Tom Ritter works for Mozilla and does security things. That includes anti-exploitation, the bug bounty program, security advisories, 0-day response, static analysis, and as of recently – web layer privacy stuff. He’s also a Tor Browser developer and maintains much of their code present in Firefox. He previously did consulting for iSEC Partners and NCC Group, and founded their Cryptography Services practice.

Guanxing Wen is a security researcher with over a decade of experience uncovering critical vulnerabilities in low-level systems, spanning TrustZone, kernels, IoT, and infotainment. A two-time top winner in the Huawei Bug Bounty (2021 & 2022), he has presented at Black Hat, MOSEC, INFILTRATE, and 44CON. He currently works at CertiK, where he explores the messy edges where low-level systems meet blockchain infrastructure — most recently, DePIN.

Thomas is a red teamer and penetration tester at Bishop Fox, originally with a background in mobile and cloud security, and always with a tendency to dig deep into weird edge cases. Whether it’s bending MDMs, abusing OAuth flows, or standing up cursed infrastructure just to tear it down again, he’s most at home when things aren’t working as intended. Outside of hacking, he makes glitchy pop music, which probably explains his love for beautiful chaos.

As we said during the closing ceremonies of Summercon 2024, Summercon 2025 is July 11 – July 12, 2025, once again at Littlefield in Brooklyn, NY. We have a block of early bird tickets available.

Register now!

Service Guarantees Admission

Use this Volunteer Form to enlist in the Summercon Volunteer Corps.

Want to attend Summercon 2025 for free?
Step up. Pitch in.

Would you like to know more?

Volunteering isn’t just an honor—it’s how the show runs. Join the Volunteer Corps and earn your place on the front lines of America’s oldest hacker conference.

Mission Briefing: Volunteer Roles

“The bugs are inside the firewall. We’re deploying countermeasures.”

Volunteers are assigned to critical support operations, including:

• ID verification and badge scanning
• Cable deployment & field logistics
• Speaker escort and green room security
• Merch & T-shirt distribution operations
• AV ops and comms monitoring
• Crowd flow & line integrity enforcement
• Afterparty support (DJ liaison, door ops, hydration logistics)

Everyone rotates. Nobody gets stuck. The Captain will debrief you daily.

Rewards for Service

Volunteers receive:

• Full admission to Summercon 2025
• Access to the green room and volunteer HQ
• A limited-edition Volunteer Corps shirt
• Snacks, drinks, and situational awareness
• Eternal glory in the eyes of your peers

“Would you like to know more?”

Deployment Qualifications

We’re seeking candidates who:

• Report on time and follow mission orders
• Maintain morale under pressure
• Are comfortable lifting, moving, scanning, or yelling (lightly)
• Can serve 1–2 shifts (~3–4 hours each) over the course of the con
• Are prepared for unexpected bugs—both literal and metaphorical

Experience not required. We’ll train you in the field.

Operation Timeline

• Pre-Con Prep: Thursday, July 10
• Main Engagement: Friday–Saturday, July 11–12
• You’ll serve up to 8 hours across the weekend—plenty of time left to attend talks, party, and conspire

Enlistment Protocol

“Enlist now, and secure your place in hacker history.”

Use our Google Form
Deadline to apply: June 10, 2025
Confirmations sent: June 20, 2025

Questions?

Report [email protected]
For field chatter: DM us @summerc0n on Twitter, Mastodon, or Bluesky.

Hall of Heroes

These brave volunteers answered the call. Will you?

CODE OF CONDUCT

It’s been a few years since our last update, and a lot has changed. The world isn’t as isolated as it was in 2021, but we’re still mindful that community spaces work best when everyone is clear about the expectations. Since some folks might be joining us for the first time (or the first time in a while), here’s a quick reminder of our Code of Conduct.

