ATTENTION: Do not blindly click on the links in this page, as they are after all, pointing to the homepage of a hacking community. Click on links at your own risk. And for goodness' sakes, do not open them in Internet Explorer, for that the links may not point to malicious content now, but the site could potentially be hacked from the time I post this to the time you click on the link, so better safe than sorry -- and you should not use Internet Explorer anyway, as it is my opinion that it is a bloated piece of crapware...

DEFCON is THE Underground Computer Security Conference, and is held in Las Vegas, Nevada, around the second week of August (Before classes resume from summer break, great way to end summer break ;) ).

As any industry conference, there are vendors promoting their wares, usually giving out swag and those that work for the industry: network and system administrators and independent network security consultants (also known as professional hackers), and those that have interest in the industry, but are not a part of it : geeks, law enforcement personnel (or 'Feds' as they are called in the conference, see "Spot the Fed"), etc.

During the conference, people present on hacking-related topics such as security exploits (how to exploit and/or patch them), physical device exploits (lock picking/bumping), and many other related topics.

The conference also has many activities for conference-goers to participate in, such as Spot The Fed, the Wall of Sheep (screen with captured user name and password pairs), Capture The Flag (who can maintain control of a target system the longest), Øwn the Box (hack into a specific server), and many other security-related activities.

This conference serves as a means for distribution of security knowledge from those that have it, to those that have an interest in obtaining it, and are most likely to be able to retain it. It also serves as a medium for dispersal of original research, or showcasing new ways of performing some tasks.