DEF CON 34
August 6–9, 2026
Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall — 3150 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89109
DEF CON is the world's largest hacker conference — 30,000+ security researchers, ethical hackers, and curious minds converging on Las Vegas for talks, villages, Capture the Flag competitions, and legendary after-hours parties. No pre-registration. No name badge scans. Cash only at the door. This is where cybersecurity culture happens.
Dates
Aug 6–9, 2026
Venue
LVCC West Hall
Attendance
30,000+
Guest List
Free Club Entry
Your DEF CON Resources
Everything for DEF CON 34 Attendees
From badge pickup logistics to after-hours nightclub access — all the information you need for Hacker Summer Camp 2026.
Attendee Guide
Badge pickup, village schedule, and what to bring
🎶Nightlife & After Parties
Calvin Harris, Diplo, Zouk — best clubs during DEF CON
🏨Wynn & Encore
XS + EBC on-property, 1.5 mi from LVCC
🏨The Cosmopolitan
Marquee Nightclub + Dayclub on-property
🏨Caesars Palace
OMNIA Nightclub + OMNIA Dayclub connected via bridge
🗺️All Hotels
Browse all Las Vegas hotels with nightlife access
What Sets DEF CON Apart
The Conference That Runs on Cash and Curiosity
DEF CON has no corporate sponsor agenda, no name-badge RFID tracking, no pre-registered attendee lists, and no assigned seating. You pay cash at the door. You get a badge — an electronic one with circuits and embedded puzzles baked into the hardware. Solving the badge puzzle is not a side activity; it is part of the conference itself. Teams form spontaneously in the hallways. Clues spread through IRC channels and hotel corridors. Some badge challenges have taken years to fully solve.
The village structure is what makes DEF CON different from any other conference in the world. Fifty-plus independent communities set up their own spaces, run their own talks, and design their own competitions — the Lockpick Village, the Car Hacking Village, the Social Engineering Village, the Hardware Hacking Village, and dozens more. Each village functions as a mini conference with its own culture. A first-timer who spends their entire DEF CON inside three villages will come away with more practical skills than someone who attends ten years of corporate security trainings.
The Wall of Sheep is a live display of usernames and partial passwords captured from unencrypted traffic on the conference network. It is not malicious — it is a public demonstration that even security professionals send credentials in cleartext when their guard is down. Appearing on the Wall of Sheep is considered a rite of passage for many attendees, though nobody admits to enjoying it.
DEF CON is the final event of Hacker Summer Camp — the informal convergence of DEF CON, Black Hat USA, and BSides Las Vegas that draws more than 60,000 security professionals to Las Vegas in a 10-day window each August. Black Hat at Mandalay Bay (Aug 1–6) serves the corporate and enterprise security market. BSides at Tuscany Suites (Aug 3–5) is the peer-reviewed, community-organized alternative for researchers who want unfiltered conversations. DEF CON is the culmination — less structured, more anarchic, and by far the largest.
Getting In
How DEF CON Badge Pickup Works
Cash Only — No Exceptions
DEF CON badges are sold at the door in cash. No credit cards, no Venmo, no crypto. The price for DEF CON 34 is typically $400–440 — confirmed on defcon.org closer to the event. Bring cash, plus buffer for ATM fees and the vendor area. LVCC ATMs are heavily used by Thursday afternoon and often run dry by Friday.
No Pre-Registration
There is no online ticket purchase, no early-access registration, and no waitlist for DEF CON general admission. Anyone can walk up to the badge window Thursday morning with cash and get in. Arrive before 8:00 AM to minimize wait time on opening day — lines can run two hours when the doors open.
The Electronic Badge
DEF CON badges are not paper lanyards — they are functional electronic devices with custom circuitry, LEDs, and embedded firmware. Each year's badge contains a multi-stage puzzle that the community works to solve collectively over the four days of the conference and for weeks afterward. The badge hacking village has tools, tips, and community support for attendees who want to dig in.
DEF CON Training (Separate)
DEF CON Training is a separately ticketed program with course-specific dates and pricing outside the main conference schedule. Topics cover offensive and defensive techniques, reverse engineering, malware analysis, and more. Confirm the exact course dates, availability, and price on the official DEF CON Training site.
Schedule
DEF CON 34 Show Hours
Thursday, August 6
Opening day. Badge sales begin ~8 AM. Expect the longest lines.
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Friday, August 7
Full day. Black Hat USA concluded August 6, so many dual-conference attendees transition to DEF CON.
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Saturday, August 8
Peak day. Official DEF CON party is Saturday evening.
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Sunday, August 9
Closing day. CTF finals awards. Shorter hours — wrap early.
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Villages and CTF competitions often run later than official hours. The official DEF CON party is typically Saturday evening and is included with badge purchase. Check defcon.org and the DEF CON app for final schedule confirmations.
Village Guide
DEF CON Villages — Where the Real Learning Happens
DEF CON has over 50 villages — independent community spaces each focused on a specific security domain. Entry is free with your badge. Below are eight of the most popular and most hands-on. Plan your schedule around the villages that align with your work, then explore the ones that don't. The cross-discipline exposure is half the value of DEF CON.
Lockpick Village
The Lockpick Village is one of DEF CON's longest-running and most accessible stops. Physical security professionals and hobbyists teach hands-on lockpicking from beginner padlocks to high-security cylinders. No prior experience required — instructors walk you through tension wrenches and picks in real time. By Sunday you will have opened more locks than you thought possible.
