Resorts World Las Vegas, a hotel that is hosting attendees of the DEF CON hacking conference this week, will perform daily inspections of rooms including those displaying a privacy sign, according to a letter from the hotel given to guests. An information security professional posted a photo of the letter online. Members of the cybersecurity community have reacted with a mix of anger and disappointment on social media.

“Welcome, and thank you for choosing Resorts World Las Vegas. We are pleased that you have joined us, as you have chosen to stay with us for relaxation, fun and excitement!” the message, written on hotel letterhead, reads.

“As you may or may not know, a well-known hacking convention will be held in Las Vegas during your stay,” it adds. DEF CON runs from August 8 to 11, with many attendees already in the city for the separate Black Hat cybersecurity conference or other events. “We remain committed to our guests’ safety and understand the utmost importance of cybersecurity, as well.”

The letter then describes what staff at Resorts World Las Vegas will be doing: “In an effort to increase the safety of our guests, we will be conducting scheduled, brief visual and non-intrusive room inspections daily beginning Monday, August 5. Rooms with a privacy sign will be included as part of the inspection process.”

  • @Vent@lemm.ee
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    17111 months ago

    But… it’s cybersecurity. What is a “brief visual and non-intrusive room inspection” even looking for? Anonymous masks? Green terminals with scrolling text? People shouting “enhance” and/or “I’m in”?

    • Em Adespoton
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      6911 months ago

      Possibly they’re looking for people assembling their sniper rifles, or trying to ensure that no hotel room gets gutted to become some group’s command HQ with 50 amps of electronics with no shielding sprouting from the wall sockets and clean (de)soldering stations set up alongside an electron microscope?

      I know what’s gone on in those hotel rooms in past years, and a lot of it is stuff I wouldn’t want to have to deal with as a hotelier.

      • @PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        1311 months ago

        For those who missed the joke: Payphone hackers (often called phreakers) discovered that a toy whistle from Captain Crunch cereal boxes could easily be modified to play the specific tone that payphones listened for to indicate that a coin had been inserted. Basically, the phone company didn’t know when a coin has been put in, without some sort of signal from the pay phone. And typically, the only lines run to the phone were the actual phone line. So the pay phone would play a specific 2600Hz tone, indicating that a coin was inserted.

        Using this toy whistle, you could essentially use payphones for free, and it was entirely untraceable until the company emptied the phone and counted the coins in the collection bin. In an era when cellphones were only for millionaires and were the size of literal bricks the world was almost entirely dependent on pay phones unless you were at home. So this was a major discovery for phreaks, who quickly began experimenting to see what other tones may be used to send signals.

        Naturally, the phone companies panicked, and quickly had the cereal company pull the toys from future boxes.

    • @finestnothing@lemmy.world
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      1711 months ago

      I like to say enhance before opening the full file from a thumbnail in feh when showing my wife pictures. She hates it and I will not stop

  • @foggy@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    How long until the CEO of this hotel gets an email to his personal email address containing a .zip of all of their customer’s PII?

  • @gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
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    4211 months ago

    Hotel clerk: Sir, is that dangerous equipment you’re setting up?

    Hacker: It’s just a WiFi coconut, a rubber duck, a flipper zero, and a few IMSI catchers.

    Clerk: Okay then. So, carry on I guess?

  • @jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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    4211 months ago

    “scheduled” - We’re telling you when we’re coming, hide yo’ shit!

    OTOH - WTF do they think they’re looking for? I don’t expect hotel staff to know a nefarious device from a multi-port USB hub.

    • Admiral Patrick
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      11 months ago

      “Hey, that laptop’s not running Windows…[calls in SWAT team]”

  • @4am@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    Would be great to find out that this wasn’t a real notice, someone just social-engineered hotel letterhead from three different hotels and printed up something inflammatory to catch the community’s attention.

  • @Nasan@sopuli.xyz
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    3111 months ago

    For anyone else curious which hotels are affected by this measure:

    • Hilton Las Vegas
    • Conrad Las Vegas
    • Crockfords Las Vegas
  • Bahnd Rollard
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    2211 months ago

    They appear to be starting this before the event, so something has them spooked (could just be the con full of spooks). Also with the volume of technical know-how that is going to be in attendance I think

    1. There is no way someone wont spot funny bususiness if a group or indivudal is trying to pull something.

    2. If a visual inspection is all their doing (unlikely) then this amounts to nothing more that security theatre. If they are being more invasive the attendees will know (its DEF CON for fuck sake).

    3. This may just prompt the attendees to book at another resort next year and hurt the hotel in the long run, seeing as this is very close to the opening of the con I dont see many groups changing their booking in time.

    • Drusas
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      1411 months ago

      If I learned this after I had booked, I would be expecting a refund as well as compensation for missing the conference if I couldn’t find alternative accommodation.

    • aramis87
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      1411 months ago

      If they are being more invasive the attendees will know

      With this announcement, I fully expect every DefCon room to be running their own security cameras.

  • Flying Squid
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    1811 months ago

    They did know announcing this ahead of time is just begging to have their system hacked and taken down, right?

      • Flying Squid
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        211 months ago

        I would be very surprised if they didn’t have a hotel intranet for various administrative functions, especially with an attached convention center, and probably one with an external pipe to some central server that the corporation uses.

    • Sabata
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      211 months ago

      I expect it and will be disappointed if it doesn’t happen.

  • @adam_y@lemmy.world
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    1511 months ago

    Yeah, OK, time to hack their schedule.

    Look on your list, you’ve already been in here today.

    This is just a tutorial level.

  • Ellia Plissken
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    1011 months ago

    have past attendees done something to make administration feel this is necessary?

    • @bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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      711 months ago

      Well I was once at a dinner there, where someone had to leave to bail out a friend who found an open traffic box and started playing. We’re not angels.

      But honestly they should shut up about this and only search the rooms of suspected foreign agents, and with due process.