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ShmooCon Announcement



Howdy,
We're less than 3 months from the third ShmooCon. First off, the important details:

When: March 23-25, 2007
Where: Washington DC
Who: about 1000 hackers, security pro's, and assorted others
What: 3 days of talks (4 tracks this year: Friday is a series of short talks for all attendees, Saturday and Sunday have three tracks similar to the last two years), contests, and parties Who benefits: You, the attendee. Also, we run ShmooCon on a cost recovery basis, so we only charge what we need to make the con happen for you... the leftover goes to seed next year's con and donations to various organizations.
More info:  www.shmoocon.org

There's a lot going on this year, so here are some of the highlights of the latest news:
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== Ticket Sales
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Tickets sales are being run differently than last year. There are three sale cycles with _each cycle_ having $75, $150, and $300 tickets for sale. The first round of tickets went on sale Dec 1. The cheap tickets were sold out in about 15 hours. The medium price tickets lasted a couple of days. The next round of tickets go on sale Jan 1 and the final round go on sale Feb 1. Check out the site for more info, and warm up your "refresh" button.

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== CFP
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The CFP is still open (at least for a few more weeks... Jan 15 is the last day CFP submissions will be accepted). We've had a large number of submissions already, and have accepted a few talks. We'll be doing the final round of acceptances in mid-January, so if you've got an idea rattling around in your head, better get it on paper and send it in. More info at http://www.shmoocon.org/cfp.html

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== ShmooCon Labs
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Every year at Shmoocon we put a ton of work into the design and setup of our conference network. This year our NOC team is opening up this project as a pre conference event. As a participant you will get hands on time implementing cutting edge security tools in a real world environment. As a vendor you will get a chance to implement your gear in an untrusted, potentially hostile environment of 1000+ hackers.

This is not your normal vendor dog and pony show. We are building a network that needs to be up and running in time for the conference so be prepared to jump in the fire. During Shmoocon various aspects of the network will be made available for attendees to hack on and all vendors should expect their products to get looked over with a fine tooth comb or a 20 pound hammer.

Shmoocon labs will run for the day and half prior to the start of Shmoocon. Shmoocon starts in earnest on the afternoon of March 23rd. The labs will start at the crack of dawn on the 22nd and have 36 hours to get the network up and running.

Registration for the labs is open to conference attendees but we are limiting attendance to 30 people. Also, note that there will be a $50 charge to help us cover costs. There are no hard and steadfast prerequisites, however we expect this event to be best suited towards people with background as Network Engineers, System Adminisrators and Security Engineers. We are looking for individuals who either are experts in one of the areas outlined above or people that are interested in learning more through hands on design, configuration, and deploying of these technologies.

This is not a "first come, first served" event... rather we are trying to find the right mix of individuals to make the network usable and help as many people learn from this process as possible. There is an application process for attending. If you are interested in attending, please send the following information to shmooconlabs@xxxxxxxxxxxx:

- Summary of work/academic experience
- Why you are interested in attending the labs
- If you feel you are able to serve as a lead in one of the technology areas
- If you are able to show up a day early to help stage the lab
In order to cover our costs of running the lab, there will be a $50 fee for each attendee. This basically will pay for space, food, and incidentals (zipties, cables, etc). On Feb 15th, we will finalize the attendee list for the labs. If you have any question please email shmooconlabs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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== Hacker Arcade
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We will be doing the Hacker Arcade again this year. Think of it as Chuck-e-Cheese, but instead of paper tickets, you get cryptographic tokens on a USB dongle that can be redeemed for prizes. Hacker Arcade is a double-contest (if you will). First, the games available in the arcade are made by con attendees. The best games gets prizes... and even some of the more interesting games get prizes as well. The winner last year was a Slash 'em game that utilized a home grown coin slot that somehow made it through airport security even tho it looked like a bomb. There was also a great double sided skill crane that allowed both over the network and in person play.

Last year we had about 10 entries total. We're hoping for more. If you're interested in bringing a game, or have questions about the contest, check out http://www.shmoocon.org/arcade.html or contact arcade@xxxxxxxxxxxx

The other contest is the players of the arcade. Just like Chuck-e- Cheese, the more you play, the more you can win. So we will have prizes that you can redeem your tokens for... but some of the prizes will have limited quantity, so if you want one of the nicer ones, you better play soon and play often.

Like last year, all the proceeds from the lab will go to the EFF.

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== Hack-or-Halo
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Do you have anti-social tendencies? Do you ever think "man, this would be a great con, if only there weren't all these feds around, and I could just start pwning stuff." Or maybe you've found your self at a conference thinking "gee, I sure would like to shoot that guy in the face." In the past you may have had to suppress these urges. But not at ShmooCon! We understand your needs to compete, demonstrate skills, and enjoy gratuitous violence. So, once again, we bring you Hack-or-Halo!

Hack-or-Halo is the premier East coast hacking-plus-gaming event. Bring your skills in Halo 2, or your ability to break into boxen faster than your competitors, and you can win impressive prizes along with bragging rights. Hack-or-Halo is two tournaments in one. You've got your pick of high-speed drag race hacking, or quick rounds of free-for-all slayer Halo 2.

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== Fin
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That's it. If you have questions about attending, sponsorship, or just random praise, please email info@xxxxxxxxxxxx

See you all in DC!

later

bruce