The Seven Coolest Inventions From 'DEF CON' 2026
DEF CON, the annual hacker convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada, just concluded its 2026 event. Between the convention’s Main Stage talks, vendor floors, and Demo Labs displays, this year’s event displayed some amazing feats of anti-surveillance technology built by open-source and independent developers or cybersecurity experts. There’s a device that detects nearby Flock cameras, an encrypted handheld device for sending texts without relying on carrier networks or the internet, a risk calculator for third-party web browser extensions, and an advanced spyware detector for smartphones. I spent my weekend analyzing all of them, going through reams of on-the-floor footage and announcement pages. These are the things that struck me as most interesting. Flock You and OUI-SPY by Colonel Panic OUI-SPY is an ESP32 microcontroller pre-loaded with Colonel Panic's Flock camera detecti...
