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Hacking convention Def Con has wrapped up its 23rd edition on Sunday, and it was packed with announcements and awesome presentations as usual.
This year’s conference was the biggest one to date, with estimates indicating that over 20,000 attended the various conferences and events in Paris and Bally’s hotels in Las Vegas. They didn’t lack choice: numerous events were held during the three days, from software and hardware tech demos to more academic discussions and conferences about cyber-security in general.
One of the highlights of the latter was a presentation Australian cyber-security specialist Chris Rock, who told the audience how easy it is to release a fake death certificate for virtually anyone, just through a combination of Google clicks and setting up a phoney funeral services website. The Midday Daily covered the entire story in detail, but it didn’t just stop there; Mr. Rock also went further and explained how virtual people can be birthed and raised as legal citizens, providing a great cover for illicit activities and easy money from life insurance when they are killed off.
Another high point in unlawful discoveries was the conference of cyber-security researcher William Turner, who found a way through which hackers could access a device which tracks people under house arrest and uploading false coordinates to it. People under house arrest are normally equipped with a tracking device, normally anklet, so that their location is monitored 24/7. It’s potential vulnerability could help detainees escape this – but for the moment, his study only applied to just one model of the device.
The more adrenaline-filled part of Def Con didn’t disappoint as well. One of the many elaborate competitions at the event required hackers to pull off a Hollywood-type stunt in which they manage to access safes and vaults heavily monitored by security cameras without being seen. Needless to say, two computer researchers actually managed to pull it off – by feeding continuous loops of pre-heist images to the cameras while they emptied vaults and “ran away” with everything.
One of the more high profile presences at the event was electric car manufacturer Tesla, who challenged anyone willing to hack one of their Model S sedans. And there could never be another outcome: hackers managed to unlock the doors and even drive the vehicle remotely, before issuing a command which took all of its systems offline. The company gained valuable information on security flaws from this which it took very seriously, as reports suggests its tech specialists immediately set out to patch the vulnerabilities of the car.
Image Source: Daily Mail