Car Hacking Village
The Car Hacking Village bridges digital and physical security by putting real vehicle ECUs, OBD-II interfaces, and CAN bus tools directly in attendees' hands. Researchers demonstrate how modern vehicle systems can be accessed, modified, or taken over through software vulnerabilities. The hands-on labs run challenges ranging from introductory CAN bus sniffing to full ECU firmware analysis.
Social Engineering Village
Live demonstrations of human-layer exploitation — phone calls, pretexting, and psychological manipulation performed against consenting targets in real time. The SECTF (Social Engineering Capture the Flag) competition is a signature event where contestants call real companies live on stage attempting to gather specific pieces of information using only their voice and wits. Watching world-class social engineers work is both instructive and uncomfortable in the best way.
Hardware Hacking Village
Focused on embedded systems, firmware extraction, JTAG/UART debugging, and hardware reverse engineering. The soldering stations are open to beginners — bring your broken devices or buy a target board from the village supply table. Experts walk through everything from power glitching to EEPROM dumps. This village demonstrates that digital security has physical edges.
IoT Village
Hundreds of real consumer devices — routers, cameras, smart home hubs, baby monitors — are set up for hands-on exploitation. The IoT Village demonstrates in concrete terms how thoroughly consumer-grade devices fail at security. Attendees pick up techniques for network scanning, firmware analysis, and default-credential attacks, and watch researchers pop open devices that millions of homes are running right now.
Wireless Village
Covers the full spectrum of radio-frequency security: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, and beyond. The Wireless CTF challenges range from WEP/WPA cracking warm-ups to software-defined radio signal analysis. The village runs hands-on labs with actual access points and controlled rogue networks — none of the wireless trickery escapes into the real conference network.
Red Team Village
Offensive security techniques from the enterprise perspective — active directory attacks, lateral movement, command-and-control frameworks, and evasion methods. The Red Team Village bridges the gap between individual hacking skills and coordinated team operations. Panel discussions with professional red teamers about methodology, rules of engagement, and lessons learned from real engagements are a regular feature.
Aerospace Village
Aviation cybersecurity research applied to real aircraft systems — avionics interfaces, ADS-B spoofing, satellite communication vulnerabilities, and drone security. The Aerospace Village brings decommissioned aircraft equipment and flight simulators to Las Vegas. Researchers who spend their year working in obscure corners of FAA certification get to share what they found with an audience that can appreciate it.
The full village list is published on defcon.org. Additional villages include the Voting Machine Hacking Village, Aviation Village, AI Village, Biohacking Village, Crypto and Privacy Village, Packet Hacking Village, and more. Village spaces open at the start of the conference and often run independently of the main stage talk schedule.
Competition
DEF CON CTF — The Most Prestigious Hacking Competition in the World
The DEF CON Capture the Flag competition is widely regarded as the Super Bowl of competitive security. Elite teams qualify through the DEF CON CTF Qualifier (held online in May 2026) and then compete live at the conference in Las Vegas. The final round runs attack-defense style — teams simultaneously attack each other's infrastructure while defending their own. The challenges involve vulnerabilities in custom operating systems, firmware, network services, and cryptographic implementations that the game designers build specifically for the competition.
Winning DEF CON CTF is considered one of the highest achievements in competitive security. Past winners include teams like PPP (Carnegie Mellon), DEFKOR (Korea University), and Shellphish (UC Santa Barbara). The competition is open to watch live in the CTF area — the leaderboard updates in real time and the atmosphere is electric as teams cycle through submission attempts in the final hours.
If you want to participate, the qualifier round in May 2026 is how teams earn invitations. Alternatively, DEF CON hosts several smaller CTF competitions and challenge rooms that are open to any badge holder — including beginner-friendly puzzle challenges that run throughout the conference. The CTF area is one of the best places to meet other technically-focused attendees and start conversations.
Volunteer Culture
DEF CON Goons — The Volunteers Who Run the Conference
DEF CON does not run on professional event staff the way CES, AWS re:Invent, or Black Hat USA does. The conference is largely operated by Goons — an all-volunteer crew of experienced information security practitioners who manage crowd control, village logistics, CTF administration, badge pickup operations, and the dozens of operational details that make a 30,000-person event function. The Goon title is a DEF CON tradition dating to the early conferences of the 1990s. The role carries genuine status within the hacker community. Goons are identifiable by their distinctive shirts, which change design each year and are not for sale — they are earned through service, making them among the most meaningful wearables at a conference that runs on merit and contribution rather than job title or vendor spend.
The Goon Hall of Fame, maintained on defcon.org, documents volunteers who have contributed significant time over multiple years. Many Goons have worked DEF CON for a decade or more. Unlike contract event staff who rotate between venues and do not know the conference culture, Goons carry deep institutional knowledge about how the event actually functions. They know which halls get overcrowded at peak session times, where the badge line stalls, what the CTF area status is on Saturday afternoon, and which unofficial parties are worth the walk. The continuity of the Goon corps is a direct reason why DEF CON operates with more coherence than most conferences three times its size.
The Goon volunteer model is also a mentorship structure. Experienced Goons train new volunteers, and serving as a Goon is a respected way to participate in DEF CON beyond badge-holding. If you encounter a Goon at the conference, treat the interaction as you would a senior colleague who is volunteering their time: respectful, specific, and genuinely curious rather than demanding. The operational knowledge Goons carry — what is actually happening in the building, which rooms have space, where the interesting conversations are — cannot be found in the published schedule or the DEF CON app. The community-run nature of the conference extends all the way through its logistics, and the Goon crew is the clearest expression of that principle.
