Fox Pick brings their Locksport Village to introduce attendees to the educational side of physical security through hands-on exploration of locks, keys, and physical access controls. Participants can learn lock manipulation techniques, explore how common locking mechanisms work, and gain a greater appreciation for secure lock design.

DEF CON 864 (DC864) presents a Capture The Flag (CTF) competition, a set of security puzzles where solving each one gets you a “flag,” a short string of text you submit for points. Challenges span a range of skills and difficulty, so there’s plenty here whether it’s your first CTF or your fiftieth. New to this? Come anyway. People are happy to help, and a few challenges are built specifically as a starting point. 

Bring: a laptop, lock picks, NFC and RFID readers, and any other tools of the trade you like to carry.  Most challenges run over WiFi, which we plan to have on site. 

Note: there’s no hardware hacking this year. Physical challenges are read-only, bring your readers and picks, but leave the soldering iron at home. 

Not every challenge needs a laptop, so keep your eyes open. There are easter eggs and secrets tucked around the event for anyone paying attention. 

Come solve, come learn, come hack all the things.

New for 2026, Synergy Mill presents the Maker Space Village brings together hackers, builders, artists, and tinkerers to explore the intersection of technology and creativity. Attendees can experiment with hardware, electronics, and other projects while sharing ideas, techniques, and hands-on knowledge with the community.