DEF CON 34

This event has passed. Read our wrap-up here.

The hacker summer party is nearly here.

After a year away, the Pen Test Partners team is returning to DEF CON with new research, technical talks, capture the flag challenges, hands on activities, and a collection of industrial and aviation systems for educational purposes.

You will find us across the Aerospace Village and ICS Village throughout the event.

Talks

All our scheduled talks will take place on the Creator Stages. You can find the full details in Hacker Tracker.

Hacking general aviation electronic conspicuity devices: or making light aircraft fly in to each other

Friday 7 August, 10:00 am to 11:00 am
Aerospace Village

Ken Munro and Adam Bromiley will look at the security of electronic conspicuity devices used by light aircraft to broadcast and receive positional information.

The talk will look at how these systems work, where the trust assumptions sit, and what could happen when the information pilots rely on is manipulated.

Hacking AFDX, or not: a primer in hacking aircraft flight control networks and tooling you’ll need to do so

Saturday 8 August, 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Aerospace Village

Andrew Tierney and Adam Bromiley will provide a practical introduction to Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet, better known as AFDX.

They will explain how aircraft flight control networks operate, the challenges involved in assessing them, and the tools you will need to start exploring the technology.

Two NICs, zero trust: Pulling Apart a PAC Buried in Critical Infrastructure

Sunday 9 August, 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm
ICS Village

Adam Bromiley and Sam Thom will pull apart a programmable automation controller found deep inside critical infrastructure.

They will examine what happens when a device has two network interface cards, how trust crosses network boundaries, and what that means for industrial environments.

There may also be a few impromptu village talks involving whatever devices we happen to break along the way.

Industrial cocktail systems

Both systems contain capture the flag challenges designed to help people learn about operational technology networks, including programmable logic controllers, human machine interfaces, industrial switches, and gateways.

Complete the challenge and the system might even make you a drink.

We may also bring some additional operational technology equipment for people to explore without the usual fear of bricking an expensive production system.

Fly our Airbus A320 simulator

We will have one of our flight simulators in the Aerospace Village, built around half of an Airbus A320 cockpit.

We use the simulator to demonstrate how compromised engine performance calculations can affect a take off. Incorrect data can contribute to a tail strike or a runway excursion, as crashes are sometimes rather politely described in aviation.

You can explore the demonstration or simply see whether you can land the aircraft safely.

Industry parties

On Thursday evening, we will be hosting a gathering for the automotive security community.

If you work for an original equipment manufacturer, a Tier 1 supplier, or are a member of the Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center, contact us for an invitation. Details will also be shared directly through the Auto ISAC.

On Friday evening, we will be hosting the aviation security community. Swing past our booth in the Aerospace Village for details, particularly if you work in the industry or are a member of the Aviation ISAC. Members will also receive information directly from the ISAC.

There may be a few less formal gatherings along the way too.

Join the DEFCON.run

We will be joining the DEFCON.run outside the Convention Center at 6:00 am each morning.

There may even be some spare Pen Test Partners running swag for anyone quick enough to claim it.

See you in Las Vegas!