WORKSHOPS
(on 6th floor unless otherwise designated)
Amateur Radio FCC License Exam
Presenters: Volunteer Examiners from W3VC - The Carnegie Tech Radio Club
Earn your ham radio license at HOPE and get on the air! It’s way easier (and cheaper) than you think to join this global telecom hacking community. You can upgrade your license all the way up to "extra class." There is a $15 exam fee and two forms of positive ID are required. (If upgrading, bring originals of all valid licenses and CSCEs.)
Sunday 1200-1400 Paris, Budapest
Amateur Radio Pre-Exam Review Session for the FCC Technician Class License
David Cripe, NM0S, Jim Fisher, AJ3DI
This one-hour preview of the actual questions in the FCC entry-level ham radio exam will help you prepare for and pass the test on Sunday at 1300. Anyone can take and pass this simple exam and join a century-old global community of hackers who freely use radio technology to communicate by voice and data wirelessly, without ISPs or telcos, under almost any conditions. A basic knowledge of electronics and a laptop are helpful, but not essential.
Friday 1200-1300 Paris
Amateur Radio Using Digital Modes
Joe Cupano, NE2Z
This workshop introduces hams to digital mode communications using a laptop, free open source software, and about $70 in radio hardware. Attendees should have an FCC-issued amateur radio operator license and have purchased the requisite hardware published on the Circle of HOPE website description of this workshop. We’ll have a couple of extra sets of radio equipment for use by existing hams, or by prospective hams under the supervision of a licensed operator. More info and required hardware can be found at https://cupano.com/hopexii-workshop/.
Saturday 1000-1200 Hardware Hacking Village (Mezzanine)
Arduino for Total Newbies
You’ve probably heard lots about Arduino. If you don’t know what it is, or how you can use it to do all sorts of cool things, then this fun and easy workshop is for you. As an example project, we’ll be creating a TV-B-Gone remote control out of an Arduino you can take home with you. Arduino is an amazingly powerful tool that is very simple to learn to use. Yet, it is powerful enough so that uber-geeks can use it for their projects as well. More info is at http://tiny.cc/a4tn. There is a $35 fee for the Arduino kit, components, and breadboard.
Saturday 1500-1830 Hardware Hacking Village (Mezzanine)
Build and Program Your Own LED Array! (with Pi and Python!)
In this workshop, we will build our own LED strip arrays, powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero W. The LEDs will be controlled using a custom python script. We will build our arrays and then we will create new cool animations together! Limited to 15 participants. There is a $50 fee for a one-meter LED strip, Raspberry Pi Zero W, power supply, and accessories.
Friday 1400-1800 Hardware Hacking Village (Mezzanine)
Build the HumanaLight: A “Green” Lamp from Trashed Batteries
David Cripe, Thomas Witherspoon
This mini-lamp developed for use in impoverished regions where there’s no electrical grid is powered by a surprising, but ubiquitous, waste product - the residual energy in depleted (used) AA batteries. Workshop attendees will build a HumanaLight on a high-quality printed circuit board. The kit includes all necessary parts, even a “dead” AA battery! No experience required. There is a $15 fee for the kit, with the proceeds going to the nonprofit organization Ears To Our World, which developed this valuable and important technology.
Friday 1900-2030 Hardware Hacking Village (Mezzanine)
Building Locks for Locksport
Picked your practice lock set so many times you can open them in your sleep? Getting bored with your available locks? This workshop introduces attendees to the art of making “challenge locks” (rebuilding locks to present an extra challenge to fellow lockpickers). Topics will include selecting locks and keys, security pin design, and simple DIY modifications that can be done on a budget and without hard-to-find tools. Participants will put these ideas into practice. Some lockpicking experience is required, along with basic familiarity with the construction of locks.
Saturday 1700-1900 Budapest
Crypto Hero
Sam Bowne, Elizabeth Biddlecome
Learn essential concepts of modern cryptography including hashing, symmetric encryption, and asymmetric encryption. Compete to solve challenges. No previous programming experience required. This is a hands-on workshop, not a lecture. A laptop is required.
Saturday 1630-1930 Paris
EFF - Help EFF Learn How People Get HTTPS Certificates
Presenters: EFF Tech Projects Team
Help EFF by participating in some user testing! As part of our goal of encrypting the entire web, we want to make it easier for everyone to enable HTTPS on their websites. You can help! We want to learn how sysadmins and others typically learn about, acquire, and install HTTPS (TLS) certificates on their websites. Come join us for an hour-ish long low-key user study at HOPE. Stop by for more info at the EFF table!
Saturday 1500, 1600 & 1700
Sunday 1100 & 1200
Work Area table near EFF Vendor Table (Mezzanine)
FERPA
After the “Go FERPA Yourself” talk, are you fired up to see and correct the info your school is keeping about you? Great! Start the ball rolling at this workshop where you can submit the initial request to see your U.S. student records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. You can use your laptop to submit electronically - but forms, envelopes, and stamps will be provided if you’d prefer to submit a physical request.
Friday 1500-1600 Paris
Foundational Python: Learn How to Code in an Hour
For those new to programming or those new to Python, this short workshop will teach you the basics on a broad number of coding topics: data vs. information, writing output, accepting user input, the three main control structures, structured programming vs. object-oriented programming, an algorithm vs. a program, if/else statements and while/for loops, and more. Please try and install Python 3 and the “Community” edition of the PyCharm IDE on your laptop beforehand. If you have trouble, it’ll be covered in the lecture.
