This year, we had the opportunity to attend Europe’s largest hacker congress—the 39C3, the 39th Chaos Communication Congress. It is a four-day event organized by the Chaos Computer Club, held annually and now once again at the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH).
Here are three good reasons to attend the C3:
(1) Talks
A core element of the Congress—and probably the main reason for its public visibility. In the past, talks that made it into major media outlets included “We Know Where Your Car Is” (location histories of all recent Volkswagen vehicles, including those of government and intelligence employees, freely accessible on the internet), “The Electronic Patient Record Is Coming – Now for Everyone!” (severe security issues in the implementation of the largest digitization project in the German healthcare system), or “Operation Triangulation” (in which security experts from Kaspersky presented a zero-click attack on Apple mobile devices they had discovered).
Talks run throughout the entire Congress in four large halls. With more than 16,000 attendees this year, there was no shortage of content—and the limited time automatically ensures that only the most interesting submissions make it into the available slots. I personally watched, for example, “Excuse me, what precise time is it?”, in which the speaker presented and live-demonstrated various methods of microsecond-accurate network time synchronization. And of course, the “Security Nightmares” were a must again this year.
(2) Networking with other assemblies, meeting familiar faces again
Tables are set up all over the exhibition grounds—these tables belong to so-called “assemblies,” i.e., groups or associations. The C3-Nav gives a good impression of the venue—and the sheer number of groups present. When you’re not attending a talk, walking through the halls, or eating, these tables are typically the go-to place to retreat to. We were kindly hosted by the Chaostreff Tübingen—many thanks for that!
Right next to us, Selfnet e.V. from Stuttgart had their tables—the operator of the student dormitory network for Stuttgart, Esslingen, and Ludwigsburg. Two experienced members spontaneously took the time to give me a virtual tour of their dormitory network, and we talked about topics such as switch selection, Wi-Fi access points, redundancy, automation, and routing. I definitely took away a few new ideas—on the never-ending journey of continuously improving our own dormitory network.
At least two of our members also unexpectedly ran into other acquaintances—the (IT) world really is smaller than you think.
(3) Booths, hands-on events, venue, music
As can be seen on the aforementioned C3-Nav, the CCH is truly huge—and every room has its own design and music. The decoration team once again went all out and created something impressive. Many assembly tables are also used as booths, and there are small events and “self-organized sessions” you can take part in. In one of these sessions, for example, you could learn SMD soldering.
Unfortunately, there are only a few photos of the Congress—mainly because of the strict policy that you may not take photos unless you have explicitly asked every single person in the picture. This is meant to ensure a relaxed and low-pressure experience for everyone. Still, you can get a visual impression here, here, here, and here.
Many of the talks were recorded—if this blog post has sparked your interest, you’ll find plenty of content on media.ccc.de and on the YouTube channel.
Attending the 39C3 was a fantastic experience and definitely worth repeating. Thank you very much for the opportunity!