Conference Traditions
DEF CON Traditions: Toxic BBQ, Hacker Jeopardy, and Badgelife
Toxic BBQ — The Unofficial Opening Party (Since DEF CON 12)
Toxic BBQ has been DEF CON's unofficial pre-conference gathering since DEF CON 12 in 2004. It takes place at Sunset Park in Las Vegas on the Wednesday before badge sales open — typically the evening before the LVCC badge window begins Thursday morning — and operates entirely outside DEF CON's official programming. Attendees bring food, drinks, and grills. The atmosphere is communal and low-key in ways the conference floor cannot replicate once 30,000 people arrive. Toxic BBQ is where the longest-tenured DEF CON community members gather before the crowds appear. For many regulars, it is the actual start of DEF CON — the warm-up that establishes the social context before the LVCC fills on Thursday morning. Location and logistics circulate through the DEF CON forums and Discord in the days before the event. There is no registration, no badge required, and no cost.
Hacker Jeopardy — DEF CON's Oldest Competition (Since 1995)
Hacker Jeopardy is DEF CON's oldest competition, running since 1995 at DEF CON 3. It is a parody of the television show structured around security trivia, hacker culture, and audience participation that has historically run into adult territory without apology. Hacker Jeopardy runs in the evenings and consistently draws some of the highest attendance of any non-technical event at the conference — a social release after days of dense technical content. For first-time DEF CON attendees, Hacker Jeopardy is the event that best communicates the conference's personality: technically sharp, irreverent, self-aware, and entirely uninterested in corporate respectability. The venue fills beyond standing room capacity early in the evening — check the DEF CON app for the 2026 schedule and plan to arrive at least 30 minutes before the listed start time.
Badgelife — The Independent Badge Creator Community
Badgelife is the community of independent creators who design, build, and sell their own electronic badges at DEF CON alongside the official conference badge. These independently produced badges range from functional hardware security tools to sculptural art pieces with embedded cryptographic puzzles of their own. They are sold from tables in the vendor area and often incorporate challenges that link into broader community solutions discovered collectively over the conference days. The Badgelife movement demonstrates one of DEF CON's most unusual properties: the conference generates a secondary creative economy around its own artifacts. Attendees collect badges across years; some editions become significant community artifacts traded through collector networks long after the conference closes. The tradition began when individual builders started creating their own badges as side projects and grew into a recognized sub-community with its own culture, supply chains, and publication channels. For hardware security practitioners, Badgelife is as much an exhibition context as the official Hardware Hacking Village.
DEF CON 34
DEF CON 34 Theme: Agency
DEF CON 34's theme is "Agency" — a concept that sits at the intersection of computer science, political philosophy, and the current AI security moment. In computing, an agent is a software entity that perceives its environment and takes autonomous actions to achieve goals. In political philosophy, agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make choices that shape outcomes. DEF CON 34 puts both meanings into tension: as AI systems become increasingly autonomous agents capable of making consequential security decisions, questions about who controls those agents — and whose interests they serve — have moved from theoretical to urgent. The conference's research tracks, CTF design, and village programming for 2026 all reflect this collision between computational agency and human agency as a live and unresolved problem.
The theme also affects the badge puzzle — the electronic device issued with each admission ticket that doubles as a cryptographic challenge produced annually since the early 2000s. DEF CON badges are analog in design by intention: no name, no company, no QR code that a scanner can read. The badge hacking community — which forms organically each year from attendees pooling findings in real time across Discord channels and forum threads — typically cracks the outer layer of the puzzle within hours of the Thursday badge window opening. The Agency theme is expected to surface in the badge's design language, circuitry, and embedded firmware in ways that only become apparent when teams compare notes over the four conference days. The full puzzle solution for a given year sometimes takes months beyond the conference itself.
For first-time DEF CON attendees, the Agency theme provides a useful orientation for talk and village selection. Research tracks related to AI security, autonomous system vulnerabilities, LLM exploit techniques, agentic workflow abuse, and automated offensive tooling carry particularly high relevance at DEF CON 34. The AI Village has grown substantially at recent DEF CON events and is expected to run high-traffic programming in alignment with the 2026 theme. The Car Hacking Village, Aerospace Village, and ICS Village all deal with autonomous systems in ways that connect directly to the theme — these are worth scheduling explicitly rather than treating as walk-in alternatives to the main tracks. The interaction between physical autonomy (self-driving vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, SCADA controllers) and digital agency is a through-line across multiple villages.
Jeff Moss — known throughout the hacker community by the handle Dark Tangent — founded DEF CON in 1993 at the Alexis Park hotel in Las Vegas, making DEF CON 34 thirty-three years into the conference's history. The event has grown from a few hundred attendees in a single hotel ballroom to 30,000 people occupying the largest convention center footprint in Las Vegas. The move to the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall gave DEF CON more dedicated floor space than at any previous venue, allowing village sprawl, dedicated hardware hacking labs, and CTF infrastructure at a scale that was physically impossible at the Flamingo, Bally's, or the Paris where DEF CON ran for many of its early years. The LVCC West Hall runs with cell coverage deliberately minimized — a configuration that encourages in-person engagement and reduces the digital surveillance posture that would be antithetical to the conference culture. Cash-only badge sales, no-name registration, and the analog badge all reflect the same design philosophy: the conference is designed to give attendees agency over their own information.
Packing List
What to Bring to DEF CON 2026
DEF CON packing is different from any other conference. Some items that seem optional are mandatory. Some items you would normally bring are wrong choices here.
