September 30, 2019
DEFCON is one of the world’s largest and most notable cybersecurity conventions, held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEFCON took place in June 1993 and has since then evolved to a global event. Today, many attendees at DEFCON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, security researchers, students, and hackers with a general interest in software, computer architecture, hardware modification, conference badges, and anything else that can be "hacked” or attacked in any way. The event consists of several tracks of speakers that revolve around a number of cybersecurity and general IT subjects.
This year Professor Rahul Karnik attended this convention with several Collins College of Professional Studies students. The student attendees included Derick Naraine, Bryan Rosado, Martin Guzman, Isaac Sierra, Vincent L. Monteleone and Ryan Herley. Each student thoroughly enjoyed the convention and was appreciative of the opportunity. Derick Naraine, called the event “nothing short of amazing” and said it was “the best learning experiences I’ve had”. Bryan Rosado, said the experience was “eye opening”. Martin Guzman also commented that the convention provided him with a “realistic hands on point of view” and Isaac Sierra called the experience “sensational”. Vincent L. Monteleone, said the convention was “enriching and enlightening” and “can’t wait to share his newfound knowledge with the rest of the university”. Finally, Ryan Herley said the experience helped him to “see different possible threats within the Cyber world … and how they find these threats and combat them.”
In conclusion, Professor Rahul Karnik said that the exposure and information that the group received from the event and all the sessions was enormous and of great value. The sessions were not limited to only demonstrations, but also included detailed explanations on how different systems/networks function and how security is so important at all levels. Karnik said that overall, the conference and the experience was a great success and our students were excited to learn by observing real life examples from both worlds of hacking and security outside of any controlled environment.
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