Due to all the pandemic shit going on, it was absolutely no surprise for me that aside all the cancelled events and conferences, C3 won’t happen as planed in 2020. It was especially hard for me, because in 2019 I wanted to visit C3 for the first time but wasn’t able to. So, in a chat with Kathi, a Tec blogger on Instagram being way too much into Linux distros and clubmate, we planned to meet on 37C3 in person for the first time. I was really looking forward to this, mostly because I want to finally make a few contacts to people being as crazy in tech as I am. (As mentioned before, I’m really looking out for a few friends/group/communities to discuss the world of tech and hacking with for a long time now.)
But no one of us can end this pandemic with a finger click so the people from CCC did their bests to create an alternative that servers the spirit of the conference well. And I think they succeeded. As I never was on a real C3, I can’t really compare the feeling, but it was for sure a special event as never happened before to me.
So, what have they done? Well, they took the conference halls. And threw them in a digital world. On the rC3 platform, they created a website to navigate to the talks, make your own plan what to listen next to and to enter the digital world. A 2D map in pixel graphics that turned out to be so huge, that I got lost several times. It was created with work adventure (https://workadventu.re/), a web-based environment where you can create your own world in. But that’s nothing too special you might think now. But hold on, you surely didn’t expect a video chat (I think it’s all made with jitsi) to open if you move close enough to another character! But that is what it is. It is like coming around the corner and bumping into your colleague what leads to a 1 hour talk on the floor that won’t let you get any work done. (We all know that, right?) Well… I also didn’t know that feature when I entered the world first… And I absolutely panicked when it happened first and logged out immediately. To make it clear, I didn’t talk to anybody from the C3 community ever before. So, I was in a virtual spaceship-world with a lot of strangers and everyone coming over to me could potentially just start talking to me. On the other hand, I’m a nosy person and I really wanted to explore the world… It felt a little like a pet entering their new home. First, I ran up and down the hallway and floors and tried to dodge every character in my range. Later I got confident enough to enter some assemblies and looked a some of the “exhibitor areas”. But still, I wasn’t talking to anybody, since everyone was a stranger and also my schedule was only packed with talks. I felt kind of too much like a rookie and dump newbie to enter any workshops.
My first selfi with the fairydust rocket - kind of
Talking about talks, I listened to a few ones I want to mention shortly as a recommendation to you, because all the talks can still be accessed via the media.ccc.de YouTube channel.
First one is a talk from Thomas Roth, called “Hacking the Nintendo game and watch”. Roth is a Embedded security researcher and in his talk he shows is process of hacking the Nintendo game and watchs firmware and answers the most important of all questions: “But, can it run doom?”. This talk is not only made super understandable to tech-rookies like me, but also creative and amusing to watch. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQL09RtqqLQ)
Secondly, the talk “Attacking CPUs with Power Side Channels from Software: Warum leaked hier Strom?” does not only has a creative title, but also is made up to like a sitcom, including greenscreen-techniques and a lot of editing. Although I didn’t understand everything, basically because my knowledge level is too low, I had a really good time watching it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scP-D-Idlc8) And I think the same group made up a second talk… maybe if I find time, I will watch that one later.
I also watched a talk about the journey of how they invented the (German) Corona App, but sadly I can’t find that one on YouTube at the moment. Maybe because they later had a second, more detailed talk about it. This one you can also find on the media.ccc YouTube channel.
To be honest, at some point I got a little disappointed when I scrolled throw the schedule of talks and could neither find a new talk from David Kriesel (If you don’t know him, go and watch on of his talks from older C3’s NOW!), nor the beloved security nightmares that make all about 30% of my excitement about C3. But maybe, it was better to not have this kind of talks at a remote congress. The real reasons might be completely different, but I think it won’t have the same level of comedy the talks normally have, if you don’t get any direct feedback from your audience.
Aside the talks, rC3 gave its best to create a good alternative to the workshops too. At first, I was a little afraid to join them because I didn’t know what kind of skill level would be required, but then I added an event to my schedule I didn’t noticed was declared as a workshop and I was to interested to not join. So, I joined a massive bigbluebutton call and was relieved to find myself with around 150+ other participants. The workshop was called “Wi-Fi-hacking with microcontrollers” and what they basically did was an introduction of the spacehuhn deauther, a WiFi pentesting tool on a USB basis. I think, it is unnecessary to mention that I have something new on my “The reason I’m always broke”-list now. :S The hardware is ESP 8266 based and depending on the edition comes directly with or with the option of using the customized firmware from spacehuhn. Also, they provide a udemy class to learn operating the deauther, which you will get a discount for, if you buy on of the devices in their shop.
Over the time I spend on the congress platform, I got a little less afraid of all the strangers. Sadly, I wasn’t able to make the new “techy-nerd-friends” connections as I would have wished on a real C3, but it was I think the best alternative possible. So, after so time I hopped into other workshops like 3D printer fundamentals (I have some experience on 3D printing, but I was interested in the community anyway) and after some technical issues in the beginning I was able to meet Kathi and Coffee n’ Code, both I know from IG, at the “Hackbar” in the 2D world. Hanging out with them and a friend they brought along was a lot of fun and once more let me wish to be on the real congress in Leipzig one day.
All in all, rC3 was a nice and absolutely new experience to me and hopefully, a once in a lifetime experience. Because I’m looking forward to that next year at this place, I can report from my journey to 37C3 at the Leipzig congress. I’m looking forward to meeting ya all their!
