Hello friend,

DEF CON 34 is in the books, and we made it home with a lot to unpack.

This was the fourth year of the DEF CON Groups Community at DEF CON, but it was also a year of firsts. We ran our first two contests, expanded the Community Stage, brought back our LAN Party, hosted our first official DCG Party, and somehow fit a Darknet Diaries Meet & Greet into the same room.

Most importantly, a lot of you showed up.

We saw a significant increase in people looking for their local DEF CON Group, asking how to revive an inactive group, or wanting to start something new in their area. That is exactly what we want the DCG Community at DEF CON to be: a place where the global network becomes a room full of actual humans.

Operator, Please Hold

On Thursday night, we turned W238 into Operator, Please Hold, the official DEF CON Groups social.

AfterGlow and YTCracker DJed for us while hackers, DCG organizers, POCs, and community builders from around the world filled the room. We had our own cash bar, music, and deliberately no talks or agenda.

The point was to socialize.

And people actually showed up.

That may sound like a low bar for throwing a party, but anyone who has tried to pull hackers away from the hundred other things happening simultaneously at DEF CON knows better.

We were very happy with the turnout and response, and we would like to bring the DCG party back next year, hopefully with a larger space.

A special thank you to sm0hk and NiteTrain, who stayed alongside polomaster and alethe through Community setup, party setup, supervision, cleanup, and the rest of a Thursday that stretched beyond 12 hours without much opportunity to stop.

The LAN Party Returns

This was also the fourth year of our DCG LAN Party.

NiteTrain and polomaster set up and managed two tables containing a dozen laptops loaded with retro multiplayer games, including Quake III Arena.

The format stayed simple: sit down and play.

Attendees dropped in throughout DEF CON to battle each other, jump into games with strangers, or fight bots. We added a few new games this year and received great feedback from people using the area.

We have deliberately kept the LAN Party casual, but there has been enough interest that we may experiment with adding a contest component in the future.

Backdoors & Breaches Took Over the Room

Our first year running DCG contests started with something considerably larger than we anticipated.

Tim Doerges and Seth Benning, the creators behind competitive Backdoors & Breaches, joined us in the Community to teach the game, run matches, and operate the tournament.

They also arrived with hundreds of decks, dice, and piles of swag to give away.

Friday was pool play.

More than 70 competitors participated, with 35 players winning multiple games. Players with the strongest records earned seeded positions going into Saturday's tournament, while casual Backdoors & Breaches games continued throughout DEF CON.

Saturday was tournament day.

Sunday we announced the winner, Kal, on the Contest Stage.

Kal will receive a DEF CON 35 Human badge from DEF CON Groups.

John and Erica from Black Hills Information Security also stopped by to see what was happening, while Rekcah Comics had a booth over in the vendor area.

Our DCG Goons and Community Coordinators learned the game, jumped in to support matches, helped contestants, and kept the area moving, but Tim and Seth did the heavy lifting required to make this happen.

Backdoors & Breaches became the busiest part of our Community room.

We noticed.

Expect more capacity and more room for it next year.

762 Votes for Stickers

The DCG Sticker Contest was our other first-year contest.

Around 40 stickers were submitted before the August 1 deadline.

The entries were anonymized and reviewed by DCG Goons, excluding alethe. Each submission received a simple yes or no vote, and the 15 stickers receiving the most support advanced to DEF CON for in-person voting.

We printed the finalists and placed them alongside individual clear acrylic ballot boxes.

Everyone passing through the DCG Community was offered a custom raffle ticket and asked to vote for their favorite.

By the time voting closed Saturday evening, you had cast 762 votes.

The winner was 0BERLIN of DC253, receiving 23% of all votes and finishing roughly 60 votes ahead of the next closest entry.

The winners got to come onto the Contest Stage Sunday to be recognized, applauded, and photographed. We announced the result again later at DEF CON Closing Ceremonies.

0BERLIN will also receive a DEF CON 35 Human badge from DEF CON Groups.

Our first year of contests will not be our last.

Look for the Sticker Contest to reopen around March or April 2027. The submission deadline next year will be July 28, 2027, and we may experiment with a different voting system to give even more people an opportunity to participate.

300–500 People Wanted to Meet Jack

We knew inviting Jack Rhysider of Darknet Diaries for a Meet & Greet would draw a crowd.

We underestimated what "a crowd" meant.

At one point we had an estimated 300–500 people in line.

The turnout became large enough that an LVCC fire inspector came over to make sure we were staying within room capacity.

Our DCG Goons and DCG Community Coordinators worked with DEF CON SOC to manage the line, keep things fair, control traffic into and out of the room, and get as many people in front of Jack as possible without creating an unsafe situation.

We ultimately had to cap the line at 2:30 PM.

Jack then stayed approximately another half hour so that everyone who had already been waiting still got the opportunity to meet him.

While people waited, we handed out DCG bracelets. Jack went through nearly 500 Darknet Diaries stickers along with a substantial supply of his own bracelets.

People left with autographs, stories, swag, and some very large smiles.

