Black Hat is a cyber security marketing event; lots of vendors, swag and social events geared towards corporate cyber security. Lastly, DEF CON, I would say this is highly technical and community focus where vendors have slowly started to stick their noses in.

Circling back, we are focusing specifically on my trip to DEF CON this year.

Thursday

The travel day started the trip off on an "edge of your seat" type of experience. I was just waiting for the moment where my trip was going to be delay or cancel my trip. As ironic as it is, this being my first time paying for a flight to Vegas myself (not covered by a work event, and the one exception from LAX) it was also the most expensive flight I had ever purchased. A flight that is usually cheaper than flying domestically in Canada.

The trip started with the most expensive Uber ride I had ever paid for, where I nearly was involved in a four car pile up. My Uber driver and the driver behind me were probably the most dangerous combination of drivers you could have together, one liked to floor it and ram on your brakes, while the other liked to dilly dally. Needless to say, after two separate incidents where someone was squealing their tires from ramming on their brakes, a three car pile up involving the three cars behind the Uber resulted. Fortunately for me, my trip was not delayed before it started, but, quite the unfortunate situation for the cars behind.

As I arrive to the airport and unload into the terminal I see a notification of a "thunderstorm warning". Now that I am at the airport time and rush through customs and security to get settled in the lounge for a drink and a meal before takeoff.

Security was a breeze. My one carry on bag got flagged (always the 65% keyboard) but, was passed back without even a search.

As I go to use Mobile Passport Control (MPC) to accelerate the customs situation, I encounter my first hiccup with Graphene OS. The geolocationing and MPC application on Graphene do not interact well out of the box. As I am trying to troubleshoot the app, the pathway to customs gets blocked off due to an undisclosed issue. The airport security staff themselves have no idea what as going on. After waiting aimlessly for twenty minutes, we finally get passed through. At this point, I had thrown out MPC as an option and queued up in the average traveller line. Fortunately, the wait wasn't that long. Border Security was very simple and smooth. I can recall the entire conversation from memory:

Border Security: "Passport."

I handed over my passport

Border Security: "Where are you headed?"

Me: "Las Vegas"

ten second pause

Border Security glances up

Border Security: "Have a safe trip."

I grab my passport and walk towards the gates

I intentionally fly Air Canada as frequently as I can. I have domestic lounge access. This comes in very handy when I am in a situation where I don't want to spend money on purchasing food, coffee or snacks.

Airport Lounge Food, perk to save money on an individual trip My "free" dinner flying to Vegas

Their food is never too shabby. I can't say I have ever had a bad experience in terms of the food. I would consider it high quality buffet. The selection usually isn't high, but, again, it is usually pretty tasty.

The incoming flight arrives late. Twenty minutes late. We were supposed to be arriving at 10:30pm local time already. Again, the travel nerves start to rile up again. We board on time. I was also assigned to a non-emergency extra legroom seat! Hooray! We take off a little late. The flight itself was fairly uneventful, a few stints of turbulence and the annoyance of travellers with no considerations for their surroundings.

We land safe and sound. Time to get the Uber. Fights with Geolocation services again. It takes me another twenty minutes to get it all sorted, reconfiguring the proxy services while still ensuring I am getting the security and privacy I expect. We get the next Uber. We get to the Strat. My hotel of choice for this trip to Vegas. Every trip to Vegas I stay at a new location.

A street level view of the Strat The Strat in the day, street level view

Vegas Dinner time. Licorice and Bud Light Chelada!

Bud Light Chelada, an American gem of a beverage

Friday

After staying up until 3am, for no good reason besides not being able to sleep. My alarm goes off at 7am to start my day. The standard weekday alarm that I forgot to modify. This where I noted, that I had forgotten my toothpaste at home and had to dry brush my teeth, ugh. Time to do it a second time, but, not a third.

First order of business, try and get Google Maps and geolocationing figured out. Long story short, I figured out a new layer of geolocation and opted to use Organic Maps for the duration of the trip. This was strictly in the event I decided to go rogue and navigate somewhere I was unfamiliar with. I could navigate to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) without the use of an aide. I grab my bag and head out the room.

