Tag Archive for: convention

U of A prof sues over lifetime ban from Las Vegas hacker convention | Subscriber

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During DEF CON, computer hackers from all over the world descend on Las Vegas to show off their skills in an environment where “radical viewpoints” are welcomed and rules are few.

So how did a University of Arizona professor receive a lifetime ban from such a proudly permissive conference?

Christopher Hadnagy insists he still doesn’t know.

In February, DEF CON organizers announced they had received “multiple” reports about Hadnagy for violations of the convention’s code of conduct against harassment.

“After conversations with the reporting parties and Chris, we are confident the severity of the transgressions merits a ban from DEF CON,” organizers said in a statement on the convention’s website.

But Hadnagy says he was never told what he was accused of, and he denies doing anything wrong.

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Now the adjunct professor in the UA’s College of Applied Science and Technology is suing the convention and its founding hacker, Jeff Moss, aka the Dark Tangent.

The defamation lawsuit filed Aug. 3 in a Pennsylvania federal court accuses Moss and DEF CON of ruining Hadnagy’s reputation and damaging his security consulting business with “vague yet scathing statements” that “falsely accuse him of what could only be despicable conduct.”

Hadnagy is seeking at least $375,000, plus punitive damages and legal fees.

Moss could not be reached. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

When contacted by email, Hadnagy professed his innocence and made several references to his lawsuit.

“My company and I consistently deny and continue to deny any and all allegations of misconduct,” he said in an email.

He referred all further questions to his lawyers, who declined to discuss the ongoing litigation.

Not many rules

Jeff Moss was just 18 when he organized the first DEF CON in 1993 as an excuse to party in Las Vegas with a few dozen of his hacker friends.

The event has grown…

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The Case for Establishing a Digital Geneva Convention

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Let’s start with a question: What do all of these activities have in common?

  • Stopping ransomware from devastating consequences.
  • Protecting critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.
  • Policing illegal cyberspace activities.
  • Bringing global cyber criminals to justice.
  • Holding nation-states accountable for online criminal activities.
  • International rules for war in the 2020s and beyond.

While there are many potential answers to this question, a growing number of international experts believe that these issues call for a new “Digital Geneva Convention” to address a growing global mess in cyberspace that is having very real impacts in the daily lives of individuals, companies and governments around the world.

DEFINITIONS, PLEASE

But before we dig deeper into this topic, here are a few important definitions.According to the International Committee of the Red Cross:

“The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols are international treaties that contain the most important rules limiting the barbarity of war. They protect people who do not take part in the fighting (civilians, medics, aid workers) and those who can no longer fight (wounded, sick and shipwrecked troops, prisoners of war). …

“Article 3, common to the four Geneva Conventions, marked a breakthrough, as it covered, for the first time, situations of non-international armed conflicts. These types of conflicts vary greatly. They include traditional civil wars, internal armed conflicts that spill over into other states or internal conflicts in which third states or a multinational force intervenes alongside the government. Common Article 3 establishes fundamental rules from which no derogation is permitted. It is like a mini-Convention within the Conventions as it contains the essential rules of the Geneva Conventions in a condensed format and makes them applicable to conflicts not of an international character:

“It requires humane treatment for all persons in enemy hands, without any adverse distinction. It specifically prohibits murder, mutilation, torture, cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment, the taking of hostages and unfair trial. It requires that…

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Cybercrime and hacking by hostile states demands a ‘Digital Geneva Convention’ – Stewart McDonald MP and Alyn Smith MP

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The first iPhone was released less than 15 years ago, boasting 2G internet and the ability to download a four-minute music video in just a few short hours.



Emmanuel Macron wearing a suit and tie standing in front of a crowd

© France’s President Emmanuel Macron changed his phone and number after he was reportedly targeted wit…


At that time, the internet was little more than a collection of blogs and chatrooms and the word ‘ransomware’ was unheard of by all but a small handful of people.

In the few short years since then, human society has undergone one of the most profound and rapid transformations in its history.

Our social existence – from working, shopping and socialising to dating and learning – has increasingly moved online, with each activity leaving a Hansel and Gretel-style trail of data in its wake.

News headlines today feature stories about ‘hack and leak’ operations or ransomware attacks, where hackers paralyse a computer system and hold its information at ransom.

Despite the ubiquity of this digital technology – the sheer volume of the data that we unthinkingly, and often unknowingly, share online and the speed at which it has become ingrained in every aspect of our daily lives, from arranging for food deliveries to organising patient records – international rules and norms governing cyberspace remain too patchy, to the point of rendering them effectively non-existent.

While the anarchy of the early internet was a large part of its appeal, today it represents a significant threat to our security and the global economy.

Indeed, just as we have moved our activities online, so too have hostile states and other malicious actors. Journalists and human rights activists can now be tracked without the need for someone sitting outside their home for hours on end and critical national infrastructure can be brought to its knees without the need for bombs or missiles.

READ MORE: SEPA: 4,000 files stolen in cyber attack on Scotland’s environmental regulator published

This month alone has seen the news dominated by cybercrime – attacks on Microsoft orchestrated by the Chinese state; the hacking and surveillance of the mobile phones of journalists, human rights activists and world leaders; and a series of ransomware attacks…

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Convention lets kids learn about ‘white hat hacking’ | Lifestyles

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BLOOMSBURG — Kids ages 7 to 17 are invited to learn about “white hat hacking” at a special conference hosted by the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum this Saturday.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Arts & Crafts Building on the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds, and will feature guest speakers, workshops, and STEM work stations. Doors will open at 9 a.m.

Participants will learn from ethical hackers, information security professionals, and educators, and will have a chance to win prizes.

According to museum director Ginny Weibel, “Students will learn how to code, program, work with robotics, make electrical circuits, break codes and ciphers, engineer rockets, and learn about internet safety.

“We also take the term ‘hack’ loosely at our conference,” she added, “so kids will learn things like financial hacks and healthy eating hacks.”

Hak4Kidz began in 2017 and was created to complement BloomCON, Bloomsburg University’s annual digital forensics, cybersecurity, and hacking conference, which each year hosts a variety of speakers and features unique workshops and cybersecurity challenges. BloomCON will be held virtually this year. The BloomCON Hak4Kidz event was canceled last year due to COVID shutdowns.

Webel said attendance at the conference grew from 40 people in 2017 to more than 400 in 2019.

Dubbed as “Pennsylvania’s only kid-friendly hacking conference,” Weibel said “you’d have to go to Washington D.C. or Chicago to get to a similar conference.”

The museum, along with BloomCON leader Dr. Phil Polstra, worked with Dave Schwartzberg, founder of Hak4Kidz in Chicago to bring the program to Bloomsburg.

“The need to get kids interested in STEM-type jobs is undeniable,” Weibel said. “The Pennsylvania Department of Education reports that there will be a 9 percent growth in STEM-related jobs in the state by 2026 – that’s over a half million jobs.” The department also reports, she said, that in 10 years, 71 percent of all new jobs in the state will require computer science skills.

“Having a conference of this type in our region adds so much…

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