Children Learn to Be Hackers at DefCon Kids Event
Children dreaming of becoming hackers now have their own conference in the form of DefCon Kids, a veritable boot camp on how to break into computers or mobile devices.
Scheduled to take place August 6-7 at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, the convention, an offshoot of the popular DefCon hacking conference, will teach sprouts aged 8 to 16 how to circumvent network security.
The first year for the convention, which runs in tandem with its parent event’s roster of talks, panels and keynotes, it will sport its own schedule of dedicated topics.
Sessions include the likes of “The Wall of Sheep Workshop,” “Secrets Revealed” and “Google Hacking,” designed to promote better security habits, explain how to create ciphers, and teach tots how to access sensitive information via online search, respectively. There’s even a “Meet the Feds” workshop where young cyber villains in training can rub elbows with representatives of the National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security and military investigate agents.
Happily, there’s still hope for ensuring your child grows up to be a good little “white hat” angel (as opposed to “black hat” roustabout) yet. “Please note that parents must be with their children during any classroom or workroom sessions that they attend,” explains the organizers’ official website. In other words, even if you can’t teach them right from wrong, at least you’ll know all the same dirty little tricks.