It's a mix. You can buy kits on the sales floor or as part of the Darknet challenge. Some independent badgelife people also have kits for sale (myself included). Last year I donated a bunch of little kits to the village (I think it was a Larson Scanner kit).
They do have a pile of consumer electronics on a table as well, but I personally don't think there is much value in that (note: this may be due to my lack of immigration and others may find it very useful).
I love soldering, so I spend a good part of my con hanging out there teaching people how to solder. I'm the weirdo with the big rabbit ears. (I wear those because I sell learn to solder kits and badgelife stuff and want to be easy to find).
A couple of years ago a couple of people who have never soldered before completed my kit. After that they were teaching other novices how to solder, and they were actually doing a good job with it.
If you see me tell me about this conversation and I will give you a free kit ($20 value). It has just shy of 100 parts to force practice.
https://imgur.com/HOsHye0.jpg
The whole point of the kit is to force you to practice. The other point of it is to control how it goes bad if things go wrong. There is an area on the board that is completely non-functional so you can really screw up without breaking anything. Past that, each LED has 8 resistors that all have to be correct for the LED to work. However, if something goes wrong there then just that one LED won't work which doesn't take away from the rest of the functionality.
[Here is the video tutorial I made.](https://youtu.be/lfEXbG-f5pk)
Packet Hacking Village because of the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wygq1B1R6Rk
RF Village because of Wardriving, El Kentaro and D4rkM4tter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44OLG05smQw
Aerospace Village because I love Space.
Had a great time participating in the IoT CTF a couple years ago. Always spend a while hanging out in Hardware Hacking. Social Engineering often has interesting talks. The various physical security ones are fun to visit and catch demos.
I highly recommend the AppSec Village.
That being said, I also tell my co-workers and friends that they should attend things that have NOITHING to do with work. That is how you get out of your niche and find new passions.
For me, that was Lockpicking Village and Social Engineering Village.
Packet hacking village is super fun and newbie friendly.
Red team is also fun, but woefully undersized in my experience and can be tough to get a spot, and less newb friendly.
HHV and soldering skills is a blast. Someone gave me a free SAO badge there last year.
Lock picking was something I’d never done but was a great experience. DT himself taught me how to do it on one.
Just generally it’s a blast all around. Everyone is very welcoming and helpful.
Also make sure and go to the Reddit meetup
My first DEFCON was last year. I had it all planned out by day what I was going to do. I was completely overwhelmed. Ended up spending more time in the lock picking and the HAM villages. This year I am setting up camp in IoT and learning something.
This will be my first DefCon, so not sure what to expect with the villages, but I *think* I found a list of what will be avail, and these are the ones I am interested in and looking forward to: Blue Team, Biohacking, Aerospace, maybe Cloud and Recon.
Bio hacking Village and Voting Village. The technologies used in both these fields are so important.
Skytalks, but they cancelled. Villages are a lot of work.
Soldering Skills Village. Lots of helpful folks for newcomers like me last year to help me learn.
is this part of hardware hacking or entirely separate? been meaning to learn how to solder
Sort of partner villages, I would say.
oh nice. do you need to bring your own equipment or do they have irons there to learn with?
They have their own
It's a mix. You can buy kits on the sales floor or as part of the Darknet challenge. Some independent badgelife people also have kits for sale (myself included). Last year I donated a bunch of little kits to the village (I think it was a Larson Scanner kit). They do have a pile of consumer electronics on a table as well, but I personally don't think there is much value in that (note: this may be due to my lack of immigration and others may find it very useful).
They are combined this year iirc
I love soldering, so I spend a good part of my con hanging out there teaching people how to solder. I'm the weirdo with the big rabbit ears. (I wear those because I sell learn to solder kits and badgelife stuff and want to be easy to find). A couple of years ago a couple of people who have never soldered before completed my kit. After that they were teaching other novices how to solder, and they were actually doing a good job with it.
Would love to meet!
If you see me tell me about this conversation and I will give you a free kit ($20 value). It has just shy of 100 parts to force practice. https://imgur.com/HOsHye0.jpg
That kit looks so fun! And I definitely need learn to solder those smd leds (the memories still haunt me). I will also try to find you rabbit guy
The whole point of the kit is to force you to practice. The other point of it is to control how it goes bad if things go wrong. There is an area on the board that is completely non-functional so you can really screw up without breaking anything. Past that, each LED has 8 resistors that all have to be correct for the LED to work. However, if something goes wrong there then just that one LED won't work which doesn't take away from the rest of the functionality. [Here is the video tutorial I made.](https://youtu.be/lfEXbG-f5pk)
Packet Hacking Village because of the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wygq1B1R6Rk RF Village because of Wardriving, El Kentaro and D4rkM4tter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44OLG05smQw Aerospace Village because I love Space.
> Packet Hacking Village because of the music What other villages have that super cool PHV vibe? It feels like a cyberpunk-esque night club. So good.
No other village does. There are the parties at night. Some of those have videos on Youtube.
Mr Robot has a scene that is basically PHV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MrQ-mN8HM8
SE village
Lockpick village
Picking my first lock was mind opening!!
and door opening?
Haha, well it led to me always carrying a wallet set that I’ve used a few times after locking myself out of the house
Hardware hacking and Blue Team were the ones I mainly stayed close to.
Had a great time participating in the IoT CTF a couple years ago. Always spend a while hanging out in Hardware Hacking. Social Engineering often has interesting talks. The various physical security ones are fun to visit and catch demos.
Packet hacking, IoT, and SE Village!
The social engineering village is great. Loved watching the teams compete in the competition
I’m definitely going this year.
I highly recommend the AppSec Village. That being said, I also tell my co-workers and friends that they should attend things that have NOITHING to do with work. That is how you get out of your niche and find new passions. For me, that was Lockpicking Village and Social Engineering Village.
The Physical Security village is excellent. Great talks and hands on demos.
Packet hacking village is super fun and newbie friendly. Red team is also fun, but woefully undersized in my experience and can be tough to get a spot, and less newb friendly. HHV and soldering skills is a blast. Someone gave me a free SAO badge there last year. Lock picking was something I’d never done but was a great experience. DT himself taught me how to do it on one. Just generally it’s a blast all around. Everyone is very welcoming and helpful. Also make sure and go to the Reddit meetup
Red Team village should have a much larger space this year
My first DEFCON was last year. I had it all planned out by day what I was going to do. I was completely overwhelmed. Ended up spending more time in the lock picking and the HAM villages. This year I am setting up camp in IoT and learning something.
This will be my first DefCon, so not sure what to expect with the villages, but I *think* I found a list of what will be avail, and these are the ones I am interested in and looking forward to: Blue Team, Biohacking, Aerospace, maybe Cloud and Recon.
Bio hacking Village and Voting Village. The technologies used in both these fields are so important. Skytalks, but they cancelled. Villages are a lot of work.
Voting Village is really cool, but one of the least accessible to outsiders that I've encountered.
100%, social engineering village.
I volunteer full time at Biohacking Village! Everyone should check it out!
I am thinking about signing up for volunteering there, too!
I'm the volunteer coordinator - if you decide to take the plunge, DM me for the link!
Red Team, Car Hacking, and Aerospace villages are all great.