The 34th DEF CON conference takes place Aug. 6–9 in Las Vegas. It’s no surprise that one of the hacker community’s most influential events has such a memorable origin story.
Whether you’ve attended DEF CON or its more corporate cousin, the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, you’ve seen how far the event has come. What started in a single conference room has grown into a multi-day gathering that takes over much of the Las Vegas Strip.
A party that wasn’t supposed to happen
The first DEF CON began as a simple farewell party organized by Jeff Moss, a bulletin board system (BBS) administrator known as the “Dark Tangent.” Today, members of the DEF CON community still call him “DT.”
Moss helped organize a goodbye party for the Platinum Net, a BBS network that was shutting down because its administrator was moving away. Before the event could happen, that administrator disappeared and stopped responding to messages.
Rather than cancel the gathering, Moss decided to host it anyway and invited members from his other BBS networks.
Where the name DEF CON came from
Moss named the event DEF CON. The name carried meaning for several communities.
Phreakers might recognize “DEF” as the letters associated with the number 3 on a telephone keypad. In military terminology, “DEFCON” is short for “Defense Condition.”
Moss was also a fan of the movie WarGames, which features a simulated strike on Las Vegas. Since the party was taking place in Las Vegas, the name felt like a natural fit.
From 100 to 30,000
About 100 people attended the first DEF CON. Today, the conference attracts as many as 30,000 attendees.
The original event was much smaller. Every session took place in a single room, creating an intimate gathering for hackers and technology enthusiasts.
Topics that still matter today
Sessions at the first DEF CON included topics such as “The Law, and Its Intersection with Virtual Reality,” “Security Concerns of an Administrator,” and “Hiding Your Identity in the High-Tech Future, or The Pay Phone Is Your Friend.”
While the technology has changed, many of those themes remain relevant. Virtual reality, privacy, and security challenges continue to shape the technology landscape.
The conference’s first agenda did not include AI, and pay phones have largely disappeared. Even so, many of the discussions from 1993 still resonate today. It’s easy to see why DEF CON remains one of the cybersecurity industry’s most enduring events.
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Photo: Anton Gvozdikov / Shutterstock
