Black Hat USA 2012

docrice

I'm checking out at least the Briefings in July (missed it the last couple of years). However I'm thinking of making most of my time in Vegas and attend a training class or two in addition to Defcon.

https://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-us-12/training/bh-us-12-training_complete.html

Since it's at Black Hat, this stuff's definitely on the pricier side. For example, TCP/IP Weapons School 3.0 was $1500 at Usenix. At Black Hat it's $2200+. A sizeable bump.

Anyone ever take a class at the conference?

JDMurray

I have friends who have. They always gave the classes and instructors great reviews. Their employers paid for the BH conference admission and classes. I don't know of anyone who would foot the bill themselves, especially since most of the BH presentations are given at Defcon too.

YuckTheFankees

Is anyone else going to Black Hat? I'm thinking about it.

JDMurray

I'll be at Def Con 20, but not BH.

YuckTheFankees

Shoot, that's what I meant. Are you going to do any training?

whatthehell

JDMurray wrote: »

I'll be at Def Con 20, but not BH.

Never been to DefCon -- how is it? Any advice on going? Worth it?

docrice

If you've never been to DEFCON before and you like infosec subjects, definitely go. It gets crowded and there may be times when you can't get into a talk because there are so many people lined up, but it's worth seeing the hacking culture first-hand. Much more casual than Black Hat, but many speakers from Black Hat also speak at DEFCON. Admission price at $200 is higher than previous years, but much more affordable than Black Hat for sure and it spans three days.

Be prepared to encounter quite a few people who don't shower.

I'm definitely doing at least one training class at Black Hat though, plus the Briefings and DEFCON thereafter. It's going to be a full week for me.

JDMurray

Official Defcon FAQ

Unofficial Defcon FAQ

contentpros

I will be at both Blackhat and Defcon this year. I generally do both since work picks up the tab. Most of the talks you can see at Blackhat are usually at Defcon as mentioned but some of the talks are in a longer format at Blackhat where the Defcon talks are often a cliff notes version of the BH talk. If you can make it to Vegas and attend the security b-sides event (7/25 & 7/26) I would highly recommend it! This year I will also be going to Derbycon in September a few of my friends presented last year and said it is worth the trip.

JDMurray

The Defcon Media Archives have free videos and PDFs of many past Defcon presentations. I believe recorded BH presentations can only be purchased commercially (and possibly on BT, of course.)

ChooseLife

JDMurray wrote: »

The Defcon Media Archives have free videos and PDFs of many past Defcon presentations. I believe recorded BH presentations can only be purchased commercially (and possibly on BT, of course.)

What a wealth of high-quality information.... Society is about to lose for me the next 300 hours, or whatever the combined duration of those recordings is....

JDMurray

I just realized there is a BlackHat multimedia archives.