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Summercon 2004

Mon, 08/06/2007 - 20:43 — jonlin

For the second time, Summercon is hosted at Pittsburgh, in the University Club between June 11th through the 13th in 2004. The people at the University Club was glad to have us back and promised to stock more beer and single malt scotch at the bar next to the conference room. As usual, the staff at the University Club was more than helpful providing the conference room with water, coffee, and ashtrays.

This year's schedule was chock full of speakers. There were so many that the schedule had to be pushed back and modified to fit everyone in. Laszlo's talk about random numbers was especially interesting and Special Agent Tom Grasso talked about SPAM investigation.

Some quotes from Summercon 2004:
"SummerCon... What is it? In many ways, SummerCon is much more than just a convention that attracts America's greatest phreaking and hacking personalities. SummerCon is a state of mind.

Hackers by nature are urged on by a hidden sense of adventure to explore the unknown, to challenge the unchallenged, to reach out and experiment with anything and everything. The realization that we are not alone in our quest sometimes comes as a great gift and the opportunity to meet one's heroes, partners, and idols can be the most awe-inspiring aspect of the hacker community -- this is what SummerCon is all about."

-- Knight Lightning

"It's also about drinking lots of beer."

-- X

Closing post-con updates on the website:
June 13, 2004: SummerCon 2004 is Over!

Many thanks and gratitude to everyone who attended SummerCon 2004, as well as everyone who worked behind the scenes to keep things going in the face of constant anarchy! Somehow we managed to have all of our speakers show up this year, and every one of the sessions was informative and entertaining! Sam Norris' forensics lab was a great success, and this year's XBlast tournament was even more exciting and competitive.

We learned many things about SPAM-related investigations, and what laws are used to prosecute them from Tom Grasso. Our discussion panel was Damien Miller, Tom Trumpbour, and John McCormick. They gave us a good inside view of the voting process, "State of the Art" voting systems, and quite a bit about why electronic voting to date has been both unsuccessful and undesirable.

Paul Scragg gave us an insider's view of how SQL injection works, how to find vulnerabilities in web based software, and how to avoid them through better coding and administration practices. Laszlo Hars intrigued and mesmerized us with his talk on random numbers that ranged from mathematical to programmatical, from electronical to philosophical, from physics to quantum physics.

Then redpantz told us all about Beer Hacking and how to multitask more efficiently by growing an extra set of arms made of beer cans. Mark Nernberg highlighted the many layers of security that administrators can implement to better secure their work environment, and we had multifaceted discussion regarding their practical limits.

Chris Tracy demonstrated his in-depth knowledge and enthusiasm about GMPLS by presenting such a complex topic to a demanding SummerCon audience. Not about to be eaten by Lions, Kitizen Sane reminded us that hacktivism is all about using our knowledge of systems to change them, and that we must continue to seek technologies that are conservative, purposeful, and reuseable.

This year included the traditional "Greatest Hack" contest as well as 31337 Password game and a slightly modified XBlast Tournament, because jonlin is unstoppable and the winner was determined by anyone who came closest to killing him. Chris Tracy also took a nasty spill on the last night and broke his arm. I should also mention that shmeck and Mansfield got arrested for simulating a sexual act in the middle of 5th Ave.

The 2 Summercons that were held in Pittsburgh was quite possibly the most active Summercons as far as the press was concerned. Articles appeared in all the local papers about "hackers coming to Pittsburgh" in both a positive and negative light.