Many years ago, Summercon published its first real Code of Conduct. That was kind of a landmark, since the Summercon team has always prided itself on a certain amount of constructive chaos. That early code looked like this:

If you love anarchy, want to break things, set off fire alarms, or generally behave like a twelve-year-old, you probably should stay away—even if you are a twelve-year-old. Especially if you are a twelve-year-old. It’s not that kind of event, and we’re not those kind of people. Even though we’re a group of hackers, breaking the law is still illegal.

If you’re interested in meeting your peers in the security world, connecting with some of the finest people you’ll ever know, putting names to faces, and learning about the latest trends in security analysis, we’d love to see you. Mingle, socialize, make lifelong friendships. That’s what we’re all about.

We still believe in that.

But the world has grown. And while we still love that constructive chaos, we’ve grown a lot too. We want everyone to have a good time. And because not everyone agrees on what that means, we’ll be very clear:

Summercon is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for conference talks or exhibitors. The conference reserves the right to eject anyone who engages in behavior that is threatening or patently offensive to the community, regardless of whether it occurs at the conference venue, parties, or online.

Conference participants violating our rules may be thrown out of the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the conference staff immediately. Anyone wearing a red Summercon Staff shirt is empowered to intervene.

In case you don’t feel comfortable approaching a staff member, you can call us at 720-586-4225 (720-586-HACK) to speak directly with the organizers.

TL;DR: Legal says we’ve gotta say it, so here it is: We reserve the right to remove anyone, anytime, for any reason. No drama, no debate, no refunds, no takebacks. Don’t test us.

Thanks for sticking with us. We know vibes matter, and it’s just easier for everyone to enjoy themselves when the expectations are clear. Play nice, stay weird, and have fun!

With the opening of the Summercon 2025 CFP, here are a few friendly tips for what makes a great Summercon presentation. These seven points represent the kinds of things that we are evaluating when we look at CFP proposals.

1. Technical
   • While we occasionally incorporate talks of a non-technical nature, almost every presentation that shows up at Summercon is deeply technical. They’re not sales pitches, and they’re not about righting societal wrongs. So if you’re planning on submitting a talk about why people should buy your company’s particular security snake oil, or why your company has the best culture (and you can too!), you’ll have more success somewhere else.
2. Novel
   • From time to time, in the interest of getting important content in front of the best audience in the world, we let people present something they’ve already shown at events of lesser stature. But we prefer totally new presentations instead of rehashed talks. New content has a better chance of getting shown on the Summercon stage.
3. Irreverent
   • While the presentations are technical, successful Summercon presentations get their point across is through non-traditional means. This is not the place to read slides. One memorable presentation used an Android-shaped piñata as a prop. Another invited participation through an AA-meeting style format. The sky’s the limit (within the limits of our code of conduct, of course).
4. Revels in the Journey
   • If you like talking about the trials and tribulations of research, we are all ears. Even though your final results may be super polished and look effortless, everyone knows you had at least three major setbacks and went down two totally worthless paths before you arrived at a good solution. Share those. People love that, especially our speaker selection committee.
5. Sticks it to The Man
   • Despite all the sponsorships, corporate attendance, and more buttoned-up nature of Summercon (see our Code of Conduct, which is totally reasonable, by the way), we are still, at heart, a hacker conference. Challenge authority. Show you’re not a patsy for The Man. Fight the Power.
6. Engages the Audience
   • Summercon speakers are a special breed, because Summercon attendees are a special breed. Prepare to have people call out your mistakes, heckle if you’re less than prepared, and generally push your buttons. Successful presentations channel this misplaced audience enthusiasm. We still fondly recall a choose-your-own-adventure presentation, where randomly selected audience members got to dictate the direction of the talk. Engage your audience, and they won’t turn on you. (This can be good life advice, too.)
7. Fits into the Allocated Time
   • We cannot overstate this: fill the time, generally 45 minutes of speaking with 10 minutes of Q&A. Our speaker selection committee has been around the block, so if you’re going to try to pretend that a six hour seminar fits into 55 minutes of speaking slot, it’s probably not going to get selected.

We look forward to your submission!

check back soon 2025…