• People were insanely nice and ready to answer questions, no matter how stupid or pointless. Even when skids were being skids, they'd turn a blind eye. I wish all members on SL were like this.
  
  
• Lots of different vendors and presenters. From Matthew Prince to Darren of Hak5. It was pretty cool to see and meet people I've seen on the net. I picked up a Wifi Pineapple and a new Alfa AWUS036NHA to replace the one I lost.
  
  
• Lots of different forms of hacking shown. There were talks on how to hack cars, cameras, etc... There was also a lockpicking village, which may have been the highlight of my trip. Additionally, they had a badge challenge, where you had to solve puzzles on the badges and stuff like that.
  
  
• The amazing opportunity to learn more than you would in months, in just a few days on various subjects. Even though it was a pain in the ass to get online and stuff, I still managed to learn quite a bit in 4 days.
  
  
• Really good food. Seriously, Merc and I ate at the All-American Bar & Grille at least twice because the food was so good. The restaurants weren't exactly a part of the convention, but I think it was worth mentioning.

• The hotel charged $18 a day for internet. They have the pleasure of hosting one of the largest technology conventions in the world, yet they charge people for internet. The internet isn't all that great either, since I couldn't even download a new distro in less than a day. The only thing the internet was good for was sniffing other people that were dumb enough to use Facebook.
  
  
• Not as many presentations on web-exploitation. There were a few on DDOS attacks (like one from Prince), but not many on other threats webmasters face. I'll admit, this was kind-of a disappointment, but it was still fun.
  
  
• You couldn't experience the true nightlife unless you were 21. For the most part, my nightlife consisted of analyzing the network's traffic after everybody had gotten back from bars/clubs. This was, of course, after I paid the $18 fee. I'm accustomed to living outside of the USA, where in most cases the drinking age is 18. Oh well.
  
  
• Surprisingly hard to get a copy of a distribution on a pendrive. Seriously, I would have taken just about any. Unetbootin failed on one of my laptops and the other got messed up when I changed the network-manager. If I could change one thing, it would have been remembering my backup drive.
  

• Don't log in to anything important. Really. Merc and I found plenty of people sniffing the hotel's network even before the events started. Plenty of cookies were eaten.
  
• Tether internet off of your cellphone if you can and use 4g only. They have set up fake cell towers in the past, but it's unlikely they can do anything if you're using 4g.
  
• Use a VPN if you can, since this makes obtaining credentials much harder for attackers. Personally, I tethered internet from my phone and used 4g only.
  
• Be conscious of where you and your things are, otherwise they will probably be taken and/or broken. Nobody likes broken things.
  
• If you see something you like and have money for it, buy it quick. Some stuff, like the Wifi Pineapples, went out of stock very fast and many people couldn't buy them.
  
• Try new things. I tried my hand at lockpicking and really ended up enjoying it. It's something you can do when watching a movie or listening to music.
  

(08-05-2013, 09:39 AM)Kirito Wrote: Sounds like it would have been fun, sad I missed it.
I'll come with you next time though.

(08-05-2013, 09:41 AM)Oni Wrote: It was. Honestly, it wasn't that terrible being under 21, since I just drained our mini-bar instead of going to bars.

(08-05-2013, 09:41 AM)Oni Wrote: It was. Honestly, it wasn't that terrible being under 21, since I just drained our mini-bar instead of going to bars.

(08-05-2013, 12:18 PM)Terminal Wrote: Sounds like great fun. I've always wanted to go to DEFCON looks awesome.
I'm considering ordering a Wifi Pineapple and a USB rubber ducky but I'm not sure how long it would take to deliver.
Pretty sure they ship to the UK but not 100% sure.
-Terminal

(08-05-2013, 11:41 PM)Complibur Wrote: Awesome stuff man. I will definitely go in a few years. We'll have to all meet up and sniff cookies together Hope you had a good vacation and it's good to have you back!