Badge and Payment Plan
DEF CON offers official online preregistration and a separate onsite purchase process. Check the current official registration page before travel for the active price, accepted onsite payment method, pickup instructions, and any tier deadlines; do not rely on an older year's cash amount.
Burner Laptop or Clean Device
Leave your work machine at home. DEF CON's network is intentionally hostile — the Wall of Sheep display captures unencrypted credentials in real time as an educational demonstration. If you must bring a personal device, factory reset before attending, disable automatic connections, and use only a personal mobile hotspot for internet access.
Water Bottle
Las Vegas in August averages 103°F outdoors. The LVCC is air-conditioned but massive — you will walk miles per day. Dehydration is the most common preventable reason people feel awful by Saturday. Bring a large insulated bottle and refill it constantly.
Comfortable Walking Shoes
The Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall spans 600,000 square feet. Add walks between villages, the badge line, the CTF area, and excursions to Resorts World next door, and 10,000+ steps per day is realistic. Dress shoes will ruin you by day two.
Going-Out Outfit (for clubs after hours)
Las Vegas nightclubs enforce a dress code. XS at Wynn, OMNIA at Caesars, and Marquee at The Cosmopolitan will not admit men in the standard hacker uniform of jeans and a black t-shirt. Pack at least one collared shirt or button-down if you plan to hit the Strip clubs after dark. Women have more flexibility.
VPN and Privacy Setup
Beyond the conference Wi-Fi, your hotel and any Strip venue you visit will have open or WPA2-shared networks. Use a VPN on your mobile data. Sign out of corporate email clients and disable push notifications for sensitive apps. The Wall of Sheep is meant as a reminder — use it as one.
Sunscreen and Hat
Any walk outside between the LVCC and Resorts World, Wynn, or The Venetian involves serious UV exposure. The desert sun at 103°F is unforgiving even for short walks. August in Las Vegas burns people who have never experienced desert summer heat.
Hacker Summer Camp
Black Hat + BSides + DEF CON — The Full Week
Most Hacker Summer Camp veterans attend multiple events in the same week. Here is how the schedule stacks:
Black Hat USA
Aug 1–6, Mandalay Bay
Commercial conference for enterprise security practitioners. Paid trainings plus briefings. 20,000+ attendees. Corporate-focused with major vendor sponsorships and a Business Hall.
BSides Las Vegas
Aug 3–5, Tuscany Suites
Free, community-organized conference at Tuscany Suites (2 miles from Mandalay Bay). Peer-reviewed talks, open atmosphere. Registration is free but capped — apply early on bsideslv.org.
DEF CON 34
Aug 6–9, LVCC West Hall
Cash at the door. 50+ villages. CTF competition. Electronic badge puzzles. 30,000+ attendees. The largest and most culturally significant event of the three.
If you are flying in for the full week, book Sunday August 2 through Monday August 10 to capture all three events without mid-week checkout-and-check-in logistics. A central Strip hotel between Mandalay Bay (south Strip) and the LVCC (north Strip) — Cosmopolitan, Caesars, or Venetian — is the most practical base for attending all three events.
After Hours
Nightlife During DEF CON Week
DEF CON parties are a fixture of Hacker Summer Camp. The official DEF CON party (Saturday evening, included with badge) is the largest gathering of the con — music, drinks, and the accumulated energy of 30,000 people who have spent three days in talks and villages. Vendor-sponsored parties run throughout the week, announced through booths, DEF CON Discord, and word-of-mouth. Some of the best unofficial parties are invite-only and circulate through attendee networks rather than public listings.
Beyond the hacker party circuit, the Las Vegas Strip is immediately accessible. August is peak DJ and pool party season on the Strip. Calvin Harris and Diplo hold residencies at Encore Beach Club at Wynn Las Vegas — note: XS Nightclub remains a Wynn nightlife option during DEF CON week; its announced renovation begins later. Confirm the live calendar before arrival. Fisher, Tiësto, and Martin Garrix anchor the OMNIA Dayclubsummer calendar at Caesars Palace. The LVCC's position at the north end of the Strip makes Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World (0.8 miles, walkable) and Encore Beach Club at Wynn (1.5 miles) the closest major venues.
One logistics reality for DEF CON attendees: the overlap with Black Hat (which wraps August 6) means the Friday and Saturday of DEF CON week are among the busiest nightclub nights of the entire Las Vegas summer. 50,000+ convention attendees compete for the same Friday spots. Submit the guest list form below before you arrive — it is the fastest way to guarantee free entry and skip the general-admission line.
Zouk Nightclub
0.8 mi from LVCC · Resorts World
XS Nightclub
Closed Aug–Oct 2026 for renovation
Encore Beach Club
Calvin Harris + Diplo · Wynn
AYU Dayclub
Walkable from LVCC · Resorts World
OMNIA Dayclub
Fisher + Tiësto · Caesars Palace
OMNIA Nightclub
Tiësto + Steve Aoki · Caesars
Marquee Nightclub
The Cosmopolitan · EDM + Hip-Hop
TAO Nightclub
Venetian · Walking distance from LVCC
Drai's After Hours
Opens 1 AM · Hip-Hop + House
Full DEF CON 2026 Nightlife Guide — clubs, pool parties, strip clubs, tips →
Night-by-Night Breakdown
What's On at Las Vegas Clubs Each Night of DEF CON 34
August 6–9 runs against the full summer programming calendar. Below is the confirmed lineup at each major venue each night of DEF CON week.
