DEF CON 24 Call For Papers Announcement

What: DEF CON 24 Call For Papers

When: DEF CON will take place at both Ballys and Paris hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, from August 4-7, 2016. The Call for Papers will close on May 02, 2016.

How: Complete the Call for Papers Form and send to talks at defcon dot org

Theme: Rise of the Machines!

DEF CON is the largest sponsor free hacking conference, and does not seek or accept money to secure a speaking spot. You have to earn your speaking spot by impressing the CFP review team with your knowledge and skill, only then will you get your spot on stage in front of thousands of attendees interested in your research. Sink or swim - it's up to you, are you up for the challenge?

Note: We have noticed fewer speakers over the years using their hacking handles and almost exclusively using their real names. That's not very hacker, consider submitting under your handle!

NEW for DEF CON 24: DARPA will be holding the Cyber Grand Challenge final competition on Thursday so we had to move some things around on the floor plan. That means slightly different speaking time and tracks. Check out the nearly final floor plan here. We organize talks by a combination of clustering similar subjects and stand alone topics.

Suggested topics that match this years theme of "Rise of the Machines":

Attack the Machines: Hiding is not enough, it's time to switch to offense. What techniques can we use against the machines and the server farms that control them? From UEFI and BIOS attacks to Electro Magnetic Pulse attacks, anything goes.

Defense Against the AI: The machines are getting smarter, from facial recognition systems to behavioral analytics. Many OEM devices are online and are constantly calling home to report on your every move. What are the strategies we will use to confuse their learning, clog their logs, distort their biases, evade their sensors all together, and allow us to survive under their all encompassing presence?

Make friends with the Machines: It's not all Black or White, we might just have to learn to live with our new robotic overlords. Beyond naming yourself "John Doe" to disappear in a sea of search results, the same algorithms that can be used against you, can also be used to trick the machines into thinking you're their friends.

Everything Else: If your talk doesn't fit in one of these topics don't worry, the suggested topics are only 3 out of the 12+ tracks that happen during the con. The other 9 tracks will be filled with a clustering of topics on hardware hacking, lock picking, mobile hacking, reverse engineering, and bio-hacking.

Check out https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-23/dc-23-speakers.html for last year's conference presentations. If you want to learn from the past and get a complete list of topics that were accepted browse our archives here: https://defcon.org/html/links/dc-archives.html.

Speaking Formats:

Choose between 20 minutes, 45 minutes, and 105 minutes (Two slots back to back)

To submit a speech:

Complete the DEF CON 24 Call for Papers Form: https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-24/dc-24-cfp-form.html

Like always we strive to only accept those talks of the highest caliber, and we won't have time to go back and forth asking for clarifications or missing information in your submission. Submit your best, most complete form, and if anything changes email us an update.

Barring a disaster of monstrous proportions, speaker selection will be completed no later than June 1, 2016. The sooner you submit, the better chance you have that we give your presentation the full consideration it warrants. If you wait until the last minute to submit, you have less of a chance of being selected, unless your name is Major Kusanagi.

After a completed CFP form is received, speakers will be contacted if there are any questions about their presentations. If your talk is accepted you can continue to modify and evolve it up until the last minute, but don't deviate from your accepted presentation. We will mail you reminders with information on deadlines for when we need your presentation to be burnt on the CD, as well as information for the printed program. If you want to plan ahead these dates are also listed on the CFP Form.

What do you get?

No matter if you are accepted or rejected, the DEF CON review board will provide candid feedback on your submission. DEF CON has a team of different subject matter experts to help select presentations based on many factors, and you'll end up with a good idea how they responded to your submission.

If you are accepted, Speakers get in to the show free, get paid USD $300 or 3 Human Badges, get a cool speaker badge, and people like you more. Most people find it is a great way to meet others interested in their topics. You can opt to forgo the $300 payment and instead receive 3 human badges that you can give to your friends, sell to strangers, or hold onto as timeless mementos. Receiving badges instead of checks has been a popular option for those insisting on maintaining their anonymity.

Before DEF CON we will promote your presentation, link to your social media, blog, or web pages you desire, and help arrange for any interviews from interested media that want to learn what you are up to. Please let us know on the form if you want to do any interviews and we will pass on your preference to our press team.

During DEF CON there is a speaker party where you can meet the staff, CFP review team, and all the other speakers before the main conference kicks off and you get swept away into the vortex of Con.

After DEF CON, your professionally recorded presentations are transcribed with English subtitles, then shared all over the planet through our web server, Bittorrent servers, ed2k, YouTube, index sites, etc.

Please visit:

https://www.defcon.org/ for previous conference archives, information, and speeches. Updated announcements will be posted to news groups, security mailing lists and this web site.

https://forum.defcon.org/ for a look at all the events and contests being planned for DEF CON 24. Join in on the action.

Follow @defcon on twitter or check out the DEF CON Facebook Page to keep up to date with what's up at the con this year.

https://www.defcon.org/defconrss.xml for news and announcements surrounding DEF CON.

Several of the villages at DEF CON also hold talks, and some have been known to host their own CFP. We've provided a handy village CFP index in the right sidebar of this page for your convenience!

If you want to submit encrypted with PGP, please use: Key ID 0xCA16C17D "DEF CON talk submission (RSA 4096 2016)" available above or on most key servers.

CFP forms and questions should get mailed to: talks/at/defcon.org

Good luck with your submission and thank you for keeping the culture alive!

- The Dark Tangent