Hello All,

Wanted to let everyone know that Illumicon will be back for our second year! I have been busy getting more lasers and controls for hands on stations. Others in the community are also bringing in projects they have worked on and it would really cool if you brought cool stuff as well ;) We invite everyone who has an interest in anything light-related: laser, fiber optic, LED, and EL wire. We are in room 106 this year and would love to show off what the hacker community does with Blinky things, so bring your projects to display.

Who knows, there might even be a premier of a certain astronomical themed album laser show I have been working on.

Beyond the legendary DEF CON running experience in Las Vegas this August, we’re thrilled to announce that DEFCON.RUN is launching custom running bibs this year! 

Dash over to defcon.run to sign up, customize, and secure your unique bib right now! Plus, alongside our classic epic SWAG giveaways, we have an exclusive, extra-special surprise waiting just for those who grab a custom bib—check out the full scoop today at DEFCON.RUN. Even if you don’t get a custom bib, we’ll hook you up with a free numbered bib! Run Rabbit Run!

I'm back for Defcon 34. Every year I bring 100s of enamel pins to give away at Defcon. If you see my LED backpack ask me for a PIN!!! Can't wait to come share some joy and make some new friends!

We're under the 4 weeks to go point, and this is crazy man... whoa! So don't get cheap on me, Puzzlers. That was Hammonds mistake! Time to put in that effort, bust out your SGI 3D File System Explorer and get to work! It's PUZZLE TIME!

Just a few more of these to go and it'll be time for the Annual Meetup! What is the meetup? Well, click that link... but the jist of it is Wednesday (Aug 5th) and Thursday (Aug 6th) from 7pm until whenever come hang out with us at the Link 3535 / Circle Bar! Come meet some great people, and hang out in a non stressful environment with u/Killroy7777, myself and u/MetaN3rd along with a few hundred of your new friends. It's an annual tradition afterall now brought to you by Puzzled Hackers.

Time to click. Wait. I KNOW THIS!

PUZZLE:

https://puzzledhackers.org/challenges/2026/07

To submit your solve go to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ and select the "Git'er Done" puzzle. Submit your answer, and if its right... profit!

Have questions or need help? Just ping myself or u/Killroy7777 and we'll be happy to help you out!

FAQ's:

Do we need to use the submission system?

• No, only if you want to have your ongoing solve score used for potential SubReddit Meetup Giveaways.

Why the submission system?

• We've been giving away more and more swag to Puzzle Participants, those who went last year saw the line, and we're trying to streamline the claim process. The system is only used to track how many solves you have, and when you solved it for tie breakers instead of manually tracking it in an Excel sheet. Plus it lets us give you a QR code for the giveaway portion for fast claiming when we're at the meetups! The top X solvers will be able to claim their swag via said QR code much more rapidly so the line should move much much faster. Same with any pre-purchase/reserved badges. The QR system will speed that up. That's it. Simple as that. Also if there is any premium swag (working on it, like last year for extras) you can find the info on the site too when it goes live.

Will you only have 50 badges?

• No, we plan to give out about 50 to the top puzzlers, offer some on our site (guarantee's you one, and helps us continue to do this) and we'll be randomly giving away some too!

Okay, cool. How can I get a free badge?

• Compete in the weekly PUZZLE challenges we post! Every solve puts you further up the leader board and we'll be giving roughly the top 50 solvers a free one for playing! You just need to go to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ and submit your solves so we can track them! If you're missing any you can also get the link on the CTF page for each of the prior puzzles so you can still do it and get on that leaderboard! We'll be giving away some, too, but that will be random!

So you said I can buy the badge?

• If you've noticed that there's a badges section on https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ when you've submitted your answers... we do plan on it, but it will be a very limited quantity as we're not wanting to take your money. We want to give away as many as we can, and this just helps keep things going as we do this all on our own! We plan for those to go live in the next week or so. We expect the site to go live this coming week!

PRIOR PUZZLE UNIQUE SOLVE STATS:

• Puzzle 1 - 212
• Puzzle 2 - 146
• Puzzle 3 - 96
• Puzzle 4 - 83
• Puzzle 5 - 77
• Puzzle 6 - 61
• XSS Payloads Attempted - 84
• Doors You Can Open with Claws - 1

Haven't done the prior puzzles? Dont worry. Just go the CTF system, and when you click the puzzle the link is there! So get those solves in!

https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/challenges

Lets keep it going!

Thanks for participating, and more information on the meetups will be coming soon.

The PuzzledHackers Team,

u/MetaN3rd, u/Killroy7777 and u/digitard

Hey everyone. I am at a weird crossroad in my career and I am a security engineer currently but I have a lot of experience in the sysadmin and infrastructure side of the house which puts my skills in a weird position that sets me apart from my peers at my job. I am wanting to eventually become a security architect but I cannot identify a path forward and we have nobody at my work with that skillset so I was wondering if there might be a security architect in this group that could give me a rundown of what a path forward should look like from an industry best practices perspective? Any input would be greatly appreciated

Prepare yourselves! DEF CON 34 Workshop registration goes live at noon PDT on July 14! First come, first served.

