Navigating DEF CON as a Neurodivergent Hacker:

Culture, Consent, and Change

Introduction

My first DEF CON was DC24—the year of the Skull badge.

That badge, designed by LosT Boy (aka 1o57), didn’t just impress me—it rewired me. The intricacy. The hidden layers. The elegance of a puzzle that didn’t just reward knowledge but demanded curiosity. That year, I was hooked—not just on the challenge, but on the idea that DEF CON was a place where people like me could belong.

I'm neurodivergent. I wasn’t diagnosed until later in life, but looking back, it made perfect sense. Like many on the spectrum, I thrive in logic, patterns, and systems. Social nuance? Not so much. So when I stepped into DEF CON’s chaotic brilliance—equal parts conference, carnival, and command line—I felt both amazed and overwhelmed.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that DEF CON operates on two overlapping sets of rules: one explicit (badges, talks, contests), and one hidden (social norms, cultural expectations). For neurotypical folks, those hidden rules might come naturally. For people like me, they’re often a moving target—and getting them wrong can have real consequences.

This article is my attempt to decode those unspoken expectations. To help new and veteran attendees on the spectrum navigate DEF CON as it evolves—from raw hacker rebellion to a globally influential security conference trying to build a more inclusive future.

1. The Cultures of DEF CON

There’s no single “DEF CON.” What you experience depends on where you go, who you’re with, and what you’re looking for. But broadly, I’ve noticed two cultural operating systems that run in parallel:

🔧 DEF CON Legacy Mode: The Classic Hacker Vibe

DEF CON has always been a paradox: part underground hacker gathering, part chaotic social experiment. In its early years, it was a place where you could see someone hacking hardware with a soldering iron and a beer in one room while another person was getting brutally roasted on stage in Hacker Jeopardy. The culture was raw, irreverent, underground, and often intentionally provocative.

To understand this era, I highly recommend watching DEFCON: The Documentary. Filmed during DEF CON 20 in 2012, it captures the spirit of the conference's first two decades. The film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the event, showcasing its unique blend of technical brilliance, anarchic energy, and the unfiltered personalities that defined its early years.

🛡️ DEF CON Safe Mode: The Modern Cultural Shift

In the last decade, DEF CON has undergone a quiet but meaningful transformation. What used to be a mostly unstructured gathering of hackers is now a global security conference with accountability structures, formal policies, and an expanding mission of inclusion.

These spaces don’t dilute DEF CON’s edge. They deepen it—by making sure more kinds of minds and bodies can participate fully.

2. Understanding “Acceptable” vs. “Harmful”

One of the hardest things to grasp—especially for neurodivergent folks—is where the line is between what's edgy but acceptable… and what's hurtful, exclusionary, or unsafe.

DEF CON has long walked this line. But in recent years, the community has started to draw clearer boundaries. The key difference now isn’t just what is said or done—it’s about context, consent, and impact.

✅ Acceptable: Edgy With Consent and Shared Context

But this kind of consent is only valid as long as it’s mutual and ongoing.

Even implied consent can be revoked—and when it is, the boundary needs to be respected.

🚫 Harmful: Behavior Without Consent, or With Power Imbalance

Even if the behavior looks similar (a joke, a critique, a roast), the context changes everything. When someone doesn’t have the power to opt out—or when the behavior causes actual harm—it stops being culture and starts being misconduct.

🧠 Why This Is Especially Hard for Neurodivergent Attendees

If you're neurotypical, some of these boundaries may feel obvious or intuitive. You might pick up on tone, sarcasm, and social positioning—without even realizing you’re doing it.

But for many of us who are autistic, ADHD, OCD, or otherwise neurodivergent, those social lines aren’t blurry—they’re often invisible.

Here’s why:

This isn’t about excuses. It’s about understanding the different ways people experience the same environment—and building a culture that doesn’t punish those differences.

