Looks like Defcon 16 is one of the best yet. The “Defcon 16 Mystery Challenge” is a competition for attendees to have at. Solve a series of puzzles and mysteries and you could win special black Defcon badges that give you free admittance for life. One of the puzzles includes this delightful yellow ball with a combination lock on the top. You say lockpick it, I say smash it.
This past weekend, during the Defcon hacker convention in Las Vegas, several MIT students who were prepared to give a talk regarding the security of Boston’s public transit system were stopped. A judge ruled to ban the presentation after the city realized a gaping vulnerability was about to become exposed. For now, the talks have been stopped, but now everyone has focused attention to Boston. The city must have quite the security flaw going on.
Though the talks were stopped, Defcon attendees received the key data on a CD. It’s only a matter of time before the system is duped and Boston is forced to plug it’s security holes.
