If anyone knows how most Conference journeys start, it usually is getting the actual ticket. Shmoocon is known for it's high demand and extremely fast ticket sales. I was able to secure mine in the first round on November 1st 2019. I am glad they decided to put in those moose pictures to click on before the typical challenge question, I think it threw off many of the regular ticket grabbers.
Prior to the conference I perused the twitter feeds and slack for Shmoocon to get ready. Early January I saw a tweet that Shmoocon Labs still had openings for this year. Labs start a day earlier than the actual conference and cost an extra $50 but you get hands training with several areas that are used to help run the conference network. I thought why not, who knows if I'll be able to get a ticket this year.
Thursday (Labs Day!) Jan 30, 2020
We all gather at 8am and hit the ground running, however not more than 30 minutes into setting up I get cut on some server equipment. I didn't even feel it (probably I was too excited). Coming back I get a band-aid from one of the volunteers and head back to work. I was a little lost on what I could do but the staff were friendly and guided me to the infrastructure area.Man was it A LOT! I luckily had a github account (barely used though) and a copy of a kali linux vm box already on my laptop. We were going really fast setting up ourselves to check in to update the ansible playbook. As another attendee described, it's like drinking out of a fire hose. When we went to lunch at Chipotle the kind person next to me I asked a few questions here and there to catch me up when I got behind told me that I shouldn't worry, the overall pace was fast for everyone. That made me feel a whole lot better.
When we get back we continue to work. Mid afternoon we finally we get a call to help unload supplies from the truck for the conference. It was a nice break from sitting all day and is considered our conference workout. With the amount of people we had, the task probably took no more than 30 minutes. Not too much later on we break and watch a brave 3 souls take on the Paqui Hot Chip Challenge. I don't think any of them did end up drinking the milk (which was considered a tap out). I did watch a few red faces and witnessed a few tears shed.
I personally had to tap out of the day around 6 so that I could grab some dinner and head home. Some people did stay and continue working, especially those staying at the conference hotel. One of the cool perks of being in labs was getting another badge for labs, but also this year a sweet knit hat!
Friday (Con Day 1!) Jan 31, 2020
Bright and early people could come in as early as 8am to continue with labs. I grabbed some breakfast and tried the firewall and SIEM areas this time. A cool thing about labs is that you are pretty free to move around as you want, go where you have interest.
In the Firewall area I had one of the staff draw a diagram and walk me through the interfaces and explained the egress limitations that were needed so that the conference didn't take down the entire internet connection for the hotel. We even physically went to the boxes from the diagram and pointed out some of the connection points. I thought that was pretty cool.
Over in the SIEM area I watched another attendee install the CISCO app and add-on in Splunk. I also got to play a little with Moloch and check out the cool network graph of the connection nodes. Sadly while I was over there Kibana was broken, not sure if anyone got it up. If you have the skill you are free to dive in. If you don't, you can totally ask for help.
A little before 12 noon rolls around we labs folks go and get registered really quick before the mad crowds roll in. Before heading back to labs (as the conference opens beyond registration at 2pm) I was able to talk to a few vendors. Biggest one was trying to secure a copy of Backdoors and Breaches by Blackhills Information Security. Unfortunately they weren't starting the giveaway until Saturday morning but I know what my first task for the following day would be.
Of the talks on Friday they were all held in the main big auditorium. From the ones they had I liked "Zoom 0-Day: How Not to Handle a Vulnerability Report" by Jonathan Leitschuh the most. Luckily I don't have a MAC, but the amount of exposure people had from that scary to learn. Anyone being able to access a webcam without a user's permission is just creepy. Hence why many also have privacy shields on their camera. The actual fixing of the issue was also concerning considering the long timeline and escalation of the reporter.
Of the talks on Friday they were all held in the main big auditorium. From the ones they had I liked "Zoom 0-Day: How Not to Handle a Vulnerability Report" by Jonathan Leitschuh the most. Luckily I don't have a MAC, but the amount of exposure people had from that scary to learn. Anyone being able to access a webcam without a user's permission is just creepy. Hence why many also have privacy shields on their camera. The actual fixing of the issue was also concerning considering the long timeline and escalation of the reporter.
Saturday (Con Day 2!) Feb 1, 2020
As I walk back into the Conference I head straight to grab my Backdoors and Breaches game copy From Black Hills. I was victorious! (Now just to find people that I can play with....as I am not an Incident Response person myself.) Walking around the space I try to figure out my next talks. At one talk I found I wasn't feeling the subject as much as I thought and head over to try another. Before I am able I get to the doors of the next one I am asked if I want to be a fox. I said sure! How often does one get this opportunity? I get filled in on the details and decide to go back to the vendor area. I am holding onto a tiny wireless transmitter in my pocket.
For a bit I hang around the Polarity table and try to build a mini light saber. During this time people are trying to seek me out, I saw a range of people with fancy a equipment to just guys on regular cell phones during the hunt itself attempting to.find my signal. A few hunters ask around the table of light saber makers if they are the "fox" but not me directly :(. At one point someone thinks it is the TV on the table transmitting the signal and give up. Alas someone finally talks to me directly but only asks if I am a fox. I was distinctly told to only give away my identity if they ask for "The easy wireless fox". I politely declined despite knowing he was so close. Not too long after some people realize that they must use the exact phrase needed and another person asks me correctly. Hooray! Also my light saber was finished!
For a bit I hang around the Polarity table and try to build a mini light saber. During this time people are trying to seek me out, I saw a range of people with fancy a equipment to just guys on regular cell phones during the hunt itself attempting to.find my signal. A few hunters ask around the table of light saber makers if they are the "fox" but not me directly :(. At one point someone thinks it is the TV on the table transmitting the signal and give up. Alas someone finally talks to me directly but only asks if I am a fox. I was distinctly told to only give away my identity if they ask for "The easy wireless fox". I politely declined despite knowing he was so close. Not too long after some people realize that they must use the exact phrase needed and another person asks me correctly. Hooray! Also my light saber was finished!
Party night was interesting. I met lots of people and got catch up with those I've seen around the other local Infosec conferences. Ran into the guys that found me in the Fox Hunt and asked them about the apps they used to do it. Conversations were hard to have in the actual party space but being able to go in and out allowed for nice breaks.
Sunday (Con Day 3!) Feb 2, 2020
Man it's getting harder to wake up early these past few days! I grab a sandwich from the store across the street from the hotel for breakfast and head in for more talks. Probably the talk I could follow the easiest in the morning was "Playing the Short Game: The Effects of Data Breaches on Share Prices" by Chaim Sanders. Being an Economics major in college I didn't need too much background to get me leveled into the subject matter. While I don't see myself wanting to do statistics again, I did appreciate the transparency around the data used in the presentation and the suggestion for anyone to try and continue the exploration on the subject.
Finally in the afternoon I was around for the wonderful "Between Two Moose" discussion. It was a nice break from the technical talks and watched a wonderful game called cork and towel. Before you know it was closing remarks and this year I snagged an awesome Shmooganography shirt. This year Shmooganography was Batman themed :).
Want to check out the actual site to the conference I am referring to? Find it here:
https://www.shmoocon.org/
If you are interested in Labs, make sure you secure a ticket first! Once you have, sign up here:
https://www.shmoocon.org/shmoocon-labs/
Interested in Wireless Capture the Flag? Check out where WIFI village will be next:
https://wctf.us/index.html
