Las Vegas hosted DEF CON 33 in August, bringing together more than 30,000 hackers, engineers, and cybersecurity professionals for the annual hacking conference. This year marked the introduction of DEF CON Academy, an open-access training initiative led by faculty from Arizona State University’s School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence within the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
DEF CON is known for its intense environment with rapid-fire coding competitions and technical challenges. For many newcomers, entering this world can be intimidating. The academy aimed to make cybersecurity accessible to all participants regardless of their background.
“DEF CON has always been about community,” said Yan Shoshitaishvili, associate professor at ASU and head of the organizing team. “With the academy, we wanted to create a front door, a space where anyone, no matter their background, could sit down, learn the fundamentals and discover that yes, they too can be an ethical hacker.”
Over three days, approximately 2,500 people attended live talks and hands-on activities powered by pwn.college—ASU’s global cybersecurity education platform. More than 20 ASU cybersecurity students supported attendees with setup and guidance through exercises.
Talks covered basic command line skills as well as advanced topics like speculative execution flaws in processors such as Spectre and Meltdown. Robert Wasinger—a researcher at ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations—led sessions demonstrating these vulnerabilities.
“Cybersecurity isn’t something you can absorb just by reading about it,” Wasinger said. “You need to see a system fail in real time, understand why and then learn how to defend it. That’s the kind of visceral experience we built into the academy.”
The capture-the-flag (CTF) competition was central to both DEF CON and the academy experience. CTFs challenge participants to break into software or solve digital puzzles to find hidden flags—a practice widely regarded as essential training for cybersecurity professionals.
During a panel titled “Professionally Dangerous: Ask the Experts in Vulnerability Research,” Perri Adams—former special assistant at DARPA—and other experts highlighted CTF competitions as effective entry points into cybersecurity careers.
Yan Shoshitaishvili moderated this panel discussion alongside Chris Eagle from the Naval Postgraduate School who stated that CTF exercises serve as gateways into cybersecurity careers.
The growing demand for cybersecurity professionals is significant; there are an estimated 3.5 million unfilled jobs worldwide with about 750,000 vacancies in the United States alone. Addressing this gap requires innovative approaches beyond traditional classroom instruction.
Jackie LeFevers, associate director of research operations at ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations—which organized DEF CON Academy—noted: “What stood out was the energy… We had students, hobbyists and industry professionals jumping in, asking questions and solving problems. That’s what we’re trying to spark: a movement where anyone can see themselves as part of the cybersecurity solution.”
ASU also participated in other high-profile events during DEF CON week. The Shellphish hacking team—co-led by Shoshitaishvili along with fellow faculty Adam Doupé, Fish Wang and Tiffany Bao—competed in DARPA’s AI Cyber Challenge finals using their ARTIPHISHELL system which uses artificial intelligence to detect security vulnerabilities in open-source software.
The public can access ARTIPHISHELL’s cyber reasoning system for testing purposes.
ASU continues its broad approach toward practical education by combining real-world challenges with mentorship from leading researchers. According to recent rankings, Arizona State University has been recognized as number one in innovation nationally for eight consecutive years due to its advancements across various disciplines including engineering.
“The problems in cybersecurity are massive, but so is the talent and curiosity out there,” Shoshitaishvili said. “With initiatives like DEF CON Academy, we’re making sure more people have the tools to turn that curiosity into impact.”
Additionally,the City of Phoenix recently partnered with an ASU tech startup called Argos Vision on a pilot program using smart traffic cameras designed to improve safety through data analysis—a further example of how ASU contributes technological solutions beyond campus.
