GRAND RAPIDS ? More than 800 security professionals attended the first day of GRRCon, Midwest Information Security & Hacker CON, roughly the same amount as the year before. But exhibitors at the show were up by a third, the show?s co-producer said Thursday.
Chris Payne, a security professional in Grand Rapids, said he had to turn away many exhibitors who wanted to showcase their products or services because the exhibit area was full.
?We just wanted everyone to have a good time, a good experience at this year?s show,? Payne said. ?We want people to have fun. If they learn something, that?s great.?
It?s the third year for the event produced by Payne and his business partner Jeff Bleich. Both wanted to save Michigan cyber and physical security professionals the expense of flying to Las Vegas for the annual DEFCON hacker conference.
?This year we added a lot more workshop training,? Payne said. ?We?ve also added a fourth track, plus an after party on Thursday night with food, drinks and games.?
Payne said 55 speakers were scheduled for the two days, up from 45 last year, and only 20 in the inaugural year.
Certainly one of the more controversial presentations was made Thursday by Chris Roberts, the founder of One World Labs, a security assessment, remediation and research facility near Denver. Roberts showed hundreds of attendees how easy it is to hack the in-flight entertainment systems in a Boeing 757-200 and use it as a gateway to access the aircraft?s Flight Management Software. Roberts displayed screen shots of what he said were these software controls. He also listed the hardware and software needed by hackers to duplicate this feat.
While not saying that he actually hacked the plane, he alluded to how he was on a flight from the United States to the United Kingdom and, through hacking, the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Iceland after reviving one of its engines and then shutting down the fuel to that engine.
Roberts who acknowledged that the session was filmed and that law enforcement officials may be present, said his claims may cause him some problems with federal authorities. He then laughed. His hacking demo came on Sept. 12, just one day after the 11th anniversary of the 911 terrorist attack, when radical Arabs commandeered jetliners to destroy the World Trade Towers.
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