// Legacy DEF CON model
if (you_can_take_a_joke) {
    // Belonging was earned through endurance, not safety.
    proceed();
}

// Modern DEF CON model
if (everyone_has_opted_in && no_harm_is_done) {
    // Consent and mutual respect grant permission to engage.
    you_have_permission_to_continue();
}

3. The Hadnagy Case: When Boundaries Aren’t Just Crossed—They’re Ignored

In 2022, DEF CON made the rare decision to permanently ban Christopher Hadnagy, a well-known speaker and founder of the Social Engineering Village. He later filed a defamation lawsuit against DEF CON and its founder, Jeff Moss.

In May 2025, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit. The court sided with DEF CON, stating that Hadnagy failed to prove the statements made about him were false. In other words, the truth of the allegations outweighed any claims of reputational harm.

So what actually happened—and how is it different from the “edgy” behavior DEF CON has tolerated in the past?

🧩 The Allegations (Summarized)

Court documents and DEF CON’s legal filings referenced multiple complaints over several years, describing behavior that included:

These weren’t isolated incidents, off-color jokes, or misunderstood interactions at a party. They were patterns of behavior in professional settings—some of which extended well beyond DEF CON itself.

🔄 Why This Wasn’t Just “Hackers Being Hackers”

To understand why the Hadnagy case stood apart, we have to understand what “hackers being hackers” really means—and what it doesn't.

Hacker culture has always been a bit of an anti-culture. It pushes back against authority, challenges assumptions, breaks things to understand them better. It values irreverence, play, and autonomy. From early phreakers to badge hackers, the scene was built on outsmarting systems that told us what we couldn’t do.

But here’s the twist: while it looks chaotic from the outside, there’s an internal code among hackers—one that often centers around consent, transparency, and mutual respect.

We demo our exploits on systems we own or control, not on unwilling participants. We play hard, but the best hackers know:

The boundary between exploration and exploitation is consent

DEF CON is no different. Yes, there’s a tradition of roasting, mischief, and chaos. But the unspoken social contract is: you opted in. You chose to be part of the game. And when someone revokes consent—explicitly or otherwise—that’s where the line is.

The Hadnagy case broke from that tradition in several ways:

No consent: Those targeted by his behavior didn’t sign up for it, and some were in workplace settings where opting out wasn’t an option.

No community care: What began as interpersonal conflict turned into retaliation and exclusion—not reconciliation or curiosity.

No accountability: The behavior allegedly continued over years, even after feedback and complaints were raised.

As DEF CON stated in their transparency report:

“We received multiple CoC violation reports... we are confident the severity of the transgressions merits a ban from DEF CON.”
— DEF CON Transparency Report, 2022

There’s a difference between being edgy and ignoring consent, abusing power, or causing harm. What makes the Hadnagy case stand out isn’t just the behavior—it’s the context:

And importantly: The community listened. Complaints were brought forward. DEF CON investigated. Action was taken.

🔍 Why It Matters for Neurodivergent Attendees

This case helps clarify what “harm” really looks like—especially when you struggle to read social nuance. If you’re ND, you might worry, “What if I say the wrong thing and get banned too?”

Here’s the key:

DEF CON isn’t banning people for awkwardness, being blunt, or making a weird joke. They’re banning people for consistent patterns of harm, after repeated complaints, where consent and safety were disregarded.

You belong here even if you need help understanding the rules. What’s not okay is ignoring those rules after they’ve been made clear—or treating others in ways they didn’t choose to be treated.

4. Strategies for Neurodivergent Attendees

DEF CON can feel like a DDoS attack on your senses—thousands of people, lights flashing, badges beeping, overlapping conversations, unexpected escalators. Add the pressure of unspoken social norms and suddenly it’s not just a con... it’s a gauntlet.

But it doesn’t have to be. You can play the game without losing your health, identity, or values. You can “Hack the Planet”—and yourself—with intention.

Here’s a guide for navigating DEF CON as a neurodivergent human, shaped by experience, pattern-matching, and a little help from cultural icons that raised us all.

🎯 Build Your Script Before You Land

Just like a good exploit.pl, preparation matters. ND brains often feel better with predictability and personal boundaries already mapped out.

🎮 Recognize the Social Minigames

DEF CON is full of unspoken games—puzzle badges, hallway cons, burner phone scavenger hunts. But social interactions can feel like the hardest puzzles of all.

Here’s how to read the room:

Or as WarGames taught us:

Sometimes “the only winning move is not to play”—and that’s valid too.

🎧 Anchor in Hacker Culture That Welcomes You

There’s a deep irony in hacker history: a culture built on anti-culture is often the most accepting place for people who never fit the default OS.

🧑‍🚀 Dark Tangent, DEF CON’s founder, has said for years that “all hackers are welcome.” This isn’t just branding—it’s a statement of values. The con was built as a space for misfits, explorers, and system-breakers. That includes those of us with sensory needs, processing differences, and social adaptations.

🥣 Captain Crunch (John Draper) didn’t just phreak phone lines—he cracked a world closed to disabled and neurodivergent minds.

🎤 Nerdcore artists like Dual Core and YT Cracker created a soundscape of belonging for those of us who are different—not less—with code in their veins.

💬 “Hack the Planet!” isn’t just a line from Hackers—it’s a call to make knowledge, tools, and communities accessible for everyone, not just the 1337.

📜 In 1986, The Mentor published The Hacker Manifesto—a raw, honest defense of the curious mind. It didn’t glorify rule-breaking. It glorified thinking differently, and it remains a core text for neurodivergent hackers who never felt understood in traditional systems.

🧠 There’s no official Neurodiverse Village (yet), but neurodivergent perspectives have been represented through talks at the Packet Hacking Village and BiC Village.

🧭 Many attendees are quietly navigating the con with autism, ADHD, OCD, and more—and groups like HDA, BlanketFortCon, and Friends of Bill W., as well as low-stimulation zones, can be safe places to pause, process, and find your footing.

🛠 Build a Personal Toolkit

Need Hack
Social fatigue Earbuds, stim toys
Sensory overload Sunglasses, deep pressure gear
Conversation opt-out “Talk to me later” badges, prewritten scripts
Real-time help Ask a Goon—they’re here to help without judgment.

🧑‍🚒 Goons: The Unsung Heroes of DEF CON

At DEF CON, the individuals in red shirts affectionatly known as Goons are the backbone of the conference. These dedicated volunteers handle everything from logistics to attendee support, ensuring the event runs smoothly. Whether you're lost, overwhelmed, or need assistance, Goons are there to help.

Goons are trained to assist attendees with various needs, including directing them to quiet spaces, helping navigate the venue, or addressing any concerns. Their presence is especially beneficial for neurodivergent individuals who might find the conference environment challenging. Goons are always ready to help, making them an invaluable resource for everyone at DEF CON.

Newbie or overwhelmed? Say:

“Hey, I’m not sure where to go or what I need. Can you help?”
And they will.

Conclusion: DEF CON Belongs to All of Us

DEF CON is a lot of things. It’s intense. It’s unpredictable. It’s brilliant, frustrating, hilarious, exhausting, and often unforgettable. For neurodivergent attendees, it can feel like home and like a system we still haven’t rooted.

But here’s the truth:

You don’t need to mask, mimic, or mod your identity to belong.

Being neurodivergent doesn’t mean you’re less equipped to navigate hacker culture—it means you’re built to question systems, spot edge cases, and challenge assumptions. That’s not just welcome here—it’s foundational to what DEF CON is.

You’ll find allies in places you don’t expect. You’ll find Goons who will walk with you. You’ll find other ND hackers—quietly or proudly—navigating the same weird, beautiful social OS.

And when things don’t work for you? Hack them. Build your own tools, your own rules, your own spaces.

Because DEF CON was never meant to be comfortable—it was meant to be ours.

🛠 Quick-Start Kit for ND Hackers

You belong here. You don’t have to mask to participate.
And if the system doesn’t work for you—hack it.

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