ROOTCON Blog

This year we introduce to you "The Secrecy" is composed of 10 levels, each levels has a secret / hidden phrase or word that you need to find for the players to proceed to the next levels.

Let the cracking begin!!!

Game Mechanics 
The objective of this game is to reach the top-most level which is level 10. In order to achieve that you need to pass each level and get the secret / hidden phrase or word.

The Rules 
1. NO DIRECT DDoS on the game servers.
 2. NO Physical Coercion on players and crew.
 3. Spies works on their own, this is a single player game. You can however have a handler to coach you throughout the game.
 4. Spies are resourceful breaking codes, so be like one ;-)
 5. Bring your own spy gears, laptop, AP, GPS tracking, whatever you think you will need.

Who Can Play 
Any ROOTCON attendee (except for the ROOTCON Goons).

When 
Start of the conference

Prizes Shining UberH4x0r Badge, which entitles you to be put up on the ROOTCON Hall of Fame, free entrance on the next ROOTCON Conference.

Crew / Agents / Handlers 
Encrypted84 Semprix (The Fork Meister)

More details at https://www.rootcon.org/xml/rootcon6/activities#secrecy

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The US National Security Agency has a challenge for hackers who think they're hot stuff: prove it by working on the "hardest problems on Earth."

Computer hacker skills are in great demand in the U.S. government to fight the cyber wars that pose a growing national security threat — and they are in short supply.

For that very reason an alphabet soup of federal agencies — DOD, DHS, NASA, NSA — are descending on Las Vegas this week for Defcon, an annual hacker convention where the $150 entrance fee is cash only — no registration, no credit cards, no names taken. Attendance is expected to top 10,000.

The National Security Agency is among the keen suitors. The spy agency plays both offense and defense in the cyber wars. It conducts electronic eavesdropping on adversaries and protects U.S. computer networks that hold super secret material — a prize target for America's enemies.

"Today it's cyber warriors that we're looking for, not rocket scientists," said Richard "Dickie" George, technical director of the NSA's Information Assurance Directorate, the agency's cyber-defense side.

"That's the race that we're in today. And we need the best and brightest to be ready to take on this cyber warrior status," he told Reuters in an interview.

The NSA is hiring about 1,500 people in the fiscal year which ends Sept. 30 and another 1,500 next year, most of them cyber experts. With a workforce of just over 30,000, the Fort Meade, Maryland-based NSA dwarfs other intelligence agencies, including the CIA.

It also engages in cyber-spying and other offensive operations, something it rarely, if ever, discusses publicly.

But at Defcon, the NSA and other "Feds" will be competing with corporations looking for hacking talent too.

The NSA needs cyber security experts to harden networks, defend them with updates, do "penetration testing" to find security holes and watch for any signs of cyber attacks.

The NSA is expanding its fold of hackers, but George said there is a shortage of those skills. "We are straining to hire the people that we need."

MISFITS OR FIT-INS?

It might seem to be an odd-couple fit — strait-laced government types with their rules and missions trying to recruit hackers who by definition want to defy authorities.

George said the NSA is actually an environment where the hacker mindset fits right in to work with "a critical mass of people that are just like them."

But what about culture rifts?

"When I walk down the hall there are people that I see every day and I never know what color their hair's going to be," George said. "And it's a bonus if they're wearing shoes. We've been in some sense a collection of geeks for a long, long time."

The agency has long been known for its brilliant, but sometimes eccentric, mathematicians and linguists.

Jeff Moss, a hacker known as Dark Tangent, knows something about bridging the two worlds. He founded Defcon and the companion Black Hat conference for security professionals and is now a member of the Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council, which advises the government on cyber security.

"They need people with the hacker skill set, hacker mind-set. It's not like you go to a hacker university and get blessed with a badge that says you're a hacker. It's a self-appointed label — you think like one or you don't," Moss told Reuters.

He drew a distinction between hackers with skills and computer criminals. Of the latter he says with a laugh: "It would not be good to let them in your front door."

Moss worries about young hackers who might cross lines and end up breaking laws that did not exist when he got his first computer in the early 1980s.

"You can absolutely learn the same skills without breaking any law," he said.

While U.S. intelligence agencies' computer systems are believed to be relatively secure, a wave of recent cyber attacks has hit the Pentagon, major defense contractors and others such as the International Monetary Fund.

The NSA's tasks include helping the Homeland Security department secure civilian U.S. government networks.

One government bureaucratic hindrance that can impede hiring top-flight experts is the security clearance process that can take six months, by which time a candidate may have found other employment. For the NSA, prospective employees must pass a lie-detector test, be drug-free for one year and undergo an extensive background check.

BEWARE 'ANKLE BITERS'

Unlike the threat from nuclear weapons where it is clear which countries have that capability, cyber attacks can come from anywhere.

"So we need to worry about everybody," George said. "In fact we need to worry about significant adversaries hiding among the ankle biters."

He explained that it was like finding a single needle in a pile of needles — much more difficult than in a haystack. Among constant pings from teenagers just fooling around, "the real bad guy can hide in that noise," George said. "That's a big problem for us, trying to identify the real threat from among all the stuff that's not really threatening."

George would not name countries that pose high threats but other intelligence officials have expressed concern about China's growing cyber-warfare capabilities, as well as Russia's.

The NSA can attract hackers to work within its cloistered walls by dazzling them with the latest technology, appealing to their competitive nature, and giving them a sense of working for the greater good, George said.

"We have a wonderful atmosphere, we have great people and we have the hardest problems on Earth. And we need help, the country needs help," he said.

But there is one big difference about winning bragging rights at public competitions versus inside the NSA enclosure.

"You're not going to make yourself famous working here, that's the downside. You can be internally famous, but you can't be externally famous," George said.

The NSA's secretive nature also brings a positive side-effect in striking a work-life balance.

"If you come here you really can't take work home with you," George said. "That's a bonus." — Reuters

Source: GMA News

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Do you have what it takes? Now is your time to prove......Pick one on these three Hacker Challenge during ROOTCON 5

You got what it takes to be a Hackista? Now is your time to show off your Ninja skills on Metasploit-Fu, Script-Fu and Kung-Fu Grip.

Where: Victoria Hall Track 2

Mechanics : Hackista Challenge is ROOTCON's version of Capture the Flag.

1. The mechanics is pretty simple, the teams to gather most points gets to win.

2. Composed of different categories from Web Exploitation, Shell Exploitation, and Forensics. Each categories has correspoding level with corresponding points.

THE RULES:

1. NO DIRECT DDoS on the game server.

2. NO Physical Coersion on players and crew.

3. Each team must have a team leader.

4. Each team must be composed of at least 3 team members.

5. Dont be a douche and Enjoy and the game.