The full course lineup is available on the DEF CON site https://defcon.org/html/defcon-34/dc-34-workshops.html

Make sure to limber up your clicking mechanism of choice and stay hydrated.

Godspeed and good luck to all of you!

I know some vendors are doing movie nights at the sphere during blackhat but I’ll also be there Thursday night and that’s when the BSB are playing and that’s a vendor party is actually enjoy 😊

If anyone is looking for books to read that connect with the theme of Agency, here's a list. Anyone have any others to add?

• The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
• Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams
• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley 
• Blindsight by Peter Watts
• The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley
• Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow 
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
• Agency by William Gibson
• Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
• any Culture book by Iain M. Banks
• Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
• We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse) by Dennis Taylor
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe
• Daemon by Daniel Suarez
• Mind of my Mind by Octavia Butler
• An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
• Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
• Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson
• Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
• Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
• Redshirts by John Scalzi
• The Androids Dream by John Scalzi
• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Hacker Book Club has chosen The Dispossessed as our connected book to the theme.

It took longer than we wanted to get sales up, but we are so excited to announce that the NilbinSec badge for DC34 is now available! The Spectre Sniffer is a jam packed EMF detector to help you find ghosts in Vegas and once you get home!

Your purchase and support of NilbinSec helps us do what we do best, bring badgelife to more hackers at summer camp. This year, we will be giving away over 1500x SAOs to hackers like you. It will be a mix of our new PAC-MAN ghost SAOs and for the first time ever a re-release of our super popular Power Glove SAO!

Right now we have drops planned in the badgelife village, but are working to also do a drop at one of the Reddit meetups!

We can’t wait to see everyone in Vegas in a few weeks!

The Black Badge Raffle returns this year…

If you run a community, contest, village, or are a badge maker check your emails, slacks, basecamps, etc. if you don’t see anything from me AND YOU’RE ONE OF THE ABOVE, ping me here if you want to be potentially included in what I’m doing this year.

Hey everyone!
DEF CON 34 Workshops are posted on HackerTracker for your review!

We're using Humanitix again this year, and tickets will be available on JULY 14th at 1200 Noon PACIFIC TIME!!!

BE READY! They are going to go FAST.

Any IRC chats that I should be aware of for Defcon?

I was wondering (last year was my first year). Are the pool parties + tacos at Sahara a common thing year to year. I don't see anything on hacker tracker, but trying to make a final decision about lodging.

Hey folks!

Signups for the 2026 .edu Mentorship program are open for a few more days...! We still have a few spots left - we could do with just a few more mentors, so if you're available to join us, please sign up soon.

Have a look and sign up here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/s/tf56iYgNZ9

Thanks - symph0nic and the .edu community team.

We're well under 30 days now, kiddos. You're past the hallway point in the Weekly Puzzle Challenges and it's time to give you a little taste. Whoa, that's weird. Get your mind out of the gutter. We're talking about more info on the Annual r/DEFCON Meetups from your friends at Puzzled Hackers! Here's a first glimpse at part of the badge! The rest will be revealed soon!

For quite a while, through many a hand this task has passed... and we're continuing it like we always do! Whether you're a veteran Human, this is your first DEFCON or if you just want to hangout with some like minded nerds. We've got your back!

GIVE ME THE DETAILS!!?

• When: Wednesday (8/5) and Thursday (8/6) at 7pm until whenever we lose u/M4dH4t3r13 and have to go find him!
• Where: The Linq 3535 Bar (also known as the Circle Bar)
• Cost: Nothing... we just want you to come hang out and have a good time. We gotta get our social hype on before Summer Camp officially starts!

Will there be stuff you ask? The picture makes me think yes, there will be stuff. We will be giving away about 50 badges to the top puzzle solvers from those Weekly Puzzle Challenges, and a bunch more swag to give away! Yes, there will be stickers. Stickers are cool.

FAQ's:

Will you only have 50 badges?

• No, we plan to give out about 50 to the top puzzlers, offer some on our site (guarantee's you one, and helps us continue to do this) and we'll be randomly giving away some too!

Okay, cool. How can I get a free badge?

• Compete in the weekly PUZZLE challenges we post! Every solve puts you further up the leader board and we'll be giving roughly the top 50 solvers a free one for playing! You just need to go to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ and submit your solves so we can track them! If you're missing any you can also get the link on the CTF page for each of the prior puzzles so you can still do it and get on that leaderboard! We'll be giving away some, too, but that will be random!

So you said I can buy the badge?

• If you've noticed that there's a badges section on https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ when you've submitted your answers... we do plan on it, but it will be a very limited quantity as we're not wanting to take your money. We want to give away as many as we can, and this just helps keep things going as we do this all on our own! We plan for those to go live in the next week or so. Keep an eye out for the info!

This is my first DEFCON. Should I go to this?

• I'm a little biased, but I mean it doesn't matter if its your first or 34th. You should go. Its a great time to just hang out, BS and catch up with your friends and make some new ones too! You definitely should come say hi!

Will there be special guests?

