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Hackers Who Attended Black Hat and DefCon Conferences Say Hotel Security Personnel Demanded Access To Their Rooms (the-parallax.com) 441

More than two dozen hackers and security experts who attended security events last week say security personnel at the Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Aria, Cromwell, Tuscany, Linq, or Mirage hotels had entered their rooms. Security news site The Parallax reports: Except for Tuscany, which is independent, all of these hotels are owned by either Caesars Entertainment or MGM Resorts International. And of the three hotel companies, only Caesars returned a request for comment. Richard Broome, executive vice president of communications and government relations for Caesars Entertainment, whose Caesars Palace is co-hosting DefCon this year with the Flamingo, said that following the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history last year, "periodic" hotel room checks are now standard operating procedure in Las Vegas. On October 1, 2017, from his room at the Mandalay Bay, Stephen Paddock used semiautomatic weapons he'd outfitted with bump stocks to kill 58 people and wound at least 527 others attending a gated country music concert on the Strip below. [...] Two apparent Caesars security officers wearing hotel name tags displaying only the first names "Cynthia" and "Keith," respectively, as well as sheriff's style badges that looked like they came out of a Halloween costume kit, visited my room while I was writing this story. Cynthia told me that they are instructed to refer to the front desk guests who decline to allow their room to be searched.

After Cynthia and Keith declined to disclose their last names to me, I asked what they intended to do in the room. They told me that they would enter it, type a code into the room's phone line to signal that it's been checked, and then do a visual spot check. When I asked what they would be looking for, Cynthia replied, "WMDs -- that sort of thing." Other conference attendees reported similar but less pleasant interactions. Katie Moussouris, CEO of Luta Security, wrote on Twitter that two hotel security personnel were "banging" on her room door and "shouted" at her. She also said the hotel's security team supervisor "dismissed" her concerns over how the hotel was treating single, female travelers. Google security engineer Maddie Stone tweeted that a man wearing a light-blue shirt and a walkie-talkie entered her Caesars Palace room with a key, but without knocking, while she was getting dressed. "He left when I started screaming," she wrote, adding that a hotel manager, upon her request, said Caesars would look into whether the man was actually an employee. Stone tweeted that she left DefCon early because of the incident.

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Hackers Who Attended Black Hat and DefCon Conferences Say Hotel Security Personnel Demanded Access To Their Rooms

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  • by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 ) on Monday August 13, 2018 @09:45AM (#57116138)

    Shooting the guy who entered while she was dressing would have helped educate him and others for the future...

    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday August 13, 2018 @09:50AM (#57116164) Homepage Journal

      Shooting the guy who entered while she was dressing would have helped educate him and others for the future...

      IANAL but I googled and it seems that NV has a stand your ground law [kconnollylawyers.com], which does require that the defender not be the original aggressor. That is, chasing down young black men and then shooting them when you claim to feel threatened is not permissible, but shooting someone who enters your domicile and threatens you is. Policies vary on whether you may carry firearms into your hotel room, but the law does not prohibit it, and appears to permit you to defend yourself.

    • Amen. Disrespectful fuck.

    • It's the fact that some nutter was permitted to have guns in the first place that directly led to this policy.

      That right to bear arms is sure working wonders for the liberty of the individual.

    • by ljw1004 ( 764174 )

      Shooting the guy who entered while she was dressing would have helped educate him and others for the future...

      Problem: company has a policy that I don't like. Solution: injure/kill the low-paid employee who's carrying out that company policy. ???

    • by swb ( 14022 )

      Vegas hotels frown on weapons in guest rooms.

      I spent a few days in the Arizona back country with my family, and then spent a couple of days at the Venetian. I had a locked case with me for a gun which I wanted to check with hotel security for the duration of my visit. I made it about halfway through the lobby (with a 6 year old boy in tow, no less) before security stopped me. I told them I had a weapon I wanted to have held in security, and everything was fine.

