UAT Faculty and Alumni Make Their Mark at Defcon

TEMPE, AZ--(Marketwire - August 1, 2008) - Defcon, one of the premier hacking conferences in the world, will launch its 16th installment at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from August 8-10. University of Advancing Technology faculty members Ryan Clarke and Russ Rogers, along with alumnus Scott White, will be making their presence known during the three-day event.

Robotics and Embedded Systems Professor Ryan Clarke will bring back his Mystery Box Challenge -- one of the most popular contests at Defcon -- in which participants will receive a container filled with word games, locks and hackable information. Solving the mystery requires hardware, software and cryptography skills.

Clarke is a featured guest at the 4th annual Summit, a fundraiser for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Hacker Foundation. The Summit is a meet-and-greet event featuring EFF, Black Hat and Defcon speakers. Clarke will also make an appearance at the HacDC Group this year, a non-profit organization dedicated to technical, artistic and social collaboration.

Russ Rogers, UAT's Professor of Network Security and organizer of many of the Defcon events since his introduction at Defcon 6, will act as contest guru and administrator for DC Groups. Rogers recently completed the second edition of "Nessus Network Auditing" as the Technical Editor. This latest edition is still considered the standard for network vulnerability scanning.

Rogers and Clarke are also responsible for this year's Hardware Hacking Village (HHV), which allows Defcon attendees to test their hacking skills and learn a few things from acclaimed hardware hacker Joe Grand, who will be calling the HHV his headquarters.

UAT alum Scott White -- during the day, a Senior Security Consultant for SecureState -- will present "Black vs. White: The Complete Life Cycle of a Real World Breach" with other SecureState colleagues. This presentation will chronicle a real-world hack from start to finish, and will culminate in a discussion with the presenters on the techniques and challenges of what they do.

About UAT: The University of Advancing Technology is a unique, private college that serves its student body by fostering knowledge, creation and academic excellence in an environment that embraces the young technophiles of the world. With three centers of research and a suite of technology-centered undergraduate and graduate degrees, the University is a recognized leader in technology education.

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Contact Information: CONTACT: Robert Marshall