So this has been an interesting start of a year for my career transition into Infosec/Netsec. In March I was able to attend Black Hat Asia 2015 and Syscan 2015 (both in Singapore). On the 28th, I’m heading up to Beijing to attend ISC 2015, considered to be one of the largest China-based conferences. At the end of November I’ll be at DefCamp in Romania.
Black Hat was well too commercial or my liking. Coming from an ‘ol school underground teenage hacker past (think 2600, L0pht, cDc etc), I wasn’t so impressed. They did have an amazing buffet and one or two decent talks (Mana from Heaven–Daniel Cuthbert) but it was really geared towards the corporate money/people/power. Did meet many security vendors from Singapore in the business hall and hopefully those contacts will be useful.
Syscan was what I really think of when I think Con. Laid back, filled with people who breathe and live security and are the practitioners who do it for fun, not just to pay the bills. The talks were very technical yet still filled with fun. All in all my type of people. I was able to meet many key people in the industry and chat with a few people I have known about from reading various hacking sites, zines, and discussions with my former hacking crew. If you had to pick a Con to go to in Asia, this is hands down my selection and advise anyone to go next year. I know I will be. Thank you Thomas Lim/Coseinc for allowing me to partake in the awesomeness of Syscan.
I will try to do more in-depth reviews soon of each.
I look forward to the two next cons I will soon be attending. If any readers happen to be attending email me at john at this domain and lets grab a drink.