Thursday, August 6 — Opening Night
DEF CON Day 1 · Badge pickup opens 8 AM · Longest lines of the conference
Thursday is DEF CON's opening day, which means badge window lines begin at 8 AM and the LVCC West Hall fills with the energy of first-day arrivals. The overlap with the final day of Black Hat USA briefings means the combined security conference crowd reaches its maximum on Thursday — the largest single day of attendees across both events. Thursday nightlife has less headline pressure than Friday and Saturday, which makes it the easiest night of the week to access clubs without extensive advance planning. Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World is 0.8 miles from the LVCC West Hall entrance — one of the most accessible venues for attendees who want to walk directly from an evening conference session. TAO Nightclub at The Venetian runs Worship Thursdays with TAO resident DJs, providing a consistent weekly Thursday option without the premium headliner pricing that Friday and Saturday carry. OMNIA Nightclub at Caesars programs a resident DJ on Thursdays that is significantly easier to guest-list into than the Steve Aoki and Chris Lake weekend headliners. Drai's After Hours at Cromwell opens at 1 AM nightly and is particularly relevant for the DEF CON demographic: after-hours culture maps directly to the nocturnal operating hours most conference attendees are already running.
Unofficial DEF CON parties and vendor-sponsored happy hours circulate on Thursday through the DEF CON app and attendee Discord channels. These informal gatherings — accessible through word-of-mouth, conference networks, and community forums — run parallel to the formal nightclub circuit and represent a distinct type of DEF CON social experience that exists entirely outside the ticketed venue structure. First-time attendees who connect with other conference-goers during Thursday village sessions often find themselves routed to these informal gatherings by veterans who know the full landscape. The Thursday unofficial party circuit is lighter on budget and allows meeting a broader cross-section of the community than any single nightclub venue.
Friday, August 7 — Peak Night 1
DEF CON Day 2 · Highest single-night demand of the week · Book in advance
Friday August 7 is the highest-demand nightlife night of the entire DEF CON week. The full conference population is present, weekend travel arrivals begin Friday afternoon, and the Black Hat departure wave pushes thousands of additional security professionals into the same Friday evening Strip corridor. Guest list capacity across major nightclubs fills faster on this Friday than almost any other non-holiday Friday of the summer. Steve Aoki headlines OMNIA Nightclub at Caesars Palace at 10:30 PM — his electro house and big room catalog opening a DEF CON Friday in the way he has anchored high-demand Las Vegas Fridays for over a decade. Gryffin headlines Encore Beach Club at Night at 10:30 PM — a melodic electronic and indie-electronic leaning booking at the outdoor Wynn campus venue that offers a tonally distinct option from OMNIA's higher-energy commercial house direction. Marquee Dayclub at The Cosmopolitan runs Beatport Fridays with me n ü — the Venezuelan minimal tech house duo whose lower-BPM groove-focused approach provides the most underground electronic option for Friday afternoon pool programming. For daytime, Knolldoll holds the Encore Beach Club 11:00 AM slot, a Wynn campus resident DJ providing a midday decompression window between conference sessions before the evening headliner circuit begins.
Submit guest list forms for Friday venues by Monday August 3 at the latest — last-minute Friday submissions during DEF CON week face capacity limits that apply to almost no other August Friday in the summer calendar. The 50,000+ combined convention attendees competing for the same Friday night spots is a real logistical constraint that cannot be resolved at the door.
Saturday, August 8 — Peak Night 2 + Official DEF CON Party
DEF CON Day 3 · Peak conference + nightclub programming · Official party included with badge
Saturday August 8 is simultaneously DEF CON's highest-energy conference day — CTF midpoint, peak village activity, the most-attended talk blocks — and the strongest nightclub programming night of the DEF CON week. The official DEF CON party, included with general admission badge purchase, typically runs Saturday evening. The Strip nightclub circuit runs parallel to and after the official party, meaning Saturday produces the most complex scheduling decision of the week for attendees who want to attend both. Hugel at Encore Beach Club from 11:00 AM provides the peak dayclub option for the Saturday afternoon window between conference sessions and evening events. His Afrobeats-influenced tech house and four-to-the-floor pool party energy has established him as a consistent EBC Saturday headliner through the summer calendar. Kaskade headlines EBC at Night at 10:30 PM — one of the most significant progressive and deep house names of the past twenty years and the highest-prestige booking on the Wynn campus during DEF CON week. Elderbrook plays Marquee Dayclub at The Cosmopolitan from 11:00 AM — his Grammy-associated British electronic and vocal production making Marquee Dayclub Saturday the most musically distinct daytime option of the DEF CON week. Twinsick holds OMNIA Nightclub at Caesars Palace at 10:30 PM. Crankdat headlines LIV Nightclub at Fontainebleau at 10:30 PM, providing a heavy bass music and hybrid trap option at the north Strip for the segment of the DEF CON audience whose tastes run toward harder electronic production.
Saturday guest list for DEF CON week should be submitted by Tuesday August 4 at the absolute latest for any of the major headliner venues. This is the one night where the combined DEF CON crowd, broader summer tourist base, and official party cross-flow creates the highest total guest list demand of any single night in August. Groups who wait until Friday to submit Saturday guest list for EBC at Night or OMNIA face the highest probability of denial of any night in the summer.