We already have ideas for making this better next time, primarily involving more space and a format capable of handling demand without overwhelming Jack or his team.

Thank you to Jack, his team, DEF CON SOC, and everyone who handled the crowd with patience.

Five Community Stage Talks

We also expanded the educational side of the DCG Community with five Community Stage talks focused specifically on building and sustaining hacker communities.

This year's talks were:

Starting and Sustaining a Successful DEF CON Group — DC862
C$, Joe Folk, and Christopher "reapermunky" Aziz

Building a Hacker Haven: The Long Game of Growing a Local Hacker Community
Ryan Zagrodnik and Allie Zagrodnik

Building a Strong Community Culture — DC407
Edna Jonsson and Dustin

Lessons Learned from Building a New DEF CON Group — DC724
Cliff "GritsnGravy" Friedel and Joe "jbohack"

The State of DEF CON Groups
Alethe Denis and Magen Wu

Every speaker we spoke with afterward reported a positive experience.

All five presentations were also recorded and will be available through DEF CON's media server.

Giving DCG POCs and community builders a stage to talk about what they have actually learned running groups felt like a major win. It also allowed selected speakers to receive a speaker badge and attend DEF CON while contributing something directly back to the community.

We will absolutely do Community Stage talks again.

And yes, during the State of DEF CON Groups talk we reiterated our position on DCG naming:

Area codes are part of DEF CON Groups DNA.

The current DCG naming format remains based on local area codes, with legacy groups retaining their established identifiers.

You will have to pry that convention from us.

Metaphorically.

Probably.

The Green Shirts

Nine DCG Community Coordinators ultimately made it to Las Vegas and worked the Community this year:

31p3n54d0r — Antonio
needles — Paul
Spacey — Dimitrios
Ivan Brujo — Ivan
Kali <3 — Kali
GritsnGravy — Cliff
Byankat — Bianca
Matthew — Matthew
SYNgularity — Ken

They took the job seriously.

Our DCGCCs were consistently on time, enthusiastic, and willing to put in additional hours without being asked.

They staffed reception and helped people find their local groups, answered questions about DCG, connected people with information, and then actively steered attendees toward the Sticker Contest, Backdoors & Breaches, the LAN Party, and other hands-on activities in the room.

They also helped set up laptops, supported games and contests, managed crowds, and did some of the decidedly less glamorous heavy lifting involved in tear-down and load-out.

They were not simply sitting behind a reception desk.

They helped operate the Community.

We noticed the people who showed genuine enthusiasm for the role, and some returning DCGCCs may be invited back next year.

The Red Shirts

Our DEF CON Groups Goon team for DC34 included:

alethe — Alethe
polomaster — Ryan
sm0hk — Geoff
NiteTrain — Jason
magen — Magen
Cap.Harlock — Faisal
Jayson E. Street — Jayson E. Street

Alethe served as DCG Lead, with polomaster serving as Second.

From both of us, we want to give particular recognition to sm0hk and NiteTrain.

They showed up, stayed when work needed doing, took ownership without waiting to be asked, and carried a significant amount of the operational workload required to make the Community function.

Thank you.

So, What Did We Learn?

First: people want things to do.

Backdoors & Breaches, the Sticker Contest, and the LAN Party gave people reasons to stay in the room, interact with strangers, and participate rather than simply walk through.

Our first year of contests will not be our last.

Second: DCG POCs have things worth teaching.

Giving community organizers a stage to talk candidly about what works, what fails, and what they have learned building hacker communities was worth doing. We intend to make Community Stage content a permanent part of what we do at DEF CON.

Third: we need more room.

Backdoors & Breaches needs more capacity.

The Darknet Diaries Meet & Greet needs more capacity.

We would like more room for the party.

These are good problems to have.

Looking Toward DEF CON 35

Expect several opportunities to open in spring 2027.

We plan to open another call for Community Stage content and contest participation.

We will also open applications for DCG Community Coordinators.

Previous DCGCCs who demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment to the Community may be invited back, but we are also expanding the call.

In particular, we want to prioritize bringing more active DEF CON Group POCs into the DCGCC program.

Selected Community Coordinators serving in the full-time role receive a Community badge to attend DEF CON. We want more of those opportunities going to the people building and sustaining DEF CON Groups throughout the year.

If you are a POC who has wanted to get more involved at DEF CON itself, watch for that call next spring.

Want to Start a DEF CON Group?

DEF CON also generated a noticeable increase in people asking how to find or start groups.

If you are considering starting a DCG, do not begin by assuming your city is unclaimed.

Email us first at [email protected].

We can check whether a group already exists, whether there is an older or inactive group that may be appropriate to reboot, and what the right next step is for your location.

Starting with the shared mailbox helps us avoid duplicate groups and connect new organizers with existing communities whenever possible. Our published guidance likewise directs prospective organizers to contact the DCG Department as part of starting a group.

DEF CON Groups exist because people decide their local hacker community is worth showing up for.

Based on what we saw at DEF CON 34, a lot more of you are ready to show up.

See you locally.

DEF CON Groups
[email protected]