Hackers Invade Vegas
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   By Robert Lemos
   July 11, 1997 5:15 PM PDT

   Las Vegas -- In the sub-culture of computer hackers, the annual
   conclave - called DEF CON -- carries a unique badge of distinction:
   Each year the conference has managed to get itself barred from
   whatever hotel agreed to host it.

   The infractions ranged from attempts to hack hotel security to the
   destruction of hotel property. With that sort of notoriety, the show's
   organizers may soon find it hard to hold future conferences here. In
   the meantime, however, many attendees say that renegade reputation
   suits them just fine.

   DEF CON has become the premiere gathering place for computer hackers,
   network security consultants, and occasional low-profile law
   enforcement officials. And in between the face-to-face interaction on
   the show floor and at evening parties, DEF CON also serves as the
   offline social event of the year where the two-often clashing-parts of
   the Internet culture come together.

   About half the attendees represent the hacker culture -- that is, the
   alternative-rock, body-modified, online-worshipping generation for
   whom the Internet is the real world.

   "This is our Mecca," said one hacker with at least seven visible
   pierces and black-dyed hair that rose from his head like a pillar cast
   in polymer hair gel. Paranoia also runs deep; he would only comment on
   condition of complete anonymity.

   The remaining half is evenly split between corporate network
   administrators and security consultants, most of whom are from the old
   guard of hackers -- with handles like Mudge, Hobbit, Dark Overload,
   and others. "These are the people doing the original work," said Ira
   Winkler, former director of technology for the National Computer
   Security Association. "There is a general feeling among (the old
   guard) that the new generation is just wannabees."

   In an exclusive $1,000-a-head conference on network security -- dubbed
   the Black Hat conference -- held earlier in the week, quite a few of
   the corporate attendees as well as the old guard railed against, what
   is seen to be, undisciplined hackers. "Most of the participants in the
   Black Hat conference are not pleased with the newbies," said Adam
   Shostack, an independent network security consultant.

   The difference: Experts like Mudge and Shostack are the ones who find
   the holes in systems and point them out to the companies who made the
   software. The newer hackers use tools created by the experts to crack
   the systems. The hacker culture looks to the Internet as a proving
   ground, while the old guard strive for an Internet that is as bug-free
   as possible.

   Yet, the old guard needs the new hackers as much as they are needed
   for their programming skills. While companies are quick to issue bug
   fixes, system administrators are slow to implement them. The threat of
   hackers attempting to exploit holes in their systems make network
   administrators fill the holes that much quicker.

   While this will never be an adequate court defense, many of the DEF
   CON attendees believe it to be explanation enough.