> That means "the rules are a little different," said Stan Black, chief security officer for Citrix in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. For example, he's bringing his schedule printed out on a piece of paper so he doesn't have to turn on his cell phone to check it.<p>> "And they're all staying in the same hotel," said Steve McGregory, director of threat and application intelligence for Ixia, a security firm in Calabasas, Calif..<p>> Jon Miller, vice president of the security firm Cylance in Irvine, Calif., doesn't see the hacking at Black Hat as malicious so much as simply intellectually curious. But he still turns off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on his phone and only logs on to the Internet from his hotel room using a virtual private network.<p>Ok I get it, it's a hacker's con, with hackers hacking hackers. If you don't want your phone hacked, don't bring it to Blackhat. "It's to be expected", right?<p>But isn't also a little bit insane?<p>What about the people working there? Hotel staff, catering, nearby bars, shops, etc. Do they get debriefed about security countermeasures like this? Or are they left to their own devices? (or should I say "0wned devices")<p>Do the hotels use computers? Do they get help protecting their systems from damage? How do they manage to get their systems back into a safe and stable state for the rest of the year for when, you know, the place isn't swarming with people for whom "the rules are a little different".<p>Sounds to me the waiting staff will be the ones with the least protected phones, attracting the "intellectually curious". I'm just thinking of these additional scripts available, not the exploits, but the ones designed to slurp data after a way in has been found. They are targeted at the common types of accounts/usage, facebook and gmail, automated email digging, further escalation to ID theft, etc. Most security researchers/consultants know of these tools but they never <i>really</i> get to use them in their day job, because usually you don't have to follow an exploit all the way through to begin protecting your client from it. But now, <i>they're on Blackhat!</i> And the rules are a little different! Finally!<p>And even after all the hackers leave, the exploit's still in your phone.<p>Perhaps I'm being a bit hyperbolic here, but grant that it is a pretty crazy situation and I'm actually curious, how do the local people working there deal with this?<p>Imagine going to a gun convention and being advised to better prepare by wearing a bulletproof vest, because "the rules are a little different" there :)