I'm Attending Defcon this August, advice?

[Phil Waclawski]

I have an older laptop I was going to reimage, make sure there was no data
on it I cared about, so if it gets stolen, I'll be annoyed, but that's
about it. And I have no intentions of doing ANYTHING illegal, I just want
to learn about what types of attacks are out there, and possibly some
better ways to help my students defend against web based attacks etc.
 True, so long as I don't log into ANY account, I can still use the
internet just to browse the web and so on, with the understanding that half
the hotel will probably know what web sites I visit ;)  It is tempting to
set up a dummy ssh account with a password that I don't care about
somewhere and see if it gets hacked.
Phil W.


On Sun, Apr 21, 2013 at 10:23 AM, Lisa Kachold <lisakachold at obnosis.com>wrote:

> Great post Bob!  If you are going - do it right!  Of course be aware while
> joining the fun of where you break the law;  a great deal of surveillance
> occurs from which you could glean a Homeland Security tail for a good long
> time.
> On 21 Apr 2013 08:58, "Bob Elzer" <bob.elzer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> There's no reason you can't bring your laptop, just do the steps
>>
>> Backup your disk or remove it
>> Put in a new disk or erase your current !!! If you backed it up !!!
>> Install a fresh copy of your favorite installation or even backtrack
>> Don't connect to your home or work networks
>> Don't put any of your real info on the computer
>> Go to Defcon, have fun, let them hack away
>> Remember to not use any of your real personal sites or accounts
>> When you're done, wipe everything
>> Put your original disk back in, or restore
>>
>> Then you can tell us all about your trip
>>
>> The only thing you would have to worry about, is someone stealing the
>> laptop
>> On Apr 19, 2013 11:52 PM, "Phil Waclawski" <phil.waclawski at mesacc.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Well, I'm attending it in the hopes of learning about how some of these
>>> attacks work, and how to defend against them. Helps me teach my students
>>> better practices (and myself as well).
>>>
>>> To be honest, I had planned on having an old laptop with a brand new
>>> kubuntu install on it (no data I care about) and just doing some blender
>>> work and note taking offline, and never connecting it to a network while at
>>> the convention.
>>>
>>> However, I'm curious, if I set up an ssh tunnel to a server I've already
>>> established a Key system with, wouldn't ssh throw up a huge warning from a
>>> man in the middle attack not having the right "handshake"? At that point
>>> I'd only be hosed if I was dumb enough to say "connect anyway"?.
>>>
>>> Phil W.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 10:30 PM, der.hans <PLUGd at lufthans.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Am 19. Apr, 2013 schwätzte Alan Dayley so:
>>>>
>>>> moin moin Alan,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Why in the world would anyone actually attend a conference where you
>>>>> KNOW
>>>>> people are going to attack your electronics and data? Erasing
>>>>> everyone's
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It's in the city where people pay to let someone steal from them, so it
>>>> fits the theme.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.newyorker.com/**online/blogs/culture/2013/01/**
>>>> video-the-art-of-**pickpocketing.html<http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/video-the-art-of-pickpocketing.html>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  credit cards? For the lulz, I guess. It sounds like a bunch of very
>>>>> smart
>>>>> trolls getting together to see who can out-troll who. I would just
>>>>> be collateral damage in such a group. I guess it's an effective way to
>>>>> keep
>>>>> the non-trolls and newbies out of the "defcon club." Or maybe it is a
>>>>> from
>>>>> of hazing.
>>>>>
>>>>> And, if I HAD to go, cash, pen and paper is all I would bring.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Make sure to keep them somewhere safe ;-).
>>>>
>>>> ciao,
>>>>
>>>> der.hans
>>>> --
>>>> #  http://www.LuftHans.com/        http://www.LuftHans.com/**Classes/<http://www.LuftHans.com/Classes/>
>>>> #  Like the maid, I don't do (M$)Windows. - der.hans
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>>>
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