The Def Con hacking conference returns to Las Vegas this weekend, setting up shop at the Rio from August 7-10 and turning the casino—and perhaps the entire Strip—into a big game of Don’t Get Hacked.
How, you ask? As PC Mag advised its readers this week, “embrace your paranoia.” One PC staffer even suggested attendees bring burner phones and wipe their laptops completely afterward. Sheesh.
Of course, if you’re not hitting convention sessions like “Hacking the FBI: How & Why to Liberate Government Records,” such dramatic precautions may not be necessary. Still, a hacker who called himself Hodge Podge at last year’s Def Con said Rio guests should probably avoid using the Wi-Fi. “Definitely don’t log onto anything with a weird name.” If he were running casino security during the conference, he added, he’d turn the wireless network off completely.
Then Hodge Podge went back to offering “free hi5s for undercover feds.” He said he’d already gotten more than 60.