Bringing an Intern to ShmooCon

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Hacking. Lock picking. Cracking code. The buzzwords found in Hollywood films were actually happening at Shmoocon. This hacking convention brought a crowd with a unique talent for computing together, and the outcome was one that was unforgettable.

Walking around the conference was a whole experience in itself. People from all different areas of the security field gathered such as offensive, forensics, and physical. With the widespread range of specialties, the talks were largely diverse. Speakers went over malware analysis, software security, ransomware prevention, and secure messaging. This provided opportunities to learn about the different areas of security that are not discussed in the classroom.

Then I took a walk to check out the activities going on and came across Lockpick Village hosted by ToooL. Walking in was exactly how I imagined, a bunch of people with picks and tension wrenches trying to break typical locks that people buy at Walmart. Along with locks, they had handcuffs that people were breaking out of just like the movies. However, when I attempted to pick the handcuffs, I managed to get the tool jammed in the handcuffs. To make matters worse, the cuffs were hot pink AND six of my coworkers were right there brutally heckling me as the instructor had to break me out!

Overall, I had a great first ShmooCon experience with tons of learning, and look forward to attending for years to come.

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