DEF CON has changed for the better since the days at the Alexis Park. It has evolved from a few speaking tracks to an event that still offers the speakers, but also Villages, where you can get hands-on experience and Demo Labs where you can see tools in action. Of course, there is still the entertainment and Contest Area, as well as, Capture The Flag. There is so much more to DEF CON than there was in the past and it is our goal to help you get the best experience possible. In addition to introducing each of the different aspects and areas of DEF CON, we have a panel of speakers that will talk about how they came to be part of DEF CON and their personal experiences over the years.
Mike Petruzzi has been hacking managers for over 25 years. Mike is a Senior Cyber Security Penetration Testing Specialist working at various Federal Civil Agencies for the last 15 years. Yup, that's the title he was given. Naturally, he got all his IT experience as the result of selling beer, wine and liquor. He has tricked everyone into believing that he can do anything at all. Twitter: @wiseacre_mike
Nikita works full time for DEF CON doing stuff, and things. She is DEF CON’s administrator, director of the CFP review board, speaker liaison, workshop manager, and overall cat herder. Helping out over the past decade she has been involved in some capacity for over a dozen departments, activities, contests, and events. She provides annoyance, planning, and support in many ways, thus dubbed the “administrator of chaos”. If you hate the schedule, or are mad your talk was rejected, you can blame her. Nikita likes to think of herself as approachable, and loves to make people feel welcome at DEF CON, despite having R.B.F. Her hardest job yet was writing a serious third person bio. Twitter: @niki7a
PushPin is an uptight, perfectionist, who is very rarely content working with idiots and enjoys his Jell-O Pudding cups. He can neither confirm nor deny working for any of the three letter agencies that oversee WMDs, high energy weapons [LASERS, YO], and play around with other countries. It is literally impossible to see him without his laptop at any given time during the day and has been told frequently to put it away in public; otherwise, you’ll find him at work devoid of any form of social life. I hate you all, seriously.. Twitter: @X72
Plug is a Mexican immigrant that immigrated to the States at age 18. While learning to read English found a 2600 magazine that lead him to his first LA2600 meeting in 1998, from that point forward he has been a computer security enthusiast. Over the years he has worked a System's Administrator with a focus in security, eventually moving full time to work in information security. Plug currently works as a Senior Security Engineer securing the network of a prominent finance and foreign exchange company. He is also working on a volunteer project to teach 5th graders basic computer security skills. In his free time he enjoys playing with synthesizers and modular systems, when possible he volunteers his time to computer security events.
This is Russ’ 17th year as a DEF CON goon, and he has over 25 years experience in hacking. Russ first learned to program around the 1982 timeframe, when he received a Timex Sinclair, which used only programs keyed in via BASIC. He’s been involved in a numbers of aspects of DEF CON over the years, including the vendors, contests, DEF CON Groups, security, Hardware Hacking Village, and planning. Russ currently works a the Chief of Operations, where he depends heavily upon the other experienced hackers and goons that help run the world’s largest hacker conference.