The Canadian content playing in the lobby, Nickelback, was my signal and the realisation the DEF CON adventure had officially begun. I immediately realized I wasn't too fond of the walk from the Strat to the Sahara where I was to catch the monorail. This is where the next Graphene learning experience takes place. There is no Google Wallet support. This doesn't really bother me, it more so frustrated me when the monorail ticket required a wallet or to be "printed". As I - again - fiddled around with the new OS, I came to realize it was not going to get installed. I went to the kiosk and basically said I don't have a printer or a phone that supports wallet. The response was a 101 lesson on how to scan a phone using a QR reader...

As I sit and wait for the monorail the intercom message sparks memories, "Monorails are running every eight minutes". As I sit in the sun sipping on my coffee the flood of halted, delayed or urine smelling experiences rush back to my brain. This monorail seemed only slightly delayed, probably around a ten minute wait. It would be the shortest wait of the entire trip. I arrive at the conference just after 10:30am. The line to pick up the badge is short for the preorder and I have my goodies in under a minute.

The Infamous Sticker Wall One of the the Infamous Sticker walls

I begin explore and see the familiar sights with the twist of a new year. The layouts very similar, but, different. Some villages got an upgrade and given more space, others feel rearranged. The first thing I noticed was the merch shop was brought down to the main halls. Before proceeding to the store, my morning coffee was coming back to haunt me. The layout had changed enough that bathrooms seemed to be limited on the floor level. Let me say, trying to find a stall in LVCC felt very much like an intermission during a show at the Sphere. It was the most frustrating part of the trip. Once I was more comfortable, back on course.

The merch shop was my first stop since I had missed out of the previous two years in person. It seemed to be filled with the most merch I had ever seen, but, it also seemed cleared out. Fortunately, the main item I wanted was still in stock, the long sleeve shirt. After obtaining my shirt, I immediately went to the vendor area, since again, I had been unfortunate previous years. I also came a little prepared since I had preordered a few things (we can go over all of these in the acquired gear section at the bottom).

3d printed modular shelfing holding different example gear 3d printed fixtures from the Maker's Village

After finishing my shopping I began to explore. I went to the Call Centre Village to pick up an SAO that I had preordered. I went to the data duplication village to see all those drives cloning data for people to do research at home. I watched AI play pokemon and pick the best starter, Bulbasaur.

AI Village poster, "Art is made by humans" Art is made by humans

Seeing all this cool tech, research and gadgets highlight the most important part of the conference, all the people. I leave around 4pm to head down the strip to meet a friend and former colleague at Brewdog for dinner and drinks. Brewdog is one of those places I really enjoy coming back to when I am in Vegas.

I get back to the hotel at 9:15pm completely exhausted from the time change, lack of sleep and day of walking. I call it an early night. Not before hitting up the local Target for necessities such as drinks, food and toothpaste.

Veggie Tray. The best deal for healthy food on the strip, IMO Veggie Tray. The best deal for healthy food on the strip, IMO

Saturday

Saturday was the hottest day since it was the one where I was out in the direct sunlight. The other days, clouds were coming and going. For the second day in a row the escalator at Sahara was not operating. Another reoccurring theme that we just have to accept. Historically, they had been fixed in a day. This year, that was not the case. I opted to not bring my backpack around with me, but, I did bring the DEF CON string bag you receive with the bad. I popped some drinks in it to avoid using the vending machines.

A frozen Arizona iced tea bottle Ice pack/Iced tea left too close to the fridge element

I wanted to spend more time exploring the communities and CTF area to see what people were up to. It really is mesmerizing seeing all the different activities going on, whether it watching people compete, seeing a localized activity or display or seeing a presentation going on.

Thus far, I had been unable to connect with anyone specifically at the conference. I had been playing "telephone tag" with a few, but, finally I was able to meet up with a friend of a friend. I, coincidentally, had met him at a previous DEF CON. He was willing to meet up and we were finally able to connect. We ended up in the Ham Radio Village, where one of his coworkers was doing a presentation, "Why Signals Still Matter: Radio in the Age of Cell Phones". This was my first presentation for the year. Another one of this coworkers was attending the talk, as well as her significant other. We spent the remainder of the day, in a group of four.

Our next step was lunch. This is where I receive my first experience in an autonomous car, the Zoox. We watch the little critter struggle to find a place to pull over at the LVCC and have to load up in middle of the lane. The ride itself was fairly smooth, minus that one incident where it didn't run the yellow. Our little buddy, Zoox dropped us off at the Bellagio where we walked to our side wall Chick-fil-A. This had been the most economic meal I have ever purchased in Vegas. I wasn't really particular on going here to eat, but, an entire combo for $12.75 on the strip. I was surprised there wasn't really a line up of budget conscious goers.

