Marcus Hutchins, better known online by his handle MalwareTech, the 23-year-old British security researcher who was credited with stopping the WannaCry outbreak was arrested by the FBI at the airport preparing to leave the country after attending DEF CON over his alleged involvement with the Kronos banking trojan.2018In March 2018, the DEF CON Voting Machine Hacking Village was awarded a Cybersecurity Excellence Award. The award cites both the spurring of a national dialog around securing the US election system and the release of the nation's first cybersecurity election plan.2020On May 8, 2020, the DEF CON in-person conference itself was cancelled and virtualized due to COVID-19. DEF CON Safe Mode was held August 6–9 online with a full roster of talks, villages, contests and events.2024On February 4, 2024, Cesar's Entertainment cancelled the contract with DEF CON without warning with speculation that a ransomware attack and bomb scare and subsequent evacuation in 2023 were in part to blame. The conference was moved to the Las Vegas Convention Center as a result.
Marcus Hutchins better known online by his handle MalwareTech the 23-year-old British security researcher who was credited with stopping the WannaCry outbreak was arrested by the FBI at the airport preparing to leave the country after attending DEF CON over his alleged involvement with the Kronos banking trojan2018In March 2018 the DEF CON Voting Machine Hacking Village was awarded a Cybersecurity Excellence Award The award cites both the spurring of a national dialog around securing the US election system and the release of the nation's first cybersecurity election plan2020On May 8 2020 the DEF CON in-person conference itself was cancelled and virtualized due to COVID-19 DEF CON Safe Mode was held August 6–9 online with a full roster of talks villages contests and events2024On February 4 2024 Cesar's Entertainment cancelled the contract with DEF CON without warning with speculation that a ransomware attack and bomb scare and subsequent evacuation in 2023 were in part to blame The conference was moved to the Las Vegas Convention Center as a result