WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The conference is in its 23rd year and attracted 16,000 participants last year, according to media reports.
This year, Def Con will feature contests, talks and workshops on computer security, as well as ways to hack smart safes, psychological warfare in reverse engineering and medical devices, among other topics.
On Tuesday, Def Con organizers announced that a special guest in one of the panels will be US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security Director of the IT Controls Division Catherine Wheeler.
Wheeler will discuss the weaponization and regulation of security research, the conference organizers said.
Def Con is one of the world’s largest annual hacker conferences. It is organized by US hacker and computer security expert Jeff Moss, who currently works as a security consultant testing the safety of various companies’ computer systems.