I'll cross-post on the DC Forums for further discussion. [EDIT:
posted here
]

I saw a story posted over on
CNET
.

I'm always a bit disappointed when media propagate the "don't use the network at
the events" item. It's scare-mongering for headlines (IMHO). DefCon is a
security event. Expect shenanigans, but don't scare people away.

Good practices can keep you secure, just as they will on the Internet. Turn on
your firewall, patch your system and apps, don't keep confidential information
on your laptop. This is no different than what I tell my corporate users in my
day-job.

There's nothing that happens on the DefCon Network that doesn't happen on the
Internet.

As the head of the DefCon Networking Team, I was approached by several
first-timers at DefCon this year who said they were "warned" about how hard-core
and bad/hostile/etc the network was - and after experiencing it themselves,
found it just wasn't true.

Any difference-of-opinion I have regarding "don't use the wifi at DefCon" is due
to the efforts me and my team of people make in order to setup the network at
DefCon. We put in months of planning and a lot of time and effort to make it
happen, and it's a big let-down when outlets like CNET make sweeping statements
like "don't use it."

To that end, I welcome any journalists or media to contact us to discuss the
DefCon network in more detail.