defcon - Gizmodo

posts about #defcon more →
Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light
Obama Administration Adds Renowned Hacker to Homeland Security Advisory Council
A Look Inside Defcon's Network Ops Room, The Most Secure Conference Wi-Fi You'll Ever See
Medeco High Security M3 Locks Hacked With Easy Credit Card Trick
Wired Previews Hackable Defcon 16 Badge
NBC's DefCon Mole - The Walk of Shame
DefCon Badge Hacked in 10 Minutes
NBC's DefCon Mole Outed, Stalked by Hackers and Press

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MePerson
08/06/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
Oh look, an ATM in the middle of a hallway at a hacker convention! This must be safe!

[/sarcasm]
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Edited by MePerson at 08/06/09 2:34 AM MePerson was starred MePerson was unstarred

GladysSparta
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
"The infamous DefCon hackers convention is going on in Las Vegas right now." Date fail. Defcon was last Thursday - Sunday.
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timwoolsey promoted this comment Coolmodo approved this comment GladysSparta was starred GladysSparta was unstarred

SysRq
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
I wouldn't trust a hooker at DefCon. She may end up being a botnet.
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drunkhippos
08/05/09

@SysRq: all i was thinking of when i read that is that one futurama episode with the fake lucy lu robots
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jmeltzer
08/05/09

@drunkhippos: Actually the first thing that i think of when the word DefCon is mentioned is Futurama's "DefCon Owl Traps" 'Kills owls dead!'
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SysRq promoted this comment jmeltzer was starred jmeltzer was unstarred

OCEntertainment
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
"And if there were a little man inside just nabbing people's debit cards, it would have been even funnier."
The salad days are over for Kenny Baker. Short on money, and owing a small fortune to the sharks, he turned to a life of crime.
Many victims said they recognized the beeping sounds coming from the ATM, but couldn't quite place where they'd heard it until it was too late.
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bosskev
08/05/09

@OCEntertainment: +1 beep
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Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
i read this article on google wanted to tell somebody here on giz but not sure if im allowed or it would even be picked up. im thinking i have to be a star commenter like gitemsteve to recommend articles.
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deanbmmv: ([k]) promoted this comment

deanbmmv
08/05/09

@Mr_Biggles: Just send your stuff to tips@gizmodo.com
Dunno much on giz, but I know Kotaku are pretty good with accepting tips n crediting you. So you get your 15 seconds of fame too(internet is too fast to dish out the full 15minutes experience)
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zenpoet
08/05/09

@Mr_Biggles: The good folks at Giz just want good stories, so always recommend when you can.
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Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea
08/06/09

@deanbmmv: ([k]): Yea i'm always reading articles on just don't tell my boss.. and when i read it i think the guys at giz might find this newsworthy. Thanks for the help Deanbmmv, Scotland, and Zenpoet
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bosskev
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
"And if there were a little man inside just nabbing people's debit cards, it would have been even funnier."

Pay no attention to that man behind the touchscreen!
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Bigbadbikernerd
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
Now THAT is ingenuity!
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Kaiser-Machead
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be
Yeah, little people nabbing your cards inside of things seems funny enough, until something goes wrong...
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Nick
08/05/09

@Kaiser-Machead: hold up. was that real?
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anexanhume
08/05/09

@Nick: mission accomplished: As the comments point out, the gun has no kickback or shell casing ejection. Additionally, the video editing starts looking shifty at that point too. So no.
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Nick: mission accomplished promoted this comment Edited by anexanhume at 08/05/09 1:40 PM anexanhume was starred anexanhume was unstarred

Nick
08/05/09

@anexanhume aka Flintheart Glomgold: what comments?
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anexanhume
08/05/09

@Nick: is a peelin': After you begin playing the youtube video, click it again. It will take you directly to the video on youtube's website.
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TheBusDriver
08/05/09

@Kaiser-Machead:
[www.snopes.com]
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Scotland
08/05/09

@TheBusDriver: You are too quick (insert joke here)
"If you think this all seems a tad morbid for what is supposed to be a humorous hidden camera prank TV show, you're right. This clip isn't from a television program, nor did it originate in Russia. It's a television commercial produced for the Type & Magic print production company by the Buenos Aires office of the Ogilvy & Mather international advertising agency.
Okay, it's a commercial, but by now you've probably been left still wondering what in the world a prankster's being gunned down in a mailbox has to do with print production services. That's understandable, because the circulating version of the video clip linked above doesn't include the original ending, which informs the viewer via graphic frames that Type & Magic "know you don't like surprises" and offer "Separations. Photochromes. No surprises"
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Kaiser-Machead promoted this comment Scotland was starred Scotland was unstarred

