DEFCON was started in 1993, and has grown into the largest annual gathering of hackers. Attendees to this year’s conference, DEFCON19, will include cyber-criminals, hackers, computer security professionals, security personnel, US Federal agents, and any one else with interest in anything that can be hacked. Activities at the event include speakers on different subjects of interest to hackers, social events and contents. In August the first ever DEFCON kid’s conference will take place. This conference will be run as part of the main DEFCON conference, and is meant to teach kids between 8 and 16 years “white hat” hacker skills. As opposed to “black hat” hacking, the DEFCON Kids will be taught “white hat” hacker skills that will give them the ability to protect themselves against cyber crime. Black hat involves the dark side of internet hacking, including looting of money and destruction of hardware or software. The aim is to convince kids that it is cool to fight crime by being an ethical hacker.
The courses will be run by some of the world’s most elite hackers. According to the DEFCON Kids website, the training and demonstrations will include “learning how to open Master locks, Google Hacking, making Electronics, Social Engineering, coding in Scratch and Communicating in Code.”
