DEF CON 16 - Paul F Renda: The true story of the Radioactive Boyscout
Channel: DEFCONConference
Date: 26/11/2013

DEF CON 16 - Paul F Renda: The true story of the Radioactive Boyscout:The first nuclear hacker and how his work relates to Homeland Security's model of the dirty bomb
David Hahn was working on his atomic energy Eagle Scout badge when he had the idea why not build a reactor. However, not just any reactor, he would build a breeder reactor. This type of reactor produces more fuel and power as long as it is working. David used social engineering, unlimited drive and resourcefulness to produce his reactor type device. He succeeded further that any expert in the nuclear world would have dreamed.

Ultimately, the EPA had to clean up his work shed as nuclear and chemical waste site.

I am going to perform a couple of Simple Safe demos related to David's work.

The second part of the talk will deal with Homeland Security s model of the dirty bomb. I will show how David's reactor relates to the current model.

At the end of the talk, I will issue the first annual Dr. Strangelove award for the best question submitted to Me. I have a lot of material to cover so try to study up on reactors.

Paul F. Renda started his career working on IBM 360 and the PDP 11. He was an early advocate of using Hacking Software to check corporate data systems and has presented talks at the COMPUTER SECURITY INSTITUTE. Paul s articles have appeared in the Info Security magazine.

In 1995 Paul, developed a defense against WAR DIALERS. His process was published in Info Security Magazine. A dialer is a program that dials a series of phone number and logs number that are connected to a modem. He is currently a computer security analyst. 

For copies of the slides and additional materials please see the DEF CON 16 Archive here: https://defcon.org/html/links/dc-archives/dc-16-archive.html