Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > Special > Miscellaneous > Black Hat/Defcon: Hackers Go Back to Vegas

Conclusion

06:00 - Saturday 13 August 2005 by Humphrey Cheung

So who are the winners and losers of Black Hat and Defcon? The attendees are obvious winners, as there are few places in the world where you can have so much fun and learn so much at the same time. With a cost of only $80, Defcon is THE bargain of security conferences. Jeff Moss, the organizer of the conventions, is another winner. While he had to deal with legal issues for most of the convention, the publicity brought on by the Cisco/ISS lawsuits can only serve to raise attendance next year.

Some say Michael Lynn lost as he experienced the full power of the dark side when he was hit by the legal teams from Cisco and ISS. But he has escaped with his freedom, and with job offers from organizations much better than ISS.

Cisco loses in the short term due to all the negative publicity. So far, it hasn't been a complete disaster, as most of the mainstream media has not covered the Cisco IOS vulnerability and the ensuing Michael Lynn saga. In the long run, the security awareness created by this event will result in more secure products.

That leaves us with ISS, whom I think are the true losers of Black Hat/Defcon. The profile of ISS (copied from their website) says, "the company provides security products and services that preemptively protect enterprise organizations against Internet threats." With their actions against Michael Lynn, I wonder if anyone will take ISS seriously in the future. In one month, they are scheduled to speak at Toorcon, a computer security convention in San Diego. It will be interesting to see what kind of reception they get from the crowd.

During this coming year, Feds and hackers will again battle each other in cyberwarfare, but next July and August another time-out will be called in Las Vegas. Mutual respect for each other will once more be the name of the game and both sides will get to know each other over various alcoholic drinks. This great attitude, along with the immense knowledge we gained, makes Black Hat and Defcon THE conventions to come back to next year. We can't wait!