      This was what seemed weird about the Mandala

      • People going to Vegas often are there to put on a display for a show convention, and have a lot of large bags in tow. It wouldn't be unusual even for a single person to have that much.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      How do you know it's not just other Defcon attendees messing with you with plastic police badges and fake uniforms going around room to room planting stuff on people and causing mischief? Hahahaha.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13, 2018 @09:45AM (#57116140)

    Simple - Why on earth would you use that place to host your customers if that's how they're going to be treated.

    I'd get the f*ck out of there and never come back.

    • Well, there IS that gambling angle, coupled with corporate expenses paying for the stay...

      • Bunch of states allow gambling these days. Some of them even have a better climate than Vegas in summer -- 110-degree days are no fun. Hold the damn thing in Philly. Legalized gambling, interesting museums/people, done and done.
  • It seems to me that a simpler solution is to have someone actually watch and pay attention to the cameras. They aren't going to catch some guy with one gun either way considering how you can break them down. This only works for someone with an arsenal.

  • When that shooter was allowed to carry all that hardware, unchecked, and massacred all those innocent people, that was a hotel fuck-up. Now the same hotels fuck-up in the other direction. Wow, just wow.

    • And what would they expect to find? So they find an arsenal of weaponry with him. Are guns illegal in Las Vegas? When did that happen?

      If the story travels, just wait for the next gun nut convention to be held in a hotel when you plan to go on a killing spree. Want to bet that you'll be the one with the lowest amount of guns in their room?

    • Re:Fuck up both ways (Score:5, Informative)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Monday August 13, 2018 @10:28AM (#57116436)

      When that shooter was allowed to carry all that hardware, unchecked, and massacred all those innocent people, that was a hotel fuck-up.

      It's not like the guy was just strolling through the lobby with a couple AR-15s with 100-rd drum mags slung over his shoulder. He brought them in in bags. Even the number of bags he used, if they could even passively track how many bags he actually had, isn't excessive for Vegas with all the conventions, meetings, etc. So unless you think hotels need to start doing bag checks or xraying everything there's not much they can do.

    • by N1AK ( 864906 )
      Are you seriously suggesting that the hotel has fucked up by checking, while at the same time saying they fucked up when they didn't do checks and something negative happened in the past?

      The response seems like an ass covering measure. Sure the guy had a ridiculous number of guns, but if if he'd had two or three would that have meant he couldn't have killed a load of people as easily? He probably didn't have the guns hidden very well, but had he expected searches would it have been hard to hide guns and
  • by Aero77 ( 1242364 ) on Monday August 13, 2018 @09:57AM (#57116202)
    Unfortunately, it isn't clear whether the hotel was inspecting the rooms of all guests or just Defcon/BlackHat attendees. I'm assuming the former, since the Vegas shooter wasn't involving in the CompSec scene. Since this hasn't been reported widely, it could be just selectively enforced as most security theater.
    • Or probably non CompSec-scene members accept or even support these "security measures" after the shooting.

    • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )
      Or, given the reputation for shenanigans outside the conference that these types of events have, maybe they were trying to make sure the attendees weren't doing any extracurricular hacking in their rooms.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by 91degrees ( 207121 )
      Defcon people are typically a lot more concerned about their rights and privacy than the general public, so I suspect it's just that they were the first to make a big stink about it.
  • why can't we see you nekkid?

    • Have you seen the average attendant of such cons? I hardly want to see those people clothed, let alone naked!

    • why can't we see you nekkid?

      I generally wear clothes to prevent traumatizing those around me more than to cover up things I am trying to hide. So sure, I’ll walk around naked but don’t blame me if it causes a lot of PTSD.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Use your locks! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Aqualung812 ( 959532 ) on Monday August 13, 2018 @10:00AM (#57116226)

    Google security engineer Maddie Stone tweeted that a man wearing a light-blue shirt and a walkie-talkie entered her Caesars Palace room with a key, but without knocking, while she was getting dressed.

    Before I saying anything, to be clear:
    1. Ms. Stone did nothing wrong.
    2. The man entering the room was absolutely criminal in entering a room like that without knocking.

    That said, when you're in your room, lock your doors. Use the deadbolt, use the little chain, and anything else available.

    Normally, the deadbolt alone will prevent the key card from working.
    While the chain is nearly useless from keeping someone from breaking in, it gives a few seconds of delay to the intruder, giving you time to respond.

