As someone who has basically become disillusioned with most information security conferences, I didn’t find myself to be excited about another, let alone a new one. Then along came NaClCON and it changed my mind. It was a matter of days before I volunteered to help with the Call For Papers (CFP) review. With the frequency of new conferences, in addition to the staggering number of existing ones, it is easy for them to fall through the cracks. Especially when you find them backed up week after week and being forced to choose which, if any, to attend. So I want to share why this conference is appealing to me and I find myself attending one after many years since the last.
The Basics
NaClCON is a three day resort takeover event dedicated not just to zero-days and bleeding edge releases, but to how we got here. Whether you are an experienced veteran, or someone with a passion for learning, this event will have something for you. The focus will be on the history of hacking – the ideas, the moments, and the people that shaped the hacker community and its enduring impact. The speakers at NaClCON are legends within the industry, and they will be sharing their first-hand stories with you.
Is This For Old Geezers?
Yes! And no! Sure, the theme for the inaugural year is the history of hacking but that doesn’t mean next year will. More importantly, while the speakers may be the old guard so to speak, it doesn’t mean the audience will or should be. History is for everyone; just ask your history teachers in school. Besides, there are a lot of lessons we can take from history that are informative to what we do today and that is key here.
To be honest, if I show up to this conference and don’t find the audience full of younger hackers and security types, I will personally feel that we haven’t done the conference justice.
North Carolina… LGBQT… Will I Be Safe?
This is where people that know me, know that I will be honest first and forego fluffy words. To answer that question, we certainly hope so, and the staff of con will do everything we can to ensure that, to a ridiculous degree if needed. Yes, the conference is in North Carolina which is not generally known to be friendly to the LGBQT community, but this will be happening in a town that doesn’t have a reputation for such discrimination and bigotry either. What about flying in? Transportation to the conference hotel? Anything outside the conference? That’s where we certainly want there to be no issues, and we even spoke at length during the latest staff meeting about how to best address those concerns. Concerns brought up by one of our staff no less, so this is near and dear to our hearts.
I was not the only one who immediately replied, in so many words, “they go through me first“. While we cannot make assurances about things entirely out of our control, let me tell you how we’re approaching it and where this started in a different context. From the first staff meeting, we agreed that this conference would not allow bad people to even attend. If you are known to any of us, with any reasonable level of certainty, to be a rapist, abuser, or bigot, you will not attend. Bought a ticket? You will get a refund and can fuck right off. Do you find yourself already starting to argue what ‘reasonable’ or ‘certainty’ means? First ask yourself why you feel anyone might think of you as someone in that category.
We are still exploring ideas to do everything in our power to ensure the safety of our attendees. Full stop. Your gender, orientation, religion, or anything else are not relevant in a manner of speaking, because we want everyone to feel and be safe. People are people in our eyes. Need a safe ride from the airport? I will personally play SquirreLyft for you as best I can, time permitting. Is there something we can do that would make you feel more at ease? Please let us know, at info@naclcon.com! I also encourage you to read “LGBT+ Travel on the Outer Banks: Insights from a Queer Local” and “The Most Inclusive North Carolina Cities Where LGBTQ+ People Can Find Welcoming Communities And Comfortable Living“.
Why This Con for You, Jericho?
The obvious, on-the-surface, answer is that my day-job title by choice is “Vulnerability Historian”. The history of hacking in various degrees has been of interest to me for a long time. Over the years I have been able to devote some time to the topic, spent time working on related Wikipedia articles, financially supported the Internet Archive, and more. I was extremely fortunate to have been invited to a small panel on preserving hacker history a couple years ago and still work with many of them to this day. Half that panel consisted of actual anthropologists that had an interest in preserving the history of a community that “wasn’t theirs” originally.
I don’t want to get political, and will leave that as the single disclaimer for the rest of this paragraph. While the hacker world is certainly not exclusive to the United States, there is a lot of history here and there is a perception bias as far as it being so dominant with us. That said, within the U.S., revisionist history is at an all-time high. I hopefully don’t need to link citation after citation to back this assertion, because I feel you can do that if you doubt me. Preserving history is a critical part of our society in so many ways, in addition to it being a learning point and jumping stone for what is to come next. Future generations benefit from knowing our collective past. Doesn’t matter if it is a “neat disclosure” or a more in-depth research topic or you find yourself defending your PhD by citing sources. History matters.
That panel I was invited to was put together by an anthropologist academic I respect greatly. One of the oddest (at the time) compliments she paid me a year later was calling me a “great interlocutor”. I literally had to look up that word. On the surface it has a simple meaning and lacks context. But given where the compliment was derived, it is simple and powerful. I hope that NaClCON isn’t just a bunch of old people sharing stories to other old people. I hope that the audience is full of the next generations, plural, and that we find ourselves all being great interlocutors.
I hope you will consider attending!
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