The US may block visas for Chinese hackers attending DefCon, Black Hat. On Saturday, an unnamed "senior administration official" told Reuters that the US government is considering using visa restrictions to keep Chinese hackers from attending DefCon and Black Hat, two major hacking conferences that take place in August in Las Vegas. The move would be "part of a broad effort to curb Chinese cyber espionage," Reuters reported. The news comes after five members of the Chinese military were indicted by the US on Monday for allegedly hacking into US companies and stealing trade secrets. It was the first time ever that the US had formally accused another government of hacking.
Jeff Moss, founder of both the DefCon and Black Hat conferences, and Chris Wysopal, a member of the Black Hat board that reviews presentations, were both skeptical of the move. Wysopal noted that Black Hat talks are taped and sold after the conference, and preventing Chinese hackers from being physically there would not appreciably affect China's hacking abilities. "It seems symbolic to me," Wysopal told Reuters of the move. Several Chinese nationals are booked to speak at the Black Hat conference, although none are booked to speak at DefCon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26 2014, @06:33PM
How long before DEF CON will be in Europe? How long before the Chinese government hosts it's own DEF CON variant and taps directly into the market by hiring straight from the con?
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday May 26 2014, @08:05PM
And when they sell the tapes, they will be in Chinese.
To me this seems like a petty and stupid move. This doesn't mean I don't think they'll do it, though. The US govt. has been seeming increasingly petty and stupid. (And it never seemed all that bright. Which doesn't mean that there aren't some bright people in it, instead it means that there's a horrendous design flaw.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1) by cyrano on Monday May 26 2014, @08:25PM
Maybe someone should organise a tour to enlighten people. Something like "A 100 defcons in 100 days". This year's agenda:
http://www.concise-courses.com/security/conference s-of-2014/ [concise-courses.com]
With other words: nobody cares...
The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear. - Kali [kali.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday May 26 2014, @10:42PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26 2014, @11:30PM
Policies like those are more about the current Chinese culture regarding R&D. 'Give them nothing, take from them everything' is not an attitude that wins or keeps friends. In other words, cooperating with Chinese nationals has repeatedly bit people when their work is stolen while there is so little of value being produced by Chinese R&D that having a working relationship becomes burdensome on top of the near expectation of IP theft.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 27 2014, @03:10AM
I feel that's a overly simplistic (simpletonic? :) ) position to take.
Reason for my feeling: how come China can collaborate [wikipedia.org] with EU and Russia space programs? How likely is that EU/Russia are idiotic enough to stay into a situation of getting nothing from (and being taken everything by) China?
Besides, the NASA/China ban was in place since 1999. In between (it's a quarter of a century, no less) China's capabilities (if not stance in regards with R&D also) are likely to have changed; I think it would be wise to reconsider the collaboration problem, maybe some safeguards set in place could still allow a collaboration, however limited. Persisting in the "those are my toys and you aren't allowed to play with" doesn't lead to too many opportunities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by hoochiecoochieman on Tuesday May 27 2014, @10:36AM
That's funny, because I hear the same complaints about Americans all the time. I can't tell if they're true, though. Because they're completely unsubstantiated, just like yours.
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Monday May 26 2014, @08:08PM
I do not think that this gesture is anything more than symbolic. Do we know how many Chinese "Hackers" attended the last DEF CON ?? Also, how will not giving visas make China stop "hacking" ??
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Monday May 26 2014, @08:30PM
... who brought you the "Internet kill switch": Because the Internet has a few defensible choke points on well-defined borders!
Act now and we'll also throw in the people who protect us from hackers by forcing vulnerabilities into software/firmware that can be exploited by hackers!