Kaiser-Machead
08/05/09

@Scotland: Damn you. Stop ruining things with facts!
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Nick
08/05/09

@Kaiser-Machead: it's his nature. he's irish.
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anexanhume
08/05/09

In reply to Warning: Not All ATMs at DefCon Are What They Appear to Be

Don't worry, we can used trained dogs to sniff out the criminals.
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bosskev promoted this comment anexanhume was starred anexanhume was unstarred

bosskev
08/05/09

@anexanhume aka Flintheart Glomgold: Yeah, right, now I feel safe using these stations. And we're supposed to believe that these aren't just your hacking henchmen wearing dog costumes? Wasn't born yesterday, you know...
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anexanhume
08/05/09

@bosskev: -How rufus, how do you write ten in binary?
-*Argh* you don't refer to numbers in binary by... uh, woof.
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Barry99705
08/05/09

In reply to DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light
The Uber badges were only on Joe and DT. As far as I know, no one else had one. They were competing for a defcon black badge.
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martinbogo
08/05/09

In reply to DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light
Corrections to the article:
The dirigible was made by team "HackTheBadge" which comprised of six team members. Dr. Volts (myself), one other long-time Defcon atendee, and four of which were first-time DefCon attendees, one who came all the way from Denmark.
It consisted of three badges which were programmed to listen to the audience, perform half a second of FFT analysis, then turn on a motor and fly away from the noise depending if the noise was of the correct frequency and strength. The project was completed for under $150, under 48 hours, and worked perfectly the first time it was launched.
The winner of the black badge was Zoz Brooks, one of the co-hosts of the ‘Prototype This’ show on Discovery Channel along with Joe Grand (KingPin), Terry Sandin, and Mike North. It’s unknown if the blinking lights were effective at preventing facial recognition, or if the overall system would work in the fanciful and highly theoretical scenario put forth to prevent a motion detecting system from working.
The third place badge hack was a Blue Box implemented on the badge.
The honorable mention was a completed set of all the badges, programmed to blink lights in a sequence around the ring of outer badges.
There was one other specialty badge, of which there were only 14 called the "HackTheBadge" ([www.igotu.com]) more information of which will be available at ( [www.igotu.com] )
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Barry99705
08/05/09

@martinbogo: Okay, I gotta ask, where did the gold balloon come from?
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iminahammock
08/05/09

In reply to DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light
He realizes that software generally works in loops. And a program structure as new as facial recognition (aka, hasn't been pwned until perfected) would probably be constantly looking for a positive match every cycle it could. So a guy with an animated face and that hat would be like a skeleton key. For the next month anyway, as they figure out how they want to negate this.
He could have easily been pulsing some IR too, that is definitely a good idea.
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Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
08/05/09

In reply to DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light
Perhaps rather than security entrance permissions it fools facial recognition systems on cameras such as in Airports when looking for wanted folk...
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redkamel
08/05/09

In reply to DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light
so if these flashes confuse facial recognition systems, why would it let you in? Wouldn't the camera would just not recognize a valid face if it kept changing?
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Kris Aubuchon
08/04/09

In reply to DefCon Badge Hack Fools Facial Recognition Systems With Pulsing Light
Facial recognition works by mapping and recognizing the unique peaks and valleys in your face by comparing overall contrast - the more basic systems can be thrown off by light modulation, which alters the contrast constantly - which changes the appearance of depth on your face. You can just flash a flashlight in your face and get the same outcome, so I don't think the guy did much beyond attaching blinking LEDs to a hat - maybe he determined a good blinking speed too.

I have a feeling in newer 3D systems this wouldn't actually work because light is nearly irrelevant (I think they use microwaves or something similar to determine the structure of your face, having nothing to do with light, as the 2D systems do)

Then again, I'm just guessing here - I'm only assuming that the facial recognition system they have is 2D - feel free to correct me if you have more info.
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Hi, I'm God promoted this comment Edited by Kris Aubuchon at 08/04/09 11:52 PM Kris Aubuchon was starred Kris Aubuchon was unstarred

stan-the-man
08/05/09

@Kris Aubuchon: (referring to the microwaves) "After using our patented microwaving facial recognition system, your face will no longer be recognizable!"
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