A view from the Bellagio staring toward the new Hard Rock hotel in the shape of a guitar A view from the Bellagio staring toward the new Hard Rock hotel in the shape of a guitar

We arrive back at the LVCC and get back to exploring. We all break off before 6pm and loosely plan to meet back up for Hacker Jeopardy in the evening.

Two Hours Later...

Heat exhaustion and Dehydration hit me and I am bail on the evening activities. Saturday is the big evening with a lot of different events, so, if I had one self-inflicted disappointment it is this. I did make the most of it by hammering down the rest of my veggie tray for dinner and get a better night's sleep. I also was able to ponder on which show I was going to see.

Sunday

Sunday is always surreal. You are pumped to start the final day, but, at the same point you realize it is all coming to an end. The conference has cleared up, a lot of people have already flown out, even some villages are packed up come Sunday. For some reason, seeing a hummingbird outside the Sahara really resonated with how I felt. In typical fashion, the monorail skipped two trains and the accrued group of people was just waiting to overload the train.

What I would describe as a laser cut cyber deck Laser cut cyber deck

As I explored the Maker's Village, I was hoping to come across any last inkling of the cyberdeck competition. That was one event I was really looking forward to. No luck. I was however able to drop in on my second talk "No Code SAO Design" at the Badgelife area. It resulted in me obtaining a Mr. Cactus SAO, free! What I quickly released was that I was not a fan of the silent talks (the ones where you used headphones). It made the talks feel more secluded. In general, the atmosphere felt more relaxed on the Sunday. It was less chaotic and felt intimate since the majority of the crowds had fizzled down. Sundays have definitely been my favourite day over the years.

A tube TV, circa mid 90s, playing Back to the Future via VCR

Once the talk had completed, I made my way back over to the communities. The Retro Computing community caught my eye. I saw The Net with Sandra Bullock playing off of a VCR on a old tube TV. I instantly had to explore the space. I looked through the VHS and mentally compared my collection growing up with what was in front of me. I did have to spark a conversation with one of the volunteers highlighting how I felt everyone had the exact same VHS collection, with one exception. I said "I feel like everyone had a similar collection of VHS, except, I never remember anyone having Harry Potter on VHS". He responded with "We asked for movies that followed the hacker theme and we ended up with those". I had a chuckle. After, peering at Back to the Future for a few minutes and discussing Easter Eggs in the movie, I headed back on my way. I ended up getting a badge from the Loong community and doing a final run to the vendors where I picked up an impulse addon for my Free Wili 2.

By this point, the conference was basically wrapped up. After my last few impulsive purchases, I had decided for the first time in years, I was not going to make a show. I was still going to do something tourist-y by heading up the Strat Tower to grab lunch.

A sandwich, beer and a view of Vegas from the Strat Tower

For $16, as a guest of the hotel, I was able to ascend the tower. I ordered a sandwich and a beer from the facilities upstairs and just soaked in the trip. I consumed my lunch as I watched a thunderstorm roll by in the distance. My time in Vegas was coming to an end.

Monday

I take my time packing up and get my Uber ordered. I head downstairs to notice that the Uber pickup is around the rear of the building. I walk down the service road to begin my journey to the airport. I head to the airport and line up for security.

We get shuffled to the innovation lines. It had been years since I had last passed through them. I love them simply because I do not have to unload my gear. It made it so much easier this trip specifically since I had obtained so many new toys.

After clearing security I begin hunting for the Air Canada lounge. After way longer than I would like to admit, I recall that there isn't an AC lounge in Harry Reid. I swear I do this every time and funnily enough, I feel like I end up eating at the exact same restaurant as well. I reason I know this is I sit in the exact same spot and they are the only place that serves an extended time frame on their lunch menu. After wolfing down my Salmon Club and beverage, I head to line up for boarding. I am the first one to board the plane in Zone 2.

I intentionally choose the back of the plane. It looked like it wasn't at capacity and there would be a small chance that I would have an open seat beside me. Once boarding had been complete, I am happy to say that the seat next to me was vacant. I could take over additional leg room. Beyond the extra space, I had another perk coming my way. Since I had to pay such a high tier economy class ticket (the highest AC economy class tier - latitude I believe) it came with a meal and two snacks. I selected the cheese board and two bags of candy.

