Hacker Summer Camp 2024: Black Hat, DEFCON, and Beyond

As summer heats up in the US, so does the excitement of the annual Hacker Summer Camp event, which includes Black Hat and the highly anticipated DEFCON 2024. This year, I was fortunate to be involved in reviewing talks and organizing events for several activities at Hacker Summer Camp 2024. I was thrilled to be able to participate in a variety of activities, from providing training sessions to moderating panels and hosting hackathons. Additionally, several sessions caught my attention, promising to be enlightening and transformative. Here’s a look at my busy schedule and the sessions I’m most looking forward to.

While my company has covered our collective activities in other blog posts, I want to focus this post on my personal involvement and the sessions I hope to attend.

I have had the honor of serving on CFP review board committees for:

• 2024 US Black Caps
• Enemy Village @ DEFCON 32
• Cloud Village @ DEFCON 32
• Recon Village @ DEFCON 32

Additionally, I also contribute my insights to the community track at Black Hat USA.

Below are the activities I personally participated in during this time period. I’d love for you to join the show and say hello:

Now, let’s dive into some must-watch talks from the event. Before I list them, I want to note that the overall program is of top quality. These are just my personal favorites based on my interests and areas of focus. Every talk scheduled at the event has proven to be the best in its category.

Top 10 Must-Watch Talks at Black Hat 2024

1. Practical LLM Security: Takeaways from a Year in the Trenches by Richard Harang: LLM has become the talk of the town, talks from the trenches is a great idea to start on this topic.
2. Breaching AWS Accounts Through Shadow Resources and in Defcon : Shadow resources are always a threat
3. Trifecta of Portswigger Talks: James and his team have always made significant contributions to advancing web attack techniques.
4. Not Just for Wannabes: Personal branding is essential for career advancement by Ricki Burke. This session is a must for anyone who wants to stand out.
5. Fireside Chat with Moxie and Jeff: Two giants in infosec, their conversation is sure to spark thought-provoking ideas and questions.
6. Community Session: Career Insights from Technical Roles to Strategic Leadership panelists Jason Haddix, Ricki Burke, Sherri Davidoff, Lukasz Gogolkiewicz : Panel discussion on transitioning from technical to management roles. It is important to understand the path and challenges in leadership.
7. Community Session: From Interest to Insight: How to Identify and Explore Your Research Topic Panelists Stefano Zanero, James Kettle, Natasha Silvanovich : Renowned researchers discuss how to choose a research topic, offering insights for new and experienced researchers.
8. Crashing the Party: Vulnerabilities in RPKI Validation by Niklas Vogel, Donika Mirdita, Haya Schulmann, Michael Waidner : Focusing on the vulnerabilities of the RPKI protocol and their impact on internet security, what is more important is how DoS/crash attacks can bring down the internet.
9. Self-Hosted GitHub CI/CD Runners: Continuous Integration, Continuous Destruction by Adnan Khan, John Stawinski: Covers attacks on CI/CD pipelines, specifically targeting self-hosted GitHub runners, with a focus on risks and mitigation strategies.
10. Flipping Bits: Your Credentials Are Definitely Mine by STÖK STÖK, Joona Hoikkala : typos / name confusion on steroids 😛

This year Black Hat has introduced track meetings where specific track review board members will be present to discuss. If you are interested in AI / LLM, Reverse Engineering, Hardware/Embedded Systems, or Mobile Meetups, this meetup is a must-attend event.

For those looking to quickly pick up something usable, the Black Hat Arsenal entry and DEFCON demo lab are a must-visit. Here are some key recommendations:

DEFCON emphasized a live event this year, providing participants with practical experience. Here are the top village talks and events:

Cloud Village

Complete schedule here

Enemy Village

Complete schedule here

• Practical Workshop: The Power of Purple
• Tech Talk: Cunning Extensions – MV3 Breakout Artist

Recon Village

Hacker Summer Camp 2024 will be an event full of learning, collaboration, and innovation. I am excited to contribute through my input while absorbing knowledge from the sessions I attend. Stay tuned for updates and detailed insights from the event as I dive into the world of cybersecurity at Hacker 2024!

PS India’s conference space has been disrupted this year but it looks like we are in for a very busy November. Stay tuned for more information on that in another blog post.