Saturday 1200-1300 Paris
Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) - Strategies and Tactics
Knowing how to use the Freedom Of Information Act is essential for learning what your government is doing. This workshop continues the popular series of FOIA sessions at HOPE, but with more emphasis on obtaining agencies’ digital records and applying techniques not widely known. Learn negotiation and collaboration skills, and how to use game theory to specify and get the records you want. The presenters will distill two decades of FOIA experience into an interactive experience relevant to newbies and experienced requesters alike. Bring your tough FOIA questions!
Saturday 1900-2130 Budapest
Getting Started with Autocrypt
Autocrypt is a user-centered, developer-driven effort to make a set of standards that support convenient, usable, easily-adoptable end-to-end encrypted email. This workshop will help you start using Autocrypt on your laptop or phone, with your existing email account or a test account. We’ll discuss how to help others get started too, because encrypted email is no fun if you have nobody to use it with! Starting Autocrypt is much easier than traditional encrypted email. We’ll even discuss how to contact the developers if you want to help make it better! A laptop and/or Android phone or tablet is required (iOS not supported yet.)
Sunday 1500-1630 Paris
Getting Up and Running with Encryption
Sequoia McDowell, Martin Shelton, Matt Mitchell, Mark Robert Henderson
Want to encrypt your email/chat but not sure how to get started? This practical beginner’s workshop will give you hands-on help getting set up with encrypted email and chat on your laptop and smart phone. Come for the beginning short (15 minutes) presentation on security basics, and bring your laptop and smart phone for hands-on help! We’ll cover basic differences between private and “authenticated” communication (encryption vs. knowing Alice is really Alice), but just enough to help people avoid common pitfalls and missteps. A laptop is required.
Saturday 1000-1200 Budapest
Hacking Your Mind with Hypnosis
In this hands-on workshop, we’ll be exploring the world of hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming. We’ll cover the basics of hypnosis and how to use the lessons in the workshop to bring out your creativity, change your mood, help you be more confident and decisive, and protect you from manipulation in the world around you. It is fun. If you’re interested in mental hacks, this is the workshop for you.
Friday 1600-1800 Paris
Hands-On QubesOS
Following the “Qubes OS: The Operating System That Can Protect You Even if You Get Hacked” talk, you can get answers to any Qubes questions and learn how to do some trickier tasks. It would be helpful to bring a laptop with Qubes installed.
Friday 1700-1800 Budapest
Intro to Arduino Shield Soldering and Programming
Make a simple, fun board to plug into an Arduino (boards that plug into Arduinos are called “shields”), and learn to program it! One hour of soldering, one hour of learning to program, and another hour getting the help you need to make everything work. More info can be found at hammeshacks.com/intro. This workshop is a perfect follow-up to the “Arduino For Total Newbies” workshop. There is a $35 fee for an Arduino and shield kit, $25 if you already have your own Arduino.
Saturday 1900-2200 Hardware Hacking Village (Mezzanine)
Intro to CFP Writing
For those who have never applied to speak at a security or hacker conference, the CFP process may seem nebulous and overwhelming, so let’s combat that fear by breaking down what the CFP process entails and getting words onto paper. We will brainstorm and fine-tune presentation ideas, walk through how to structure and deliver content, and write drafts of talk abstracts and outlines. Bring an open mind and a desire to transform your talk ideas into viable conference proposals. Be prepared to deliver constructive peer feedback!
Friday 1300-1500 Paris
MADDES Secret Lair
A demonstration on how to set up a plausibly deniable full disk encrypted (FDE) GNU/Linux OS with “/boot” on a computer. This includes support for LUKS with detached header, plain dm-crypt, and Veracrypt. MADDES allows for Veracrypt FDE on GNU/Linux (not only for Windows anymore). For Veracrypt FDE, this includes support for standard features including keyfile, cascading ciphers, PIM, and hidden Linux OS. This is possible using non-standard GRUB, Cryptsetup, Systemd, and such. It allows for system updates to function as normal. A laptop with 40GB storage and a live version of Ubuntu 18.04 on a USB or DVD is required.
Saturday 1300-1400 Paris
Make a Hologram - Waves Are Cooler Than Particles
We will each make a hologram the old-school way. Bring an interesting object about the size of your fist (holograms are life-size), and we will guide you through the holographic process of exposing film with a laser, and developing it to make a white light viewable hologram of your object to take home and amaze your friends. On each day of HOPE, we will start in the ART Area on the Mezzanine to discuss theory and procedures. After the discussion, you can sign up for a time slot in the darkroom (on the 6th floor). There is a $5 fee for film and chemicals.
Friday, Saturday 1200-1300; Sunday 1400-1500 ART Area (Mezzanine)
Open Data, Open Research: Fuel for a Healthier Internet
Are you an Internet researcher? Do you have questions about the Internet you wish someone would look into? This workshop, hosted by a member of Mozilla’s Internet Health Report team, aims to uncover common research interests, gaps, and ideas among participants, and to identify opportunities to work together on these topics. We’ll examine several initiatives that are doing and/or synthesizing research to help us better understand how the Internet impacts our lives. Attendees can share their research interests or questions with the group. Finally, we’ll break up into groups for deeper discussions on specific areas of data-driven and research-driven themes.
Friday 1800-1930 Paris
Outline VPN - A secure VPN that lets you own your privacy:
Vinicius Fortuna, Santiago Andrigo
This workshop will introduce the Outline VPN, a free and open source VPN software developed by Jigsaw, that allows anybody (even without technical skills) to deploy and manage their own VPN service, without having to trust a 3rd party VPN operator. Outline is powered by Shadowsocks and uses a few nifty tricks to remain resistant to network interference. We'll talk about the key aspects that make it different, do a demo, and answer questions about the product and where it's heading.
Prerequisites: None (laptop optional)
Cost: Free
Saturday 11:00am-12:00pm in Paris (6th floor)
Playing the Ghosts of Radio Towers
Workshop participants will get an inside look at