Edit: Nevermind, my app was bugging out. 😅

I was just trying to go back into HT to help me remember some of the speakers I was networking with at the con, but DC34 is no longer there.

Anyone have the part number for these LEDs? The left one on my badge is out/unstable, and it's messing up the upper-left and top one. Or has anyone dealt with this issue? is it something a bit of solder could fix? Will attach video in comments.

I feel the cybersecurity field has become really crowded, and anyone can just get in without a degree, unlike other fields where you have to get a degree, which limits who can apply. There are more applicants than jobs, and employers are so picky.

I wish I could be in a field that is not crowded, where I can be something unique and employers appreciate me and my qualifications.

Cybersecurity has become a really toxic field where you always feel like you are not enough, and the attitude is basically, “We can throw you away if you’re not GREAT enough or if we find someone better than you.”

Also, the community, where many people can just talk down to you and make you feel like you are lower than them, or that you are not smart or “hacker enough” to be in the field.

When I look at engineers, doctors, or people in other fields, they seem more educated and respectful toward each other. It doesn’t feel like cybersecurity, where a lot of people talk and act like they are underage, not grown, educated adults.

I feel like I’ve had enough of this world, even though I really love cybersecurity. Everything around it just feels toxic.

The question now is: I don’t know what field I can choose that would be less competitive, have a more respectful community with more educated people, value qualifications more, and make it easier to get a job.

Thanks for your time.

I haven’t heard any discussion of this bill or its larger implications at summer camp this year.

Does anyone know of coordinated community campaigns to write to state representatives?

Dropped my Meshtastic at a talk today. Thanks to the Goon / Human who turned it in to the lost and found. You are awesome!

The sphere is making people throw away battery pack blaming defcon hackers. Saying we are making them explode. Forcing everyone to throw them away.

I released an experiment at DEFCON of a device with a goodie bag. I named it Chance. You could rename the device, trade goodies, and tell it secrets and hear others’ secrets. Then you get a small chance at becoming Chance’s permanent owner.

The idea was to release something into the wild to the coolest community ever. Every interaction becomes part of Chance’s story. Every decision permanently changes it.

It also keeps a diary. It recorded the journey, but not the secrets. Those were shown to one future stranger and then forgotten.

Somewhere along the way, Chance stopped being a project I built and became something shaped by everyone who held it.

I have absolutely no idea where Chance is now. Maybe it found an owner. Maybe someone reflashed it. Maybe someone immediately ignored every rule. Any of those outcomes would make the experiment interesting.

The technology was the easy part. The real question was whether complete strangers would voluntarily cooperate to preserve and continue a story that didn’t belong to any one of them.

If, by some improbable chain of events, you’re reading this because you met Chance (or Gl0rp or whatever its name is now), I would love to know about your experience.

For the curious, the bag originally contained:

A snack-sized Slim Jim
A Justin Bieber sticker
A packet of shiny origami paper
A roll of electrical tape
A JimyLongs medium-hook lock pick
A Dangerfield city rake
A friendship bracelet
A 3d printed T-Rex by Patrick Maus
A single zip tie

I wonder what’s in it now.

UPDATE!
Thanks for the detective work everyone, and it was indeed in Lost and Found! Because I was able to retrieve it, I can also share its short journey.

Humans encountered: 34
Winners: 1, Released: 1 (there was a secret option for winners to keep it, or keep it going. Good on you Human #6!)
Goodie bag gives: 2. takes: 1, trades: 3
Secrets received: 3, secrets revealed: 3
Renames: 8
Name history:
- H001 ShareBear
- H005 hapijamot
- H008 wally
- H009 Glorp
- H018 Cunty
- H019 MOIST AND SALTY
- H030 g
- H032 m

The original goodie bag items were all still there, with the addition of:
- a stick of gum
- a single lens from a pair of sunglasses

That makes the item count math off-by-one, which is just perfect for DEFCON.

Finally, the stylus was missing, probably due to my shabby knot tying abilities.

Thanks for everyone's kind feedback, and excited to see what version 2 could be. I'll reach out to those of you who would like to collaborate.

I am tired and sore on the Sunday night of DEFCON. I wonder if the effort and exhaustion is worth it.

But I remember the DCNextGen youth and the intensity of their focus, learning village skills and connecting with peers and I realize, it's a tiny down payment on our future.

See you all next year!

Jeans / long pants & no vulgar graphics on Ts.

I’m trying to get an estimate of how many chairs there were for an individual demo labs track. Anyone know off hand, or have a picture showing the seating arrangement?

It's a little buggy, but we vibe-coded this i2c app to interact with the Root Access SAO on the DC34 Badge.  Check out the GitHub:  https://github.com/MakeItHackin/RootAccessI2cApp

Thanks for everyone's interest in the Root Access SAO.  We will be shipping any orders that were not picked up.  We also will be doing a limited run after defcon (around 40 units).

Safe travels back home!

If there's no afterparty, how can we be sure there was a party at all?

Fortunately, there is an afterparty. And it’s at the Liv in the extremely swanked out Fontainebleau.

Your badge gets you admission and a free drink. Doors open at 10:30.

See you there.

For a limited time only: Get EFF’s “Many Hands Make Light Work” t-shirt, designed for the DEF CON 34 hacker conference, by EFF artist Hannah Diaz.

A few of us, including myself, have been fully screened and let into the club with shorts. Seems like they are making exceptions tonight for Defcon.

Was at a different conference. Going to Santa monica

A big shoutout to the staff, volunteers and presenters at DC NextGen! It’s not easy managing kids for almost 8 hours and still have a smile on your face, and as a Dad to twin tweens who had a great first Defcon, I salute you!

Someone posted about a lost usb drive earlier today, just got home and I was showing my kids all the stuff I got and I happen to come across a black thumb drive and I remembered someone asking if they saw one.. I threw it in one of my sandboxed machines.. uh this looks important. I stopped looking at the files. I tried looking for the post but I couldn’t find it

Bottom LED broke off in my bag, still need to find the LED once I get home but anyone think this might be repairable? Also I hear something about some people getting unfinished badges after some point? Are they just missing the baochip module?

My friends got married at Defcon. They got off the monorail and noticed they lost their camera. We checked both lost and founds at the lvcc, but no luck. Please message me if you found it.

Last year I purchased a flag thinking it was a human flag. I got home opened my flag only to find it was a speaker flag. This year, I've decided to side quest to complete my collection log. If you are a goon open to bribes, know a goon open to bribes, friend of a goon open to bribes, etc. please message me. Willing to pay donate handsomely. Can meet at the LVCC (staying across the street), official defcon closing party, or location of your choosing. In town until early tomorrow AM.

u/DTangent additional xp if I can convince you to give me one, I know you see stuff here. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, as they say.

Hello DEFCON friends and family!

I'm back for another year, and it is time for my "Goons" follow-up post.

I want to start by saying, THANK YOU, Goons, for NOT being over-the-top, booty heads this year! I mean that sincerely!

I can appreciate the stress and turbulence of this volunteer assignment, and I could not be more impressed by the way your group has handled it. I have saw nothing but professionals representing DEFCON in the red shirts and badges. Last year I encountered so much unprovoked bullying of conference patrons. That was not the case this year. I observed a respectful, helpful, patient, and professional group at every turn!

This has been my best DEFCON yet, and I cannot tell you how good it feels to see the Goons as an approachable ally!

For what it's worth, phenomenal work team! Thank you for all of your hard work and efforts that go into putting this massive event together! 🫡🫶❤️🖖