ToorCamp is an American-flavored hacker camp that was inspired by European versions like CCC Camp in Germany and HAR Camp in the Netherlands. ToorCamp 2009 was the "first ever full-scale" USA hacker camp and was held inside an abandoned Titan-1 Missile silo at Moses Lake, WA. After the Black Hat and Def Con hacking conferences, ToorCamp 2012 was held at the northwestern tip of the U.S. at Hobuck Beach Resort in Neah Bay, WA. Since about 400 people either pitched tents or stayed in cabins, not only does it dispel the notion that all hackers avoid sunshine and the great outdoors, apparently a good time was had by all. So if you were tapped out of mula like me and didn’t attend, here’s a look at some of the unique aspects of this cool camp for “hackers, makers, breakers and shakers.”
While there’s more on the ToorCamp blog, some of the other more bizarre activities included Bike Jousting, setting up a huge dome which doubled as a dance hall at night, and building a cell network called ShadyTel. Ken Westin explained, “We were all given our own SIM card to put into unlocked GSM phones and were able to use the network to not only call each other but also outside the camp, one guy in our camp even called his girlfriend in Australia.” There was also a payphone turned into a community phone.
“Did I mention there were freakin’ laser beams?” Westin wrote at Tripwire State of Security. “Hackerbot Labs built a photonic beam by extracting the laser modules from projectors and merging them into a single beam of light seen for miles.” The laser was so powerful that the group “had to get FAA clearance to deploy” it.
The video below gives a funny overview of ToorCamp 2012:
As unique as a hacker camps are, WorldToor is even more bizarre. It’s a 13-day Ice Breaker expedition journey to “the end of the world” for the first ever hacker conference in Antarctica. The event will be held on December 10 – 21, so if the Mayans are correct about the world ending on December 21, 2012, then this will also be the last hacker conference ever. The ToorCon crew “is dedicated to throwing some of the most unique and extreme hacker / computer security conferences in the world.” Although attendees might feel the “pain” of the cold, that may be nothing compared to withdrawals from being cut off from Internet access. The security conference presentations will take the edge off and take place during the cruise to and from Antarctica.
And if the world doesn’t end and you want another adventure for hackers, then you might consider attending the 29th Chaos Communication Congress, a four-day hacking conference held December 27 – 30 in Hamburg, Germany organized by the Chaos Computer Club (CCC).
This story, "Adventures in an American Hacker Camp" was originally published by Computerworld.