Las Vegas becomes hacker central as conventions begin

Guard your smartphones and watch your Wi-Fi connections: Hackers have converged on Las Vegas.

Thousands of information technology specialists and cybersecurity experts are in town for the Black Hat and DefCon conventions.

Black Hat ran Saturday through Thursday at Caesars Palace. DefCon celebrates its 20th anniversary at the Rio today through Sunday.

Black Hat, which launched in 1997 as an annual convention and is now a global conference series, drew 6,500 attendees to Las Vegas.

Black Hat's specialty is training and briefings from more than 100 security researchers. The topics are incomprehensible to the average person (unless you know something about Windows 8 heap intervals or Javascript botnets).

But many briefings focused on a problem faced by companies large and small: Inability to protect customer data. Security technologist and author Bruce Schneier told the Black Hat crowd that technological innovation and faster technological change lead to security gaps that make it easier for hackers to attack. Like right now.

"Attackers can make use of innovations faster," Schneier said. "Banks get on the Internet, and within minutes, there's a new breed of international cybercriminal."

Schneier said companies in recent years have realized their limitations when it comes to security breaches.

"We cannot prevent. The best we can do is quickly react and recover," Schneier said. "I think there's a lot of wisdom in that."

Hackers are not all bad or all good, but those who attend DefCon are usually under the microscope; federal agents infiltrate the convention to learn from hackers and find out what they're up to.

"The IT industry needs DefCon because otherwise IT is boring," Schneier said, drawing laughter from the crowd (probably because it rang true).

Many Black Hat attendees also attend DefCon, which in 1993 launched in Las Vegas. The two share more than a computer security focus - they also share a founder, information security expert Jeff Moss.

DefCon has more of a party atmosphere, with contests, music and scavenger hunts. DefCon doesn't allow preregistration, but draws 8,000 to 10,000 attendees. The convention last year set a record with more than 11,000 hackers converging on the Rio. Tickets are $200 (cash only - no digital trace) at the door.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority projected DefCon will have a $9.8 million nongaming economic impact on the city if it brings in 10,000 attendees this year. Black Hat had an estimated $6.4 million impact.

A big story before Black Hat began was Apple's first presentation at the conference in its 15-year history. Dallas De Atley, manager of Apple's platform security team, spoke about iOS security features built into the iPhone. De Atley revealed nothing new about the iOS, Apple's upcoming plans or possible iPhone 5 features.