Sunday, August 9 — Closing Day
DEF CON Day 4 · Short hours (10 AM–4 PM) · CTF finals + closing ceremonies
Sunday August 9 is DEF CON's closing day with conference hours running 10 AM to 4 PM only, ending with CTF final scoreboard, award presentations, and closing ceremonies. For many attendees, Sunday is checkout day — departures begin late Sunday morning and the LVCC gradually empties through the afternoon. A separate cohort of attendees who booked Monday departures treats Sunday as a full final Las Vegas day. Sunday dayclubs run the standard afternoon circuit: Dillon Francis at Encore Beach Club from 11:00 AM, DJ Pauly D at Palm Tree Beach Club at MGM Grand, Tyga at TAO Beach Dayclub at The Venetian, and Sidepiece at LIV Beach at Fontainebleau (11:30 AM). Sunday night: Josh Baker headlines LIV Nightclub at Fontainebleau at 10:30 PM. DESEO: Latin Sundays runs at OMNIA Nightclub at Caesars Palace at 10:30 PM — the recurring Latin house and urban music program that holds the Sunday slot throughout the summer. TAO Nightclub runs Ritual Sundays. Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World remains the most convenient Sunday night option at 0.8 miles from the LVCC — the lowest-demand night of the four makes walk-up access viable at every major venue.
Where to Stay
Best Hotels for DEF CON 2026 Attendees
The LVCC sits at the north end of the Strip. Hotel selection is a tradeoff between convention proximity, nightlife access, and price. These are the best options across all three priorities.
Resorts World Las Vegas
Adjacent to the LVCC West Hall. Zouk Nightclub and AYU Dayclub on-property. 0.8 mi from badge window.
Wynn & Encore Las Vegas
Encore Beach Club on-property. Calvin Harris residency. 1.5 mi from LVCC. Note: XS Nightclub closed Aug–Oct 2026 for renovation.
The Venetian Resort
TAO Nightclub and TAO Beach on-property. Walking distance to LVCC. Venetian Expo connected via skybridge.
Caesars Palace
OMNIA Nightclub and OMNIA Dayclub connected via bridge. 2 mi from LVCC.
The Cosmopolitan
Marquee Nightclub and Dayclub on-property. Central Strip for both Black Hat and DEF CON.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
LIV Nightclub and LIV Beach on-property. North Strip, closest to LVCC. David Guetta and Tiësto in August.
Sahara Las Vegas
0.5 mi from LVCC West Hall — the closest major hotel to the convention center. Budget-friendly north Strip option.
Bellagio
Central Strip. Easy rideshare to LVCC and Mandalay Bay. Good base for the full Hacker Summer Camp week.
Who Comes to DEF CON
The DEF CON Crowd: Budget-Conscious, Technically-Fluent, Party-Hard
DEF CON draws a fundamentally different demographic than any other Las Vegas convention week. Black Hat USA attracts corporate security practitioners on company expense accounts — attendees billing clients for their time, occupying vendor-sponsored hotel blocks, attending sponsored dinners, and spending from departmental security budgets. DEF CON draws security researchers, students, government analysts, independent bug bounty hunters, red teamers, and community members who are often paying their own way. The cash-only badge policy is not purely a privacy measure — it reflects the conference's core ethos that security knowledge should be accessible regardless of whether an employer is covering the tab. A student researcher with a $600 cash budget gets the same conference as a corporate CISO on a $5,000 travel card.
The DEF CON crowd's nightlife behavior differs from Black Hat in specific and predictable ways. DEF CON attendees actively seek value: advance requests, current cover terms, and coordinated group planning, and options that do not require minimum bottle service spends. They are also more likely to be nocturnal by professional default — security operations, incident response, and competitive CTF work all skew toward late hours in ways that make a 2 AM venue closing feel premature. The underground party circuit at DEF CON — community-organized events that do not appear in official conference listings — serves this demographic directly. Attendees who make connections in village sessions on Thursday afternoon often discover an informal social calendar running parallel to the Strip nightclub circuit.
Group sizes at DEF CON tend to run smaller than at consumer events. Security professionals socializing in groups of four to eight are more common than the large parties that dominate summer weekend nightclub traffic. This makes DEF CON week logistically easier to navigate on the guest list than tourist-heavy Fridays and Saturdays — venue staff are accustomed to convention attendees, smaller groups move through intake faster, and the professional reputation of the security community makes clubs receptive to conference groups during a week when they are competing for capacity with the same 50,000 combined convention attendees everyone else is contending with.
The DEF CON Hotel Bar Circuit — Near the LVCC
Not every DEF CON social gathering happens at a Strip nightclub. For many veterans, the hotel bar circuit — particularly at properties where large numbers of attendees concentrate — is where the most substantive technical conversations happen. Three properties stand out for the DEF CON demographic at the north end of the Strip corridor:
The Westgate connects directly to the LVCC via an enclosed walkway — the only major hotel with zero weather exposure between the room and the convention center floor. A traditional base for DEF CON regulars who prioritize proximity over nightlife venue access, the Westgate's lobby bar becomes a recognizable DEF CON social hub during the conference, filling with familiar faces from the infosec community who are running on minimal sleep and maximum caffeine after four days of technical content. The Westgate is typically among the more budget-friendly options in the LVCC corridor, making it accessible to self-paying attendees watching their conference spend. It also carries a legacy connection to Elvis Presley's Las Vegas residency era that gives it a personality distinct from the corporate tower aesthetic of properties further south on the Strip.
Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel
The Renaissance is directly adjacent to the LVCC at 3400 Paradise Rd — one of two properties with essentially zero transit time to the convention center. Its bar and restaurant areas serve as pre- and post-session decompression points for DEF CON attendees who want to decompress from the vendor floor without navigating Strip traffic. The Renaissance offers a calmer atmosphere than Resorts World or the Wynn campus — appropriate for the segment of the DEF CON crowd that wants extended conversation over drinks rather than a club environment after a day of dense technical sessions. Its food options and bar pricing make it practical for self-paying attendees managing budget across the four-day conference window.
