Best Talks at DEF CON 33 (backfill)

Hand-picked from in-depth reviewer verdicts — the top 12 talks from this conference. Skip the noise, find the signal.

← All talks at DEF CON 33 (backfill)

1

No Spook Leaves Randomness to Chance

Shaanan Cohney

In "No Spook Leaves Randomness to Chance," Shaanan Cohney, an academic researcher at the University of Melbourne, delves into the elusive question of how state-level adversaries, such as the NSA, manage to decrypt encrypted traffic at scale. Moving beyond common theories like…

0 Dr. Zero MUST SEE ★★★★★ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
2

One Modem to Brick Them All -Vulns in EV Charging Comms

Jan Berens, Marcell Szakaly

This talk, "One Modem to Brick Them All," delivered by Marcell Szakaly from the University of Oxford and Jan Berens from Albertronic, delves into critical security vulnerabilities found within the **Power Line Communication (PLC)** modems used in modern Electric Vehicle (EV)…

0 Dr. Zero MUST SEE ★★★★★ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
3

How Computers Kill People: Marine Systems

Michael DeVolld, Austin Reid

In an era dominated by discussions of nation-state hackers, ransomware, and AI-driven threats, Michael DeVolld and Austin Reid from ABS Consulting, joined by Chris Stein, delivered a sobering talk at DEF CON that reframed the most critical cyber risk facing the maritime…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆
4

Fear vs Physics: Diagnosing Grid Chaos

Emma Stewart

Emma Stewart, Chief Grid Scientist at Idaho National Lab, delivered a compelling talk titled "Fear vs Physics: Diagnosing Grid Chaos" at DEF CON, challenging the prevalent tendency within the cybersecurity community to immediately attribute major power grid outages to…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆
5

Breaking into thousands of cloud based VPNs with 1 bug -David Cash, Rich Warren

Dave, Rich

In their DEF CON talk, "Zero Trust, Total Bust," Dave and Rich from Amberwolf unveiled a disturbing reality: the much-touted Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solutions, often marketed as the secure successor to legacy VPNs, are frequently riddled with critical vulnerabilities…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆
6

Winners of DARPA’s AI Cyber Challenge

Andrew Carney, Jason Roos, Stephen Winchell

The DARPA AI Cyber Challenge (AICC) is a landmark public competition aimed at revolutionizing software security by developing autonomous systems capable of discovering and patching vulnerabilities in source code. This talk, delivered by DARPA Program Manager Andrew Carney…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
7

Carding is Dead, Long Live Carding

Federico Valentini, Allesandro Strino

This talk, "Carding is Dead, Long Live Carding," delivered by Federico Valentini and Alessandro Strino from Clifi, delves into the alarming evolution of credit card fraud, specifically highlighting the surge in **NFC relay attacks** fueled by **Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS)**…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
8

Fingerprint-Based Bot Blocking & Dynamic Deception

Adel Karimi

In this DEF CON talk, Adel Karimi introduces an innovative approach to bot detection and adversary deception through network fingerprinting and dynamic response generation. His presentation, titled "Fingerprint-Based Bot Blocking & Dynamic Deception," unveils **Finch**, an…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
9

How NOT to Perform Covert Entry Assessments

Brent White, Tim Roberts

In this highly engaging and refreshingly candid DEF CON talk, Brent White and Tim Roberts, seasoned physical security penetration testers with over 12 years of experience, dismantle common misconceptions about covert entry assessments. Titled "How NOT to Perform Covert Entry…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
10

How Extra Features In Contactless Payments Break Security, What We Can Do

Tom Chotia

In this DEF CON talk, Tom Chotia from the University of Birmingham dives deep into the often-overlooked security implications of "extra features" added to the otherwise robust **EMV contactless payment protocols**. While the core EMV specification is remarkably secure and…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
11

Hacking Hotel Locks: The Saflok Vulnerabilities Expanded -Noah Holland, Josh Stiebel

Noah Holland, Josh Stiebel

This talk, "Hacking Hotel Locks: The Saflok Vulnerabilities Expanded," presented by Noah Holland and Josh Stiebel, delves into the pervasive security flaws within Dormakaba's Saflok and Sapphire electronic lock systems, building upon previous revelations from DEF CON 32. While…

0 Dr. Zero STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆ H Heather Calloway SOLID ★★★☆☆
12

Fighting a Digital Blockade: View from Taiwan

Herming Chiueh, Jason Vogt, Frank Smith

This talk, "Fighting a Digital Blockade: View from Taiwan," delves into the critical challenges Taiwan faces in maintaining digital connectivity and resilience in the event of a conflict with the People's Republic of China. Presented by Jason Vogt, an Assistant Professor at the…

0 Dr. Zero SOLID ★★★☆☆ H Heather Calloway STRONG ACCEPT ★★★★☆