    Same category as leaving your laptop in the passenger seat of a car. You don't deserve to have your window smashed and laptop stolen, and it is NOT your fault if someone does it.
    It still is a better idea to put it out of sight, though.

    • Um, no. It wasn't criminal. What crime was committed? You guys have a low bar for criminal activity.
      • Re:Use your locks! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by pr0t0 ( 216378 ) on Monday August 13, 2018 @11:02AM (#57116658)

        Um, yes. It was criminal. The crime committed was criminal trespass. There is no low/high bar for criminal activity; there is simply what is stated by the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS). I suppose there are areas where there exists room for interpretation. This is not one of them.

        In the state of Nevada, as is true in most states, the 4th amendment rights you enjoy in your home are generally extended to your hotel room. A warrant is required for entering a hotel room as part of an official investigation. The hotel may have cause to enter your room if they believe criminal activity is taking place, housekeeping, maintenance, or a disruption of other guests. In no circumstance are they allowed to enter without announcing themselves first. /IANAL

        Freedom from illegal search is one of the many rights that makes the U.S. the country that it is. Unfortunately, we have to defend those rights with extreme prejudice against the scared little bunnies of our nation that carelessly toss them out to feel a little safer.

  • Attendance (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    If it starts to dip because no one wants to be subjected to this shit, the venue will soon be changed.

    • If it starts to dip because no one wants to be subjected to this shit, the venue will soon be changed.

      You're talking about the crowd who has endured 120-degree heat sitting in makeshift rooftop tents to attend technical talks.

      Something tells me it's gonna take a lot more than this to keep the kids away from What-Happens-Here-Stays-Here, USA. Call it tradition at this point. You know, kind of like the stupidity of hosting DEFCON in the desert during the hottest time of the year. Needless to say, some things will likely never change.

  • Caesars would look into whether the man was actually an employee.

    This alone is sad.

    Even sadder is the fact that they are doing these "checks" at all

    And the saddest thing is probably that after the Las Vegas shooter, this could be even justified. More or less. Not in a "this will help" way, but in "how can we prevent this in the future" way. I bet someone was forced to present an "action plan" to his managers.

  • Immediately after the white guy shot up the concert last year, all hotels on the strip changed their rules [casino.org]. From that point on they would not observe the Do Not Disturb sign on doors [newsweek.com] and would do spot checks of hotel rooms.

    Caesar's says they will check rooms daily [lasvegassun.com].

    That these checks happened isn't surprising since the hotels did publicly announce their new policies. Then again, had that white guy not gone a shooting spree, none of this would have happened. Actions have consequences and all that.
    • Just out of curiosity, why did you feel the need to mention the shooter's race three times?

  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Monday August 13, 2018 @10:45AM (#57116546)

    That's why I always have 2 wedges in my baggage, to put under the hotel door, blocking it, so that nobody can enter while I'm in the room, key or no key, cleaning, security or robbers.

  • Why is it every time some sort of awful tragedy happens, we have to go completely overboard with "preventative measures." Who runs a hotel like that? No one! These hotels will likely not be in business much longer if they persist on this. This sort of behavior garners a lot of bad reviews and publicity. Yes yes, no such thing as bad PR, but this could be the rare case of.. yeah, security goons barging into your room unannounced, that's going to ward off potential guests. At least, I hope it does.

    That

    • You're underestimating the complacency and obedience to authority of the average American. When the NY Pig Detachment was checking bags on the subway, some people VOLUNTARILY went to the bag-check tables without being asked and expressed their gratitude for "keeping them safe."
  • JFC... DefCon attendees should be among those most aware of security policy changes, and this has been going on since last Winter. Changes are everywhere, but it's especially prevalent in "soft target" vacation destination areas, such as Las Vegas or Orlando.

    https://www.meetingstoday.com/newsevents/industrynews/industrynewsdetails/articleid/31803/title/-do-not-disturb-policy-updates-spark-debate [meetingstoday.com]

    "This is a growing trend, and not just a response to the Las Vegas shooting," Grimes said. "All types of incident

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