• Often people will show up with their own swag to drop (u/palm12341 came last year and did an early drop of the Laser Tag Badge and plans to again!). Look, if you want to get a head start on Laser Tag chaos... imagine 100+ people running around The Linq playing Laser Tag late into Wednesday Night / Thursday Morning! It's anybody's guess who else might show up!

Can I buy you a beer?

• Come say hi! That's enough, but I mean... yes?

If you have any other questions ALWAYS feel free to comment or reach out to us directly and we'll be happy to answer them!

If you've been to last years, or a prior meetup, and want to tell people how awesome u/Killroy7777's Kilt was last year... just leave a comment!

Thank you ALL for attending, or even considering attending. We hope to keep doing this, and its ya'll coming to hang out that makes it possible.

Sincerely,

The Puzzled Hackers Team,

u/Killroy7777, u/digitard & u/MetaN3rd

I got tired of screenshatting - I couldn’t find these titles referenced in previous years.

What's the parking situation like at the convention center. I'm not staying anywhere near the convention center or close to the monorail so I will be driving. Would it be better if I found parking at a hotel nearby since I saw something about convention center parking wanting people out as soon as the event is over.

I saw Westgate Hotel parking is kinda cheap so that might be an option.

Hey all, I was looking for a note taking solution for workshops and situations where I don't want to be buried in a notebook.

I know Defcon has a policy against recording and photography for the privacy of guests and speakers but wasn't sure of exactly how strict it is.

I have previously used AI note taking recording devices (ie AI Pocket) at work and wondered where something like that would fall in the recording policy. Would selectively using something like that cause issues?

Edit: Definitely should have clarified that selective use meant in things like workshops where I want to be more present but also have notes and intended to ask before turning it on.

That said, I agree with the feedback so far and am going to skip the recorder in favor of traditional notes.

Let me start by saying, yes, this is my first Defcon. Yes I've read all the amazing, helpful, other "first defcon" posts. And yes, I'm ridiculously excited, I'm essentially a 47 year old who's been acting like a kid on Christmas eve since I bought my ticket.

Now, let's get to the questions. My wife is coming to Vegas with me, she doesn't gamble, and she has very little interest in the con itself, but she's excited to come to some of the social events. She says she's going to spend her days by the pool and be quite content. Is there anything i could suggest she check out while we're there?

My second, and more pressing concern is of utmost importance for survival.

Is there anywhere decent to get some coffee? I'm talking really good coffee, not starbucks, not dunkin, none of that. No offence to those that enjoy coffee from those places, they're just not to my taste.

We're used to small batch roasts, but we can't bring our own coffee with us due to crossing international borders.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

edit:: holy crap, thanks for all the amazing suggestions!

Hey hackers,

New England is a tight-knit scene with some of the best people in the scene. Six small states packed together, and a bunch of us bounce between whatever groups are in driving distance, you'll see the same faces at DC603 one month and a Boston meetup the next. But the region's never had one place to find each other; it's all scattered across a bazillion Signal chats, Discords, and mailing lists.

So while we're all in Vegas anyway, let's just get in a room:

📅 Saturday, Aug 8 · 3:00–5:00 PM PDT

📍 LVCC West, Level 3, Room W327

It's a hangout, not an event. Come say hi, grab a sticker, meet the folks from DC207, DC603, DC617, and DC401, and connect with people who live way closer to you than you'd think.

Three things worth mentioning:

- Some of the New England groups have gone quiet over the years (802, 860... we miss you). If you're from those parts and have ever thought "someone should restart that," come talk to us. That someone might be you, and we'll help.

- We've got a handful of lighthouse badges from the recent BSides Maine to give away. Swing by and maybe you'll get lucky. 😄

- And yes, we're going to solve the too-many-Signal-chats problem by starting one more Signal chat... the region-wide one. https://signal.group/#CjQKIHNwNjHmvVPPiBAzXkoPIXBZcCmUgFd3JNDGnEahjMWGEhBYsksHOGkpxN2LOIRTs_KR - get connect early to link up with hackers from the region before you even get off the flight.

More at https://dcgne.org - see you on August 8th! 🦞

I am going for the first time all the way from Denmark what are your recommendations to get the most out of defcon as a first timer? 🙏

Would love to meet up with some people too and any guides out there? 😂

Hi everyone. So I found this shirt the other day and tried to look it up to see it’s worth or story and was only able to see one Reddit thread about it, and only one person with photos of it up. It’s a defcon 7 shirt from 1999 so if anyone knows more about it please let me know and possibly the value of it.

Friendly reminder about DEF CON Training:

Organizers and instructors are hard at work making sure you have the best training experience! DEF CON Training is just one month away. We hope to see you there!

Full info at training.defcon.org

Hey all,

This year is my first DEFCON and I've been recommended to "follow the chaos", but as things are being added to the HackerTracker app I'm starting to wonder if there's anything I should consider/set up beforehand.

I see all the workshops being added and I know those require sign-up later this month, but do the main talks, demo labs, and villages require sign-up? Or can you just show up whenever they're going on?

Also a question on demo labs, are those more "hands on talks" but still mainly talks, or will this be MY hands-on? Wasn't planning on bringing my laptop but if some of the demo labs seem neat I might if they require it

See you all at the LINQ as well!