Defcon 24! It's Vegas Baby!

The date was 6th August.
The year was 2016.
The place was Las Vegas.
And the temperature was 38 degrees Celsius!
But the feeling and experience was absolutely FANTASTIC!

It was definitely such an amazing experience to visit the much talked and the largest security and hackers conference in the world! With over 20,000 people from all walks of life and continents, this conference is a must visit for anyone who are into security and hacking. The last time when i was in Vegas, i was speaking at BSidesLV

I was honored to stand on the stage in the Social Engineering Village (#SEVillage) room and gave a talk and present about the topic 'The Rise of the Cyber Scam Industrial Complex'. Was i nervous - Yes! Did i lose some words - Yes... was it worth it? Hell yes!

My talk was scheduled at 8pm, and thought it was best for me to be in the room at 7pm onwards. However, when i came, i was told that my talk will start at 7pm instead! *pressure* Right before i was supposed to stand up on stage, i was approached by a dude with long hair. It took me 10 seconds to identify that he was an ex-colleague whom i used to work with on a project based in Saudi! Phewww, i felt relieved! Half of the pressure gone!

On stage, after spending 5 minutes to settle some technical issues, i looked at the audience, took a huge breathe and introduced myself. The only challenge i faced was to complete my talk within that 50mins. And i realized i was out of time so i had to shorten the last few parts of my slide before the time goes up.

Tackling some technical glitch

Chris Hadgany introducing me to the crowd

Speaking on stage!!

After the talk, i was approached by a couple of people from the audience who gave me the thumbs up verbally and i was very happy to see a huge and full crowd in the room!

Overall, I'd say the team behind this #SEVillage was fantastic and friendly. I didn't feel like an alien there and Chris just seemed to be well loved by the crowd. And the swag given by Michele.. loved it! Despite not getting the Defcon badge (out of stock - i know right?), the #SEVillage team and the crowd turned my frown into a huge smile. 

Some pictures taken at Defcon

BSidesLV - An Awesome Security Conference!

BSidesLV is a security conference in the US, more specifically in Las Vegas! Yeap, that's right.. Sin City! I was excited and privileged to be accepted as a speaker at the conference. As it was my first time speaking in America, it was quite a challenge for me as i know that unlike audience in Asia, American audience seems to be more outspoken and when i was there it was indeed true.

After i arrived at the Tuscany Suites and Casino, my stomach started to hurt. That's right, the pressure, the stress...there's so many butterflies rampaging in my stomach as i walked to the reception. The queue to register was long. Initially i joined in the queue but then i saw some individuals 'bypassing' them. I assumed they must have been the speakers so i asked the volunteers and phew... i managed to get in without queuing.

Once i got in, i didn't waste any time and start to take as much pictures as i can. Well, i was a tourist when i was there so excuse my itchy fingers to snap pictures. The atmosphere was awesome, the people were friendly and the topics were great! Despite not properly socializing with the crowd, i was having a great time there. Well, i am a sucker for conferences, so such a con made me feel belonged.

When my time was up, i walked up to the 'stage' and connect my computer to the VGA cable to extend my monitor. I spent the first 4 minutes trying to get it connected. Resolution sadly gave me an issue so i had to make do with a slightly smaller yet still visible resolution on the projector. I was nervous and things that i was prepared to say, those words just got lost. But i was happy that the audience, despite my pressured state, were very supportive. Some were smiling, some were nodding their heads, showing signs of approval with every slides i went through. Of course, i was challenged by another speaker who told me off about the practicality of my talk after i shown two clips from Die Hard 4.0. After replying to him saying that, it is possible for a scene like Die Hard 4.0 to happen and telling him that my last few slides will show it how, he with his 3 other friends, all wearing black tshirts, stood up and walked out of the conference room..and i was just on my slide 4. I was a little demotivated but i am glad that the rest stayed until the end. What i didnt expect was the audience gave me a round of applause after my talk! I was very touched and felt a little emotional, feeling appreciated despite my stressed mode and pressure.

After the talk, i was approached by a handful of people from the audience, asking me more about my talk. Some asked about my talk and some congratulated me about my performance. I was very happy to hear from their own words that they enjoyed my presentation. And what's more important was that i got to meet some experts in the field i was talking about.

All in all, it was an amazing experience, this was indeed one of the best conferences i attended. The organizers, the volunteers, the speakers and the audience were simply awesome! It truly felt like home...

Here are some of the pictures...

Where it all happened!

The souvenirs!

 Bought and Free Tshirts!

Close up of the Badge!

Some sponsor banners!

Mini booths

WiFi Pineapple!! I bought one!

Protiviti! - Looking for Security Enthusiasts to join them.

Big Ass O-Wasp!

Hackers For Charity booth!

CTF Competition! 

Social Engineering Competition!

Creative Winning Trophy!

 The Topics!

 The start of my presentation 

 Me with Chris Sistrunk aka SCADA God!

Me and Jack Daniels, the co-founder of Security BSides conference!

This volunteer (on the left in yellow) was the man who motivated me and encouraged me not to be pressured and even helped me answered a question from the audience! Kudos to him! Wished i knew who he is..

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