Then I checked into the Mandalay Bay-the massive aquatic-themed complex hosting Black Hat-which would be my basecamp between doing limited in-person coverage and virtual coverage I jokingly dubbed “#RoomCon.” Once in my rental car, I committed to picking up essentials and treating the situation as a biohazard. Some were hostile when asked to cover their mouths or noses. Many appeared not to be aware that current regulation called for masks for everyone indoors. Travellers masked haphazardly (if at all) while crowded in transit within the airport and to the rental car center. Unfortunately, the mask mandate was much more theoretical than practical on the ground. Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, which represent 60,000 workers around Las Vegas and Reno including those at the venues hosting Black Hat and DEF CON, told The Record that 146 members or their immediate families have died and 1,508 have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 since March 1, 2020. However, in consultation with journalism peers and health experts, I decided I was comfortable going to cover the effect of the crisis on the conferences if I followed strict safety measures that would limit the risk to myself and the local community.Īnd that community is at risk-especially frontline workers who kept the resorts and restaurants operating during the conferences. The order featured very limited exceptions, such as for when a person was “actively eating or drinking.”Īlthough I am vaccinated, without the mask mandate I probably would’ve cancelled my trip-as several prominent security researchers did. 2nd, the state was reporting more than 1,000 new cases a day and Governor Steve Sisolak (D) had already rolled out a new emergency mask mandate requiring face coverings in indoor public places regardless of vaccination status in high-risk areas.
When I landed at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on Aug. Unfortunately, my testing found breakdowns across the board when it came to masking in Las Vegas. That’s why rules typically come with enforcement mechanisms and reporting systems that can help us understand actual compliance rates. But the chaos I encountered on the ground in Las Vegas raised serious questions about the health precautions in place this year and just how much we can trust each other when compliance is directly tied to physical community safety.Ĭompliance is always tricky because it relies on humans and we make mistakes-myself included.
#DEFCON 29 BADGE PATCH#
I can do some lockpicking and SQL injections, but my primary toolset is journalism-my job is fundamentally to learn about systems, discover where they might be vulnerable, and then report that information to the public in line with the hacker ethic, often with the hope that someone will patch the problem.Īt “ Hacker Summer Camp” this year, my main investigation was penetration testing masking compliance and enforcement systems as both Black Hat and DEF CON brought back in-person events during a surge of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19. I haven’t always claimed the title, but I’m a hacker. Fear and Covid in Las Vegas: Pen testing Hacker Summer Camp’s mask policies
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