The WiFi on the flight was down. The offline podcasts I had brought were corrupt. But, my Win 4 and backup battery both had full juice. I was able to close off the trip catching up on some games for the flight home.

Acquired Gear

Let's go over the list of what I picked up!

The haul, well most of it.

Not Included in the Picture

This picture was taken early in the trip. These are items that are not included in the picture:

Plans for the Future

The moment DEF CON ends I immediately can't wait for the next one. I always try to plan some goals to achieve for the next DEF CON. Some are "New Year's Resolution"-esque, where DEF CON is done and what are we going to do over the next year. Other goals are going to be specific plans to achieve during the next DEF CON.

Closing Thoughts

This is my third DEF CON. This is a community I want to figure out how to be more apart of, from the education aspect to the engagement aspect. I want to get involved in a meaningful way. Working in cyber security pre-sales I feel like there is an interesting hurdle to over come. That is being distinguished as a technical person and not a sales person. Yes, my job is sales, but, it's all based on technical outcomes, at least for me specifically. Where it gets tricky is that the ball kind of stops there. I don't get to protect systems with the tools I sell, or even investigate attacks. I get to theorize of potential issues that could be. I want to get more hands on.

I will do what I know best and start with the home lab and online material. It got me where I am today. It is a practice I try to preach and a differentiator when it comes to progressing in this career. Education is one thing for sure, but, the ability to prove out that you know what you are doing is something substantially more powerful. Getting your foot in the door is one struggle, impressing the audience is another. I digress...

The goal is to be ready for next year. Find the workshops worth attending, queue up immediately. Engage the local community. Most importantly, follow my interests and have fun. I hope this post helps people and I hope you enjoy the read. Until next year.

Raw Notes

Def Con Travel Day (Thursday)

* 5:10pm - three car pile up
* talk about pictures of get up
* carrying two phones because of migration
* not eating dinner in the lounge
* price of Uber - spiked?!
* taking notes to share experience
* rain; thunderstorm warning, hope no delays
* 7:00pm weather held up; security was locked down and MPC didn't like the new phone. 
* 7:52 - incoming flight delayed
* michelada and licorice
* mcp and Uber issues with locations

Def Con Friday

* realizing tht struggles of not being used to Google services lacking
* waking up suffering with Google maps
* not sleeping up until 3, old alarm goes off at 7
* forgot toothpaste
* Nickelback playing in the lobby as I leave 933am
* 10:03 ticket issues, no Google wallet support, just use screen shot
* 1030 arrival
* layout change, first vendors and free wili
* half hour to find bathroom
* "why do we not take cards like everyone else" - 11:16
* merch line 11:12
* picked up sao, went through call center village by 12:42
* picked up all my gear in between there
* data dupe village
* ai village plays Pokemon, Bulbasaur, the obvious choice 1:10
* strat not tht greatest choice for dc
* back from dinner with [redacted] at brew dog 9:15

def con Saturday 

* seems to be the hottest day
* 1030 at the tram 
* typical awful sleep while traveling
* hesitant to leave bag in room, never leave passport
* goal today is hall 2, saw most villages yesterday
* why signals still matter: radio in the age of cell phones - Nate moore 1pm
* chica fila
* took a ride in the self driving zues
* debating a show

def con Sunday

* saw a hummingbird
* another day another delayed monorail
* two skipped on the way home yesterday
* escalator at Sahara down entire weekend 
* quiet talks, not a fan
* bought orca module
* retro computing, watched the net and back to the future 
* 12:30 - no code sao design
* Mr cactus sao
* ham radio village badge drop - for radio
* Sunday half fun half sad to see everything wrap up
* toothbrush dying this morning
* up to the viewing deck for the strat, location for lunch/dinner; only 16 usd as a hotel guest

Monday

* paid so much for the fight it came with meal and two snacks; mini win
* no wifi on flight, pre downloaded podcasts didn't work
* all entertainment needs to be self sustained offline media.
* even worse, row in front watching Mikey blue eyes with volume blasting out of loud 
* talk about this note taking app
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Sean Clarke

A technologist at heart who loves DIY and self sufficiency. I hope sharing my stories will help you learn from my experiences.