 Okay, here we are at 801 Labs and we're on camera, but so I have one too We're gonna meet the DC 801 group. There's grifter Nice There's some of the DC 801 people right there Cool, show us a round a little bit of what what you got here. Sure I think I was watching porn close that really quick. I'm not going to judge Very cool We'll call this room the conference room mostly because when we moved in that table was there and we thought it would be funny Are those doors locked or would that defeat the purpose? Exactly Thanks, we uh, we like it. It's um, it's still So we've got our our amateur radio room, so Um, we've got a repeater set up those wires run up to the roof where we've got a couple of different antennas set up And it's uh, we've got we actually just did a ham radio class Out here and uh, and we had four guys get their hand license just recently Yeah, we're trying to continue to grow that number. I got new some visual christian slater and pump up the volume, but Here's another we have a member of lockers like so Just store their projects and stuff in the mouth very cool We just brought in that new rack Yeah Wow very cool Supplies I don't want to make sure we keep that separate from from all the rest of the stuff We see a one Very cool Yeah, and then uh Here's the break room, so normally we try to uh, we try to keep this stock to fairly well And everything it's very nice But yeah, so I like the bread like the bread poster gotta call that out. Yeah We love the nurse Let's let's go sit down. Can we just sit in the boardroom for a second? So One of the things I want to do One of the things I wanted to talk about uh is um How did dc801 start when did when did it start out? Um So it's and what was your what's your participation and how to how to uh, what's your involvement? So, um, my initial involvement and your name would actually help I'm grifter so um, so actually Uh dc groups was actually my idea. I know that sounds arrogant, but it is actually true and that stems from I guess years ago. Um, I had a little discomfort with how Um political 2600 was getting and I felt like especially where a lot of the folks who were coming out to To the meetings and stuff were Teenagers and you know young adults or whatever and I felt like you know, we shouldn't be trying to force political agendas on them And so I called up dt and I said hey Here's my issue. I think maybe def con should do something to give people an alternative You know allow them to you know host something where it falls under the umbrella of def con But we're allowed to make it our own He said that's great. Let's give rosa call russus like the I call him the head vampire of like def con He's involved in everything. He's brought a bunch of really key people into the organization as well So we called up russ out in colorado springs Um talk the idea of it. He loved it too. So the colorado springs in salt lake city Def con groups were the first groups we started um in march of I want to say it was 2003 or something like that um And then that summer when def con came about we actually announced def con groups And that kicked it off and it spread like wildfire. Very cool. It was clearly You know, we weren't alone in our thinking. I want to say it was 2003 2003 so um So yeah, it was just there was obviously a need there and people saw that and they You know Awesome, yeah I think it's good that we're starting the revamp in the dc801 and we have the first blog post from russ So we've got the two key guys starting it off. It's like I think that everything that's a really good An auspicious start to to doing this again. It's like getting this You ramped up you would more and bring more stuff into it. It's like I think that's great What do y'all there's so many different rooms in here, but what do y'all specialize? What are the things that you think that brings everybody together from the dc801 groups? Um, I mean, well Well, clearly we're we're very much in the infosec focus We actually have a lot of guys we started getting together and planning Capture the flag events for different local conferences and and just for fun, honestly But everybody who was part of the initial dc801 crew that came together and a lot of whom are still here today Um, we all just love learning and then and not only just learning but teaching but sharing that once we once we figured something out We get really excited about sharing that with other people That's why there is a large space here dedicated to just a classroom. We're like that's where we can go and you know Throw a presentation. We're working on our talk We're working on for some conference coming up down the road And be able to run it by each other and get feedback from people that we respect and that Are part of this community. So we you know, we get something real Seeing this space is going to be sort of daunting for other, you know, dc groups that are just starting out or just, you know Just meeting, you know, like at Arby's or something, you know, it's like a restaurant So so how did you start out when how many people did you have when you started out? And like and how long did it take to get to where you're at now? So it's I guess that's a little bit unfair because we started as 2600 slc And and we were that for years Before the idea of deaf converse came in. So it was more a transition from a name to a new name With a lot of the same core group of people But at the time, you know, like say you guys know We were meeting in a food court at a mall Like and we would have like 50 plus people meeting in a food court at the mall here in salt lake And like, you know, we get the weirdest looks because there's this like mini like deaf con happening in the corner You know a food court just freaking out the norms So So yeah, initially, I mean, we didn't have a space like this We had, you know, a bunch of people, you know, meeting up over long john silvers and some crap chinese food. So It took a long time for us to eventually You know put together the infrastructure and the funds to get a space and so the space itself Well, you know, we call 801 labs And that's because there's a million different things we're always working on in here And dc 801 runs 801 labs, right? What's your start? I mean because one of the things I think a lot of people are going to be interested Especially if they're trying to start one, how do you how do you do the? Organization getting the space like do you give a board of directors or do you have like uh one president? I mean, do y'all have elected officials. Do y'all do elections? It's like, how does that work to Because I mean you're going to understand the the chaotic nature of the hacker and stuff, you know And then trying to get organization out of that. It's like well, I would say like Well, just a word of advice for those who are starting out or maybe struggling with their current group is to not try to do it alone for years One point of contact for slc and dc 801 and I was chasing people down Trying to get new presentations and trying to you know Work on projects or hey, it would be cool if we all you know We should all speak at def con like everybody submit to the cfp And like just trying to drive that kind of activity and it eventually like ground me into a fine powder and I was just burnout And so you have to find other people who are willing to put in some sweat And that's something that we have now and I think that's what's helping us be successful Because we do have a board. It's made up of six of us And we handle the finances and everything and make sure that you know the bills get paid that That activities are happening that they make it on the calendar that somebody's tweeting them out You know that something's going on or putting them on the meet-up sites and That someone's maintaining the network here because we run different things on our network and sometimes it's a hacker space Things are messed up. So somebody has to be responsible for fixing it when it gets messed up So don't go it alone like find a core group. And I think we've got a great group Of guys who are all like invested in it and that really helps because there's plenty of times where I'm just super busy with like, you know Family life or whatever and rather than just letting somebody fall through the cracks Like as soon as I go to drop something there's someone there to catch me and run and that is fantastic And I think one of the last things I like to talk about is and you should are one of the best qualified to answer this it's like There is one thing that you can tell someone that's either in a dc group or starting a def con group What's that one thing you want them to know about the def con groups? I know I don't I don't just do the easy questions and awkward hugs my friend Yeah, I don't know. I think it's kind of Like to just throw yourself into it and keep Plugging away and when you feel like things are going poorly To lean on the other people who are in the group for that support and like if that support's not there Bring people in who are going to be that support because Yeah, you know, you're going to need it Like it's not always easy to do all this stuff and it's not oh, it's not always fun But being able to pull a bunch of people who come from all different backgrounds and stuff But share a passion and one thing or the other whether it's lockpicking hardware hacking, you know just teaching each other Um Then getting all those people to come together and make something cool Is like one of the most rewarding things in the world. Like I love it. I love, you know Bring people who have no You know knowledge of a certain aspect of security or whatever. I didn't even realize that it was important to them And they come into the you know the space so they come to a meeting and they leave and they've got that like You know, they've got that spark in their eyes. They're like, oh, man. I gotta go get some books I gotta go do this. I gotta do that like, um I'll give you a quick story like There's a guy here at the space who He's not into security. He um found out about us and he's like, you know, it's like basically a geek clubhouse So he's like, hey, I want to run these super smash brothers tournaments out of your space and we're like Let's do it. Um Not but again, not a security guy and I was in the lockpick village like working on some blocks and and he came in He's like, what are you doing? And I was like, oh I'm picking some locks and stuff and he's like Can you show me how can I can you teach me how and I was like, sure And I just sat down with him for a little bit, you know, he popped that lock for the first time He saw that like he was like, oh, it's super rewarding the first time that lock and uh, and I saw him You know, like two weeks later or whatever and he's like, I've been practicing. I've been practicing in there I've been like I've been working on some stuff. Oh, can you tell me I couldn't get this one? What should I do and like like it it sparked something That was great. Like again a guy who's not into security, but you sit down with him for a few minutes show him a couple things And hopefully it's let that fire We'll drag him into the hardwood back my village, you know, like one of these days Baby steps. Yeah, exactly. I gotta get in there Well, thanks. Thanks for giving me a tour and thanks for stopping to have some chats So it's like it's great to be here at the at the birthplace of the dc groups It's like the dc 801 it's like really enjoyed it and I'm gonna stop recording now so I can go out and see the rest of everybody and start hanging out Take care