Shmooganography, Looking Back from Behind the Scenes and into Plain Sight
Will Newton, Mike Bowen
ShmooCon XX (Final) · Day 2 · Bring It On
The ShmooCon conference has long been a bastion for cutting-edge security research and community engagement, and for many years, a standout staple has been the **Shmooganography** challenge. This talk, "Shmooganography, Looking Back from Behind the Scenes and into Plain Sight," delivered by its creators, Will Newton and Mike Bowen, offers an unparalleled retrospective into the intricate world of designing, deploying, and managing this multi-stage steganography game. Far from a mere summary, the presentation provides a candid, in-depth look at the evolution of the challenge, detailing both the triumphs and tribulations encountered over its extensive run.
AI review
Newton and Bowen deliver a brutally honest, no-bullshit retrospective on building and running the Shmooganography challenge for nearly two decades. This isn't theoretical fluff; it's a deep dive into the practicalities, the triumphs, and the painful failures of deploying diverse steganography techniques in a live conference environment. For anyone considering building a real-world CTF or simply wanting to understand the operational challenges of data hiding, this talk provides invaluable, hard-earned lessons. They clearly put in the work, and it shows.