Defcon : A Message From Tom Rex

Hey Folks. Tom Rex here… its coming down to the last bit of tech I can cram into a bag. I am 97% done with the packing, and debating whether or not to attempt sleeping for 2-3hrs, or just watching TV until time to go. My flight leaves the DC area at 6:00am. I have a transfer in Atlanta at 9:00, where I’ll be going the rest of the trip in First Class. Nice surprise.

This is a huge event for me. After many incarnations of myself over the years (supervisor, burger flipper, purchasing agent, warehouse manager, band manager, janitor, etc), I decided to get into something I kept going back to—since writing my first code in the early 1980s—on a Apple IIe. I went back to school in the late 1990s for Computer Programming. I was hired straight from school to work for AT&T, which turned into being a Senior Analyst for IBM. After a few years of that, I’ve done other jobs that are tech related in varying degrees of intensity. Homeland Security to a small software company near DC. Some were better than others, but none were very satisfying. I continue to do consulting work, but seem to have a knack for code—and tackling problems. I like to take things apart, and see what’s inside. That can be a broken radio or 100,00 lines of code.

I have known Daniel Suarez for a couple of years. He and his publicist, Michelle, have kept me in the loop about various happenings as his popularity and reputation grew. I’ve seen and heard raving reviews of his work from many journalists, but getting a “behind the scenes” email from them on occasion is a real treat.

During the time of his book going to a new publisher (Dutton), and the sequel coming out, I joined the Guys From Queens Network as the host of a tech show. That show gave me the platform to have Daniel come on air and be interviewed before a large audience. There was no hesitation on his part, and the interview went well (though I’d love a re-do—as we have things honed better than ever for guests). That appearance has given GFQ and me something unique, and it was helpful for Dan and Michelle to get some more visibility. Dan’s invitation to attend this year’s DEFCON, and I could not pass that up.

Since we’re hovering around 9 million cumulative views at the time of DEFCON 18, with thousands of downloads each month, its quite impressive. Though the Tech stuff is not the core of GFQ, the audience seems to like our shows, so I hope DEFCON will provide me with great stories and insight to a world that doesn’t like much attention. I’ll update our viewers as much as I can—without breaking the rules or otherwise showing any disrespect to the hosts and attendees. Ideally, I will report back throughout each day with what I am seeing, but what I can do—exactly—is unknown at this moment. I’ll do as much as I can, for sure.

I owe a huge thanks to Daniel Suarez for his amazing invitation, and to Andrew at Guys From Queens for helping promote the event. It should be educational and terrifying—to learn just how vulnerable our world is. From picking locks to stealing cell phone data, we’re a very exposed society. Dan thinks I would have a good future as a “White Hat Hacker”, so this is my chance to see it close up.

Stay tuned.

Tom Rex aka meddows