Hackers and a Sunrise
SecTor was a conference by and for cyber security researchers. After David and I left Niagara we took the Queen's Highway up to Toronto. The Canadian boarder guards are much nicer than the US ones, but we were fine with no pat-downs at any point. Here are a couple posts (one two) I helped author about the conference, hosted on the site that sponsored our tickets. The first keynote speaker, Joe Grand, sat on stage and talked with us after his kick-off speech. He's a self professed hacker and defines the term well - one who curiously and uniquely does the impossible and shares how. I feel like anyone who plays with a system to find new unexpected/unintended results is a hacker, and these people are driving the swiftest growing portion of the tech industry: Cyber Security. Videos of the talks will be posted on the SecTor site later if you're curious about smart phone hacking or stories of hackers paying a penny for delivery pizza or taking over the security camera system of a mature tech company.
When we weren't at the convention center, David and I were touring Toronto. We hung out at the Loose Moose with Rapid7, a prominent security group, getting to know some of the top people in the industry. We also listened to live jazz every evening in our awesome Rex Hotel with rooms <$100 and a great restaurant taking up the whole ground level. The Toronto zoo is also famous for its grand size - more than 5k animals. Personally I loved the huge lemur building with plenty of space for those energetic guys to fly from branch to branch. While exploring we used a laptop plugged into the car's cigarette lighter for wifi and google maps, saving the rental cost of a gps.
On our way home we spent a few hours of the night at the Sleep Inn, which was full except for there most expensive rooms. Lucky for us they were happy to lend a free upgrade so we paid the minimum amount for a jacuzzi premium room. Having Denny's on the day we left was a satisfying conclusion, almost laughing ourselves to tears at our table from all the funny moments while exploring.
I just finished climbing a tree beside the Chesterfield Mall to catch the sunrise @7:34am. "Here Comes the Sun" was definitely playing in my head. I'm at Genevieve's house now, hanging out with her little brother while parents are away. I'll probably hack a little bit and play video games until my next post.
Have a super weekend!
When we weren't at the convention center, David and I were touring Toronto. We hung out at the Loose Moose with Rapid7, a prominent security group, getting to know some of the top people in the industry. We also listened to live jazz every evening in our awesome Rex Hotel with rooms <$100 and a great restaurant taking up the whole ground level. The Toronto zoo is also famous for its grand size - more than 5k animals. Personally I loved the huge lemur building with plenty of space for those energetic guys to fly from branch to branch. While exploring we used a laptop plugged into the car's cigarette lighter for wifi and google maps, saving the rental cost of a gps.
On our way home we spent a few hours of the night at the Sleep Inn, which was full except for there most expensive rooms. Lucky for us they were happy to lend a free upgrade so we paid the minimum amount for a jacuzzi premium room. Having Denny's on the day we left was a satisfying conclusion, almost laughing ourselves to tears at our table from all the funny moments while exploring.
I just finished climbing a tree beside the Chesterfield Mall to catch the sunrise @7:34am. "Here Comes the Sun" was definitely playing in my head. I'm at Genevieve's house now, hanging out with her little brother while parents are away. I'll probably hack a little bit and play video games until my next post.
Have a super weekend!
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