The Sahara sits at 2535 S Las Vegas Blvd — 0.5 miles from the LVCC West Hall, the shortest walk of any Strip property to the convention center entrance. Its bar and lounge programming has shifted significantly since the 2021 renovation: the Sahara now runs a more active evening entertainment calendar than its previous iteration. For DEF CON attendees staying at budget-range north Strip options, the Sahara provides a midpoint between the hotel bar circuit and the full Strip nightclub experience. The AXIS Lounge and Casbar Lounge on-property run DJ and live entertainment on weekends through August without the bottle service minimums or strict dress code enforcement that major Strip venues apply during convention weekends. The Sahara is also the closest Strip property to the Las Vegas Monorail's SLS/Sahara station, making it the most efficient transit connection to Mandalay Bay for attendees splitting the week between Black Hat and DEF CON.
Pool Parties During DEF CON 2026
August is peak pool party season. Every major dayclub runs full programming during DEF CON week. AYU Dayclub at Resorts World is walkable from the LVCC. Encore Beach Club at Wynn is the highest-production option.
See all pool parties →Gentlemen's Clubs
Strip Clubs During DEF CON
Convention weeks are busy at Las Vegas gentlemen's clubs. NoCoverVegas accepts admission and transportation requests for participating venues; terms require host confirmation and are never guaranteed.
See all Las Vegas strip clubs →Las Vegas Conventions
Other Major Las Vegas Tech & Hacking Events
Black Hat USA
Bitcoin 2026
AWS re:Invent
CES
DreamHack
Money20/20
SEMA Show
Oracle CloudWorld
Cisco Live
VMware Explore 2026
Nightlife Resources
DEF CON Attendee Nightlife Guides
Black Hat + DEF CON Nightlife Guide
Black Hat USA 2026 — Aug 1–6 Convention Guide
Black Hat Las Vegas 2026 — Hotels & Nightlife
Las Vegas Nightclubs August 2026
Best Nightclubs 2026
Bottle Service Guide
Nightclub Dress Code
No Cover Strip Clubs
Free Limo to Strip Clubs
After-Hours Guide
Corporate Events Guide
Free Entry Nightclubs
Best Clubs for Groups
Jul 24–25 Weekend — deadmau5 at XS Fri + ODESZA at EBC Sat + Diplo at XS Sat (2 weeks before DEF CON)
Jul 31–Aug 1 Pre-DEF CON Weekend — DJ Snake + Chainsmokers + Fisher (Black Hat USA Opens Aug 1)
Aug 7–8 Full Weekend Guide — Steve Aoki, Kaskade & Metro Boomin
EBC Aug 7–9 — Gryffin, Hugel & Kaskade
Zouk Aug 7–8 — Alison Wonderland
OMNIA Dayclub Aug 8 — Alesso
Las Vegas Nightlife August 2026 — Complete Hub
DEF CON 2026 — FAQ
Where is DEF CON 2026 (DEF CON 34)?
DEF CON 34 is at the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall, 3150 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89109. DEF CON moved to the LVCC from Paris/Bally's (its previous home) to accommodate growing attendance. The LVCC West Hall gives the con more floor space than any previous venue — villages, CTF, the talks schedule, and the vendor area are all under one large roof for the first time.
What are the DEF CON 2026 dates and hours?
DEF CON 34 runs Thursday August 6 through Sunday August 9, 2026. Show hours are 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Thursday through Saturday, and 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Sunday (closing day). DEF CON Training is separately ticketed and scheduled outside the main-conference program; verify specific course dates on the official training schedule before booking travel.
How do I buy a DEF CON badge?
Buy or preregister for a DEF CON badge only through DEF CON's official registration channels. Online preregistration is available, while onsite terms, pricing, accepted payment methods, and pickup instructions can differ. Verify the current official registration page before travel; NoCoverVegas does not sell, issue, or imitate conference admission badges.
What is Hacker Summer Camp?
Hacker Summer Camp is the informal name for the annual convergence of DEF CON, Black Hat USA, and BSides Las Vegas during the first and second weeks of August. Black Hat runs August 1–6 at Mandalay Bay — attended by 20,000+ corporate security professionals. BSides Las Vegas (free, community-run) runs August 3–5 at Tuscany Suites. DEF CON caps the week August 6–9 at the LVCC. Together, Hacker Summer Camp brings 60,000+ cybersecurity professionals to Las Vegas in a 10-day window — the largest annual gathering of the global security community.
What are DEF CON villages?
Villages are independently organized mini-conferences within DEF CON, each focused on a specific security topic. Examples include the Lockpick Village, Car Hacking Village, Hardware Hacking Village, Social Engineering Village, Wireless Village, IoT Village, Red Team Village, and Aerospace Village. Each village runs its own talks, hands-on labs, and competitions. Villages are free with your DEF CON badge and are often where the most technically dense and hands-on content happens.
What is the DEF CON Wall of Sheep?
The Wall of Sheep is a live display at DEF CON showing usernames and partial passwords of attendees caught sending unencrypted credentials over the conference network. It is both an educational demonstration and a reminder that the DEF CON network is intentionally hostile. Every year, even experienced security professionals get caught. The Wall of Sheep is not malicious — it is a public service announcement. Appear on it and you earn a story to tell for years.
Is DEF CON good for beginners?
Yes — DEF CON is intentionally accessible to newcomers. The culture values curiosity over credentials. Many villages run beginner workshops alongside advanced talks. The Lockpick Village, for example, provides tools and instruction regardless of prior experience. The DEF CON Discord and forums are active before the event and can help first-timers plan their schedule. Start with the villages rather than the main stage talks — they have shorter lines, more interaction, and are where the hands-on skills live.
How is DEF CON different from Black Hat USA?
Black Hat is a commercial conference with paid training courses, a sponsor-heavy Business Hall, and polished briefings aimed at enterprise security buyers. DEF CON is community-run and anti-commercial in ethos, with its own paid badge and official registration process. Black Hat attendees tend to be corporate security professionals on company expense accounts; DEF CON draws independent researchers, students, government security teams, and hackers of every background.
What nightclubs are near DEF CON at the LVCC?
Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World Las Vegas is the closest major club — 0.8 miles from the LVCC West Hall entrance, walkable in about 15 minutes or a short rideshare. XS Nightclub and Encore Beach Club at Wynn are roughly 1.5 miles away, and OMNIA Nightclub at Caesars Palace is about 2 miles away. Confirm each venue's live schedule before choosing a night.
Can I go to pool parties during DEF CON week?
Yes. DEF CON runs August 6–9 during Las Vegas pool season. AYU Dayclub at Resorts World is close to LVCC West Hall, while Encore Beach Club and the major Strip dayclubs require a longer walk or ride. Programming and request terms vary by date, capacity, group composition, and artist; verify each venue's current calendar and access rules.
Where should I stay for DEF CON 2026?
Resorts World Las Vegas is the closest major hotel to the LVCC — adjacent to the West Hall with Zouk Nightclub and AYU Dayclub on-property. Westgate Las Vegas connects directly via skybridge and is the most logistically efficient option. Sahara Las Vegas is a short walk north. Wynn and Encore are the best choice if nightlife access matters — XS and Encore Beach Club are on-property. If attending both Black Hat and DEF CON, a central Strip hotel like Cosmopolitan or Caesars balances access to both venues.
Is there parking at the LVCC for DEF CON?
The Las Vegas Convention Center has surface parking lots and a parking garage. Parking costs $10–20 per day during DEF CON. Lots fill early on opening day — arrive before 9:00 AM Thursday if you need on-site parking. The Las Vegas Monorail has a Convention Center station one stop north of Wynn. Rideshare is typically $8–15 from mid-Strip hotels and is the most convenient option for most attendees.
What is the DEF CON 34 theme for 2026?
DEF CON 34's theme is 'Agency' — a concept central to both computer science and political philosophy. In computing, an agent is a software entity that perceives its environment and takes autonomous actions to achieve goals. In political philosophy, agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and make free choices. DEF CON 34 explores the collision of both meanings: as AI systems become increasingly autonomous agents capable of making consequential security decisions, questions about who controls those agents — and whose agency they serve — have become the defining debate in information security. The theme shapes the badge puzzle design, village programming, and talk selection throughout the conference.
What clubs are open during DEF CON 2026 week and what is the specific lineup?
The August 7–9 nightlife calendar includes programming across OMNIA, LIV, Encore Beach Club, Zouk, Marquee, Hakkasan, TAO Beach, Palm Tree Beach Club, and other major venues. Artist bookings and start times can change, so use each venue's live calendar before making plans. Zouk at Resorts World is the closest major club to LVCC, while XS and Encore Beach Club remain practical Wynn options during DEF CON week.
How much does DEF CON 34 cost in 2026 and can I pre-register?
DEF CON 34 has official online preregistration with tiered pricing, plus a separate onsite purchase process. Prices, deadlines, accepted onsite payment methods, and pickup rules can change, so confirm them directly on DEF CON's official registration page before travel. DEF CON Training is separately ticketed and has its own official course dates and pricing.
What makes DEF CON different from other Las Vegas tech conferences like CES or AWS re:Invent?
DEF CON is fundamentally adversarial and counter-cultural in a way no other Las Vegas tech conference is. CES, AWS re:Invent, and Cisco Live are corporate events designed around vendor relationships, sales pipelines, and keynote theater. DEF CON operates with almost no sponsor influence on content — talks are peer-reviewed, the badge is a deliberate anti-tracking device, and the culture actively discourages corporate status displays. An independent researcher presenting a novel attack technique gets the same stage as a CISO from a Fortune 500. DEF CON generates more novel security research in four days than many conferences produce in a year. The admission model is also unique: no name scans, no RFID badge tracking, cash only, and no advance registration for general admission.
What is the DEF CON 34 official party and is it included with the badge?
The official DEF CON party is held Saturday evening of the conference — Saturday August 8 for DEF CON 34 — and is included with general admission badge purchase. The party is one of the largest single gatherings of the conference, with music, drinks, and the cumulative energy of 30,000 attendees who have spent three days in talks and villages. Location and entertainment details are announced on defcon.org and the DEF CON app closer to the event. Vendor-sponsored parties run throughout the full week separately from the official party — these are listed on community resources, in the DEF CON app, and circulate through attendee networks and Discord channels.
What are the best dayclubs for DEF CON 2026 attendees during the day?
AYU Dayclub at Resorts World is the closest major dayclub to LVCC, with Encore Beach Club, OMNIA Dayclub, Marquee Dayclub, TAO Beach, and other Strip venues farther away. Artist bookings and access terms can change. Check each venue's live calendar and submit a request rather than treating this guide as an admission ticket.
Las Vegas Nightlife — All Resources
Nightclubs
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Guides
Free Guest List for DEF CON 2026 Attendees
Get On The List
Request nightclub or strip-club access during DEF CON week — August 6–9, 2026. Venue confirmation and final door approval are required. Terms and arrival instructions vary by venue.