DEFCON is the world's largest annual hacker convention, held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEFCON took place in June 1993, and in 2008, over 8500 people attended DEFCON 16.

Many of the attendees at DEFCON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, crackers, and hackers with a general interest in computer code and computer architecture. The event consists of several tracks of speakers about computer- and hacking-related subjects, as well as social events and contests in everything from creating the longest Wi-Fi connection and cracking computer systems to who can most effectively cool a beer in the Nevada heat. Other contests include lockpicking, robotic-related contests, art, slogan, coffee wars, and Capture the Flag. Capture the Flag (CTF) is perhaps the best known of these contests. It is a hacking competition where teams of hackers attempt to attack and defend computers and networks. CTF has been emulated at other hacking conferences as well as in academic and military contexts.

Speakers(*) at the conference:
    * A
          o Sudhir Aggarwal
          o Mati Aharoni
          o Md Sohail Ahmad
          o Chema Alonso
          o Colin Ames
          o Zack Anderson
          o Ian Angell
          o Michael Assante
          o atlas

    * B
          o Taylor Banks
          o Kevin Bankston
          o Jay Beale (1,2)
          o Tiller Beauchamp
          o Luciano Bello
          o John Benson "jur1st"
          o Peter Berghammer
          o Maximiliano Bertacchini
          o Don Blumenthal (1,2)
          o Thomas Bowen
          o Magnus Bråding
          o Adam Bregenzer
          o Mark Bristow
          o Michael Brooks (1,2)
          o Jonathan Brossard
          o David Byrne

    * C
          o Jon Callas
          o D.J. Capelis
          o Carric
          o Alessandro Chiesa
          o Jim Christy
          o Joe Cicero
          o Ian Clarke
          o Sandy Clark "Mouse"
          o Greg Conti
          o Mike Convertino
          o Paul Craig
          o Cynthia Cuddihy
          o Alexei Czeskis

    * D
          o Dr. Shana Dardan
          o Thomas d'Otreppe
          o Brenno De Winter
          o Roger Dingledine
          o Jerry Dixon
          o Thomas Duebendorfer
          o Eric Duprey
          o Durandal
          o Randy Duvay

    * E
          o Chris Eagle
          o Luiz 'effffn' Eduardo
          o Brian K. Edwards
          o Nathan Evans
          o Gadi Evron (1,2)

    * F
          o Rick Farina
          o Doug Farre
          o Ben Feinstein (1,2)
          o Matt Fiddler
          o Kevin Figueroa
          o Marco Figueroa
          o James Finch
          o John Fitzpatrick
          o Silvio J. Flaim
          o Zac Franken
          o Stefan Frei
          o Fyodor

    * G
          o Eva Galperin
          o Travis Goodspeed
          o Robert Graham (1,2)
          o Joe "Kingpin" Grand (1,2,3)
          o Jennifer Granick
          o Christian Grothoff
          o Barry Grundy
          o Kurt Grutzmacher

    * H
          o Dan Halperin
          o Nathan Hamiel
          o Robert Hansen (1,2)
          o Nick Harbour
          o G. Mark Hardy
          o David Helfen
          o Wendel G. Henrique
          o Rick Hill
          o Chris Hoff
          o Marcia A. Hofmann
          o Ryan Hoover
          o Bob Hopper
          o Cameron Hotchkies
          o Simon Howard
          o Tony Howlett

    * J
          o JonM
          o Hirosh Joseph

    * K
          o Dan Kaminsky
          o Anton Kapela
          o Tom Kellermann
          o David Kennedy
          o Ray Kessenich
          o Fouad Kiamilev
          o Jon King
          o Tadayoshi Kohno
          o Kolisar
          o Karl Koscher
          o Tim Kosiba
          o Matt "DCFLuX" Krick
          o Lee Kushner
          o Mischel Kwon

    * L
          o Alexander Lash
          o lclee_vx
          o Michael Ligh
          o Felix "FX" Lindner (1,2, 3)
          o lychan25
          o Lyn

    * M
          o Major Malfunction
          o Martin May
          o Morgan Marquis-Boire
          o Rich Marshall
          o Guy Martin
          o Anthony Martinez
          o David Maynor (1,2)
          o Corynne McSherry
          o John Melvin
          o Rich Mogull
          o Marc Moreau
          o David Mortman
          o Scott Moulton (1,2)
          o Shawn Moyer
          o Nelson Murilo
          o Mike Murray
          o JVR Murthy
          o mutantMandias
          o Dr. Igor Muttik

    * N
          o Ne0nRa1n
          o Jan Newger
          o N.N.P.
          o Claes Nyberg
          o NYCMIKE

    * O
          o Christer Öberg
          o Jim O'Leary
          o Gunter Ollmann
          o Justine Osborne
          o Kurt Opsahl

    * P
          o José Parada
          o Mike Perry
          o Phreakmonkey
          o Michael Piatek
          o Alex Pilosov
          o Bruce Potter
          o Tom Pownall
          o Ken Privette

    * R
          o Paul F. Renda
          o Renderman (1,2)
          o Mike Renlund
          o Rev
          o Robert Ricks
          o RJ Ryan

    * S
          o Marcus Sachs
          o Eric Schmiedl
          o Ferdinand Schober
          o Jason Scott
          o Blake Self
          o James Shewmaker
          o Greg Sinclair
          o Teo Sze Siong
          o Eric Smith
          o Mike Spindel
          o Alex Stamos
          o Ken Stasiak
          o Tom Stracener

    * T
          o Christopher Tarnovsky
          o David Thiel
          o Marc Weber Tobias
          o Scott Torborg
          o Tottenkoph
          o Schuyler Towne
          o Ryan Trost
          o James Tusini

    * V
          o Valsmith
          o Vic Vandal
          o Amit Vartak
          o Tim Vidas
          o Michael Vieau

    * W
          o Weasel
          o Andrew Weidenhamer
          o Matt Weir
          o Lin Wells
          o David Weston
          o Scott White
          o Thomas Wilhelm
          o Anthony L. Williams
          o Clinton Wong

    * Y
          o Fabian "fabs" Yamaguchi
          o Matt Yoder

    * Z
          o Zoz


only registered users with at least 25 hack challenge points can see links:
  click here in order to visit the hack challenges - 617.08 Mb

(*) not everyone has been included