The latest edition of DefCamp was all about 8th’s & 9th’s.
How come?
Well, first of all, it was the 9th edition of DefCamp. And guess what? It happened on November 8-9, welcoming over 1800 attendees from all over the world in Bucharest. It actually exceeded all expectations, because it was the largest conference so far. Not convinced? See the video overview before reading the details:
Over 60 speakers kept the audience focused and engaged in all 3 tracks with briefings covering the hottest infosec topics. Surely you remember how day 1 day started, isn’t that right?
In Track 1, we had Cristian Patachia who talked about inspiration and evolution. He reflected on the long-term, trusting partnership between Orange Romania and DefCamp that helped the conference grow every year and increase awareness about the importance of cybersecurity.
In Track 2 we had Konrad Jędrzejczyk who delivered a very practical presentation about Wifi Hacking and in Track 3, we had Dan Demeter who talked about disinformation and its impact on our societies.
Our amazing hosts and moderators, Andra Zaharia, Sabrina Herlo and Andreea Cutlacai succeeded in making our speakers feel welcomed while keeping DefCamp attendees up to date with everything that happened during the event.
The Hacking Village was once again one of the main attractions at DefCamp as it hosted 14 competitions. Prizes in cash and gadgets were also involved, so attendees were very keen to engage and win them all.
On Friday, November 9th, we had almost two dozen winners on stage. It feels thrilling to see young passionate people who push beyond the limits while testing their offensive skills in a controlled environment. Because we wanted to give everyone a taste of the action, we even held a raffle for the luckiest attendees. From gadgets to EA games, there were some interesting prizes at stake!
All in all, DefCamp 2018 brought to the audience engaging presentations from some of the best infosec professionals who shared actionable tips and valuable insights:
- Speakers talked about current, practical challenges while also inspiring attendees to think beyond their day to day practice and evaluate their impact in shaping and changing the web for the better which is a great first step towards the world digitalization
- Jayson E. Street called for teaching responsibility beyond our field, to help others understand why information security matters and what its real-life impact is
- Stefan Tanase questioned why the internet is increasingly fragmented and affected by Balkanization
- Tech talks walked attendees through the practical aspects and challenges of building application security from scratch or responding to threats against ICS environments.
It was indeed an awesome experience! See you all next year at #DefCamp 10 https://t.co/a6fjdqMrRw
— Neagu Ionut-Ghiocel (@Shetsans) November 9, 2018
- Dan Demeter emphasized the importance of combating fake news through user education, high-quality journalism, and fact-checking other sources.
- Mike Spicer, the #WifiCactus father, encouraged the audience to nurture their curiosity about something by following this: build it, test it, try it. That’s the best way to learn.
- Alex “Jay” Balan advised the participants to treat everything that “you share with others as being compromised”.
- Kirill talked about mobile security and demonstrated how hackers can connect to the SS7 protocol of a mobile network, and attack subscribers of any operator around the world.
- In terms of privacy, we learned about the benefits of using the multi-factor authentication system to add multiple layers of security and reduce the risks of data loss.
- To better fight against cyber threats such as APTs, organizations need to identify their assets, know about its vulnerabilities (weak points), and find out more about the enemies using threat intelligence, tools, tactics, endpoint solutions.
All things considered, we’ve seen that:
- Talent is increasingly more appreciated and sought
- More tech students are paying attention to what happens in the field
- There are a lot more information and experience-sharing, more than ever before
- DefCamp provides an open, safe place for infosec pros and apprentices can learn from each other
During the two-day conference, the Wi-Fi infrastructure was developed by Orange. It has was accessed by more than 1,200 visitors, who were connected on average 3 hours and 30 minutes, the highest number of participants being at 11:00 from each day of the event.
Ioan Constantin, Cyber Security Expert @Orange mentioned after the event that:
“DefCamp has constantly bridged the gap between young, skillful people and companies actively involved in innovation in the information security field. There are a great dynamic and an ever-shifting playing field in the infosec and cybersec business, with technologies coming in and going out of scope in the blink of an eye.”
We feel lucky and we’re super excited to see so many people from around the world join us in Bucharest!
Kudos to the #infosec community and all those who contribute to its development! pic.twitter.com/w0LDDzj00M
— DefCamp (@DefCampRO) November 9, 2018
Teodor Ceaușu, Country Manager @Ixia, a Keysight Business said that “Taking into consideration the ever-increasing impact of cyber security in this day and age, with vulnerabilities growing across platforms, it is important to keep up with the threats that constantly emerge, and DefCamp has a tremendous role in bringing together the latest information and knowledge available globally”. Moreover Dan Mihailescu added the fact that DefCamp Hacking Village is one of the most attractive point of the conference as it “connects the people, especially when they meet with others to brainstorm”.
DefCamp is powered by Orange Romania and it’s organized by the Association “Research Center for Information Security in Romania” (CCSIR). DefCamp 2018 was sponsored by Ixia, Keysight Business, SecureWorks and Intralinks as Platinum Partners and it’s supported by IPSX, Bit Sentinel, TAD GROUP, Enevo, Crowdstrike, CryptoCoin.pro, Siemens, Alef, UiPath and Kaspersky Lab.