Why Def Con 31 SUCKED - Full recap & review | Ep. 38

Adam returned from Def Con 31 in Las Vegas with the Nyedis team, and he doesn't mince words. He thought it was a major letdown. From lackluster badges to a more corporate looking environment, the convention has "jumped the shark" and needs to change hands to return to its old glory. Adam also gets into an interesting theory on why there was an alleged bomb scare at the yearly hacking convention.

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00:00 Intro
00:15 Defcon 31 in Las Vegas
00:51 Defcon 31 Review
01:36 First DefCon
02:57 Black Hat
03:50 DefCon in recent years
07:49 Why DefCon 31 was a letdown
10:47 Suspicious package
12:11 Admission Price
13:24 Epilogue

#defcon #lasvegas #hacking

[DBCooperpwnz]

I went from defcon 3- 20 and no you are completely right. i stopped going and everyone i knew did. They left because of what you are pointing out. At some point they forgot about the hackers and only cared about making money off them.

[StiXLabs-dkoy]

Totally agree here. I got a plastic badge at least but nothing else. I got there on Friday afternoon, and most of the conference was a complete mess. I feel like there should have been some registration for some of the labs and things like that. Getting into Track 4 after waiting for 45 minutes only to get told it was full and making us all leave... yeah that does not make you want to go back.

[nitekry]

This was my first visit in 10 years, The size was insane for sure. But I also felt very siloed. There were not the big dogpiles of random stuff going on. I remember If I sat down and started working on something, within a hour we had a whole drunken dev team running.

[djannias]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:

00:00 📆 Defcon 31 took place in Las Vegas, and it's an annual event focused on cybersecurity and hacking.
01:05 😞 The host is disappointed with Defcon 31, feeling it has declined in quality compared to previous years.
02:03 🏢 Defcon has grown significantly, spanning multiple hotels and attracting a larger crowd.
03:13 🔒 Black Hat, a more corporate security conference, precedes Defcon, leading to a different vibe at each event.
05:50 🎙️ The talks at Defcon were somewhat disappointing, lacking groundbreaking content.
07:29 💰 Commercialization has affected Defcon, with security researchers turning exploits into profits.
09:07 🎫 The iconic Defcon badges were a major letdown, with most attendees receiving simple laminated badges instead of the usual interactive ones.
11:45 💣 A suspicious package incident led to the evacuation of Defcon, possibly linked to the disappointment with the badges.
13:44 🎰 Despite the disappointment, the host plans to attend Defcon again next year but hopes for a new and better convention.

[noblelies]

DEFCON is dead. Time to bring back the 90s demoscene.

[thewifiaddict]

I had that same exact badge, at least initially. After talking with a goon, there was a badge shortage this year due to a logistics issue with shipping. Over 30k was still in transit! I eventually was able to swap the crappy badge out for a real one on Friday afternoon at registration.

[efemboygg]

This really sucks, I remember begging my parents to go back in middle school (so like 20 or 21) and never being able to go. now my reason's really translated to partying, but that "seedy" night life and getting drunk with the offensive folks doesn't really seem possible now. like even the first conference talk they posted to their channel this year was trash from the staff screwing over their presenters. but that one was totally(we didn't want to get arrested so here's 10% dedicated to pls dont let us get in trouble). and so far no shots for new speakers. smh. like, ive stopped bienging all the talks since abt 5 years ago cause they all just have gone down in ballsyness(no more poliece catching macbook thiefs :'(

but really just sad that ill never get to experience one of my dreams from a kid anymore.

and BSides are really just meant for new ppl. like is great if theres someone specific going there u want to meet, but prolly no more
i remember some things abt shmoocon. but rn my guess is irl meetings might be too hard for cool ppl. some vrchats clubs and discords have been kinda good, but idfk. still malding

I've been really thinking some of the balkin and non-US conventions might be a lot better. so am kinda aiming for places like small cons there and maybe south america too.
just international travel is expensive

[MuscleTeamOfficial]

so it might be bsides, but i am thinking RECon is gonna be the new defcon.

[ChaosInFlux]

Sounds like this year's Defcon has become Burning Man. It was cool back in the day, but :/

[RealRickCox]

Good on you for putting this conference on blast. I've been following DefCon since the late 90's when I read about it in 2600. I always thought about going but have had to rely on getting info from other friends. It's sad to see things go all corporate... they've totally lost their way.

I would 100% support another conference that just focused on current exploits and issues for people wanting to secure data and systems if it was affordable and provided real value. If you want help - I'll sign up to be the first volunteer.

[Martin]

Went to DC 24, 25 and this year with 31. 25 was also a throwback non pcb badge, so they’ve definitely done non pcb for the odd years at least a few times, that being said making the cash only get the crap badges and the pre reg get the nice ones was completely antithetical to DC. For 25 they did some limited pre reg and all of them got paper badges unless they also participated in linecon.

One thing also not mentioned is there weren’t any skytalks this year. Some of the 303 stuff and skytalks was the edgy OG Defcon stuff. The rumor was they pushed out skytalks which is pretty disappointing. Feels like DC decided to put on a suit and tie.

[michaelmooney]

My first DEFCON was 10 at Alexis Park. hot, lies outside, talks in tents and on the roof. What an experience. NOT on the strip but near the Hard Rock. Went every vear until COVID and have to agree, the crowds bigger, then expanded to Paris and Bally's and then the big expansion. Lines, but manageable not like what it was apparently at 31. Gotta get a grip gang. Maybe more people will gravitate to B sides.

[TaiiwoLlort]

They alternate between digital and analogue badges, and there was a puzzle. It was something do to with the serial numbers.

[Mattimeoo]

Woah, if you told me that God pulled out my memories and ruminations on Def Con 31 to make a video in another dude's body and showed me this, I'd believe you. 31 was a bust, IMO. It was bad.

[MuscleTeamOfficial]

thanks, needed to relive my hate too... unfortunately, this was my first defcon lol...

[futuregootecks]

I’m so glad I went last year and got the piano badge.

10:05 I can’t believe they skimped on the badge. Holy shit that is a travesty! I’m so glad I skipped this one

[twolaneasphalt]

Burning Man succumbed to the same fate years ago. Def Con, for me, started sliding downhill 25 years ago.

[robmorgan]

The smm talk was good. The web race condition talk was good. But it's been a corporate fed conference for well over a decade.

...that smm vuln is patched but tons of zerodays in smm are still out there... same w/ web race conditions on multi stage state transitions.

[datagn]

There's been plenty of non-PCB badges...

[BigBatts]

Helped run a ctf in a village. The anti fed/hack the planet vibe is dead. Hell, collected fed business cards like it was cool.