Trying to change the security culture of a single company can be daunting. The Cult of the Dead Cow managed to change the culture of the entire security industry.
In this session, three key figures from the 35-year-old group's history — Mudge Zatko, Chris Rioux, and Deth Vegetable — will discuss the cDc's evolution from teenage misfits into industry leaders, its many contributions, and the enduring lessons for other hackers out to make a difference. They will be questioned by Joseph Menn, author of "Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World," published June 4.
Appearing for the first time under his real name, cDc Minister of Propaganda Deth Veggie will discuss the group's formative years and how he engaged with the media for fame and infamy.
After achieving notoriety, the Cult of the Dead Cow added tech luminaries like Zatko and Rioux and pushed the industry forward in a series of remarkable jumps. The release of Rioux's Back Orifice 2000 in 1999 forced Microsoft to grapple with unhappy business customers and hire hackers as security consultants, including those from Zatko and Rioux's @stake.
Zatko went on to lead cybersecurity grantmaking at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the people who brought you the internet. Rioux co-founded Veracode, which dramatically improved code review by major software buyers. And Veggie continued as an internal leader at cDc, keeping the conversation moving forward in the politically charged areas of hacktivism, WikiLeaks, the hacker part of the #MeToo uprising, neo-Nazis, and the presidential candidacy of cDc alumnus Beto O'Rourke.