Hack Dissection

Hack Dissection

Hacking for Good: Inside DEF CON 2026 with Mike Lisi & Matt Masur

Aug 28, 2026 · 49 min · 14 segments

What actually happens at the world’s biggest hacker conference—and why are thousands of cybersecurity professionals volunteering their time to break things? In this special bonus episode of **Hack…

What actually happens at the world’s biggest hacker conference—and why are thousands of cybersecurity professionals volunteering their time to break things? In this special bonus episode of **Hack Dissection**, Maltek Solutions’ Mike Lisi is joined by **Click Stream Studios Founder Matt Masur**, who traveled with Mike to Las Vegas for DEF CON 2026. Together, they look back on their experience documenting the conference and explore what makes DEF CON unlike almost any other technology event. Mike and Matt take listeners inside the unique world of DEF CON villages, Capture the Flag competitions, electronic badges, Red Team vs. Blue Team security, AI, and the massive volunteer community that makes the event possible. Along the way, they revisit conversations with hackers working on everything from **Active Directory and pinball machines to cars, boats, aviation, cloud security, and critical infrastructure**. More importantly, they tackle the idea at the heart of this year’s coverage: **Hacking for Good**. Because learning how technology can be attacked, manipulated, or exploited is often the first step toward making it safer. Whether you work in cybersecurity, are thinking about entering the industry, or have simply wondered what really happens at DEF CON, this bonus episode offers an inside look at the people, technology, creativity, and community behind DEF CON 2026.

What actually happens at the world’s biggest hacker conference—and why are thousands of cybersecurity professionals volunteering their time to break things? In this special bonus episode of **Hack…

Speakers: Matt MasurHostMike LisiHost

What Makes DEF CON Different1:49 – 6:34

1:49

Yeah, DEF CON's a hacker conference at its core.

1:52

It was started by Dark Tangent way back in, I don't even know, it was the early 90s, I believe.

1:59

Is that a

1:59

person?

2:00

Yeah, that's his handle.

2:01

Okay.

2:02

And what ended up happening is just like a bunch of friends that got together and they just started sharing stories and talking about the things that they were doing.

2:10

And this, again, early on in the days of where phone freaking and little hijinks and things of that nature are really cool.

2:18

And it just grew into this conference of people coming to get together and talk about the cool stuff that they're doing.

2:24

And it really evolved into this enormous conference now where at the beginning of it, when they release the call, anybody can basically pitch to do anything at the conference, right? We run Red Team Village, which is one of the villages there, but there's people that are doing blue team stuff.

2:44

There's folks that are doing scamming, like calling the scammers back and showing how they do those things.

2:51

So it just really evolves into this thing of all these people in the industry, they have all these really interesting things that they're doing, and they just want to bring it to other people that might be interested.

3:04

So you end up having 20, 30,000 people coming in, And the whole goal of it is just to learn and share and collaborate.

3:11

It's not a trade conference.

3:14

There's no big vendors all over the place.

3:18

There's a little area where you can do that.

3:19

But the whole idea is this is about the community.

3:23

This is about what everybody's doing.

3:25

And to me, it's just a really different and really fun environment.

3:29

Yeah.

3:30

It was truly interesting.

3:31

And like you said, you know, when you think of a conference like this, you expect to walk in an exhibit hall and see giant booths for Microsoft and Palo Alto and, you know, all these big players.

3:42

Absolutely none of that.

3:44

There were all these, like you said, villages.

3:47

And can you just take a minute to explain kind of how that works and specifically the people that put on the villages? What's

What Makes DEF CON Different1:49 – 6:34

1:49

Yeah, DEF CON's a hacker conference at its core.

1:52

It was started by Dark Tangent way back in, I don't even know, it was the early 90s, I believe.

1:59

Is that a

1:59

person?

2:00

Yeah, that's his handle.

2:01

Okay.

2:02

And what ended up happening is just like a bunch of friends that got together and they just started sharing stories and talking about the things that they were doing.

2:10

And this, again, early on in the days of where phone freaking and little hijinks and things of that nature are really cool.

2:18

And it just grew into this conference of people coming to get together and talk about the cool stuff that they're doing.

2:24

And it really evolved into this enormous conference now where at the beginning of it, when they release the call, anybody can basically pitch to do anything at the conference, right? We run Red Team Village, which is one of the villages there, but there's people that are doing blue team stuff.

2:44

There's folks that are doing scamming, like calling the scammers back and showing how they do those things.

2:51

So it just really evolves into this thing of all these people in the industry, they have all these really interesting things that they're doing, and they just want to bring it to other people that might be interested.

3:04

So you end up having 20, 30,000 people coming in, And the whole goal of it is just to learn and share and collaborate.

3:11

It's not a trade conference.

3:14

There's no big vendors all over the place.

3:18

There's a little area where you can do that.

3:19

But the whole idea is this is about the community.

3:23

This is about what everybody's doing.

3:25

And to me, it's just a really different and really fun environment.

3:29

Yeah.

3:30

It was truly interesting.

3:31

And like you said, you know, when you think of a conference like this, you expect to walk in an exhibit hall and see giant booths for Microsoft and Palo Alto and, you know, all these big players.

3:42

Absolutely none of that.

3:44

There were all these, like you said, villages.

3:47

And can you just take a minute to explain kind of how that works and specifically the people that put on the villages? What's