Well, our dear friends, the time has come to actually say it out loud…”DEF CON has been canceled.” We know, we can’t believe it either. With the announcement that DEF CON is going virtual this year, many are excited to see how their favorite villages are going to participate. For those of us who organize the SEVillage, these last few weeks have been full of deliberation and brainstorming. As many of you who have previously been to the SEVillage know, it’s primarily based on human interactions. This makes going virtual a little tricky. So we write this SEVillage update blog with a warning… there is some good and bad news.
Let’s Get the Bad News Over With…
The Social Engineering Capture The Flag (SECTF) has been our flagship event at DEF CON for over 10 years. Every year, hundreds sign up with the hope of competing. This year was no different. Even with the uncertainty of things, we had dozens sign up and submit their videos for a chance to compete. That is why it is with great sadness that we have to announce we will not be having a SECTF competition this year. While we tried our hardest, there was just no way we could hold the competition fairly, securely, and (most importantly according to our lawyer) legally. We know that this will disappoint a lot of those who love watching this event every year. Trust us when we say, we are disappointed too. We hope to bring the SECTF to DEF CON 29 in 2021 and we look forward to seeing you all there again.
This year was supposed to be our inaugural year of an OSINT CTF in the SEVillage at DEF CON. After the huge success we had at DerbyCon, we were very excited to hold this competition again. Unfortunately, there was no way that we could hold this event virtually. If you are still interested in competing in an OSINT CTF this year, we recommend following Chris Silvers who still has one event scheduled for this year.
Ok, we promise that’s all the bad news we have. Let’s talk about the good stuff.
The Good News
Going virtual has given us some fun new ideas, primarily for the kids and teens. We might not be able to do some of our normal fun things (let’s shed a tear about not having MSI this year..), but we are bringing 2 virtual events! Let’s break them down.
Virtual SECTF4Kids
Let us just start off with a few words: Minecraft, SE, and a treasure hunt. This year we are bringing a brand new SECTF4Kids virtual event! Based in a special Minecraft server, the kids will enter a world created just for them. With ciphers, puzzles, and a rumored mine-cart launcher, we are so excited to bring this event to life. Who can compete? Sorry adults, this one is literally just for the kids, ages 6-12 years old. The event will be held over two days, Friday, August 7 and Saturday, August 8. Several time slots will be available, so we hope to accommodate kids from all over. Want to sign your kiddo up? Then head on over to our sign-up page!
Virtual SECTF4Teens
We struggled for a while deciding how we could bring an event to a virtual DEF CON for teens. And then… enter the dynamic duo of Chris and Kris Silvers! They have created an amazing event that involves ciphers, OSINT, AND real-life vishing. Yes, we’re serious. This amazing event will be held on Saturday, August 8. Is your teen interested? Then have them head on over to our sign-up page so that they can tell us why we should select them to compete!
Until We Meet Again
2020 has been rough on us all. The cancellation of DEF CON is just another thing to add to the list of disappointing events. However, we are really looking forward to the time that we can all be together again. We truly hope you enjoy our virtual events this year. Don’t want to wait until summer 2021 to see us? Then you could always come to our own Human Hacking Conference!
Until then, be healthy, be safe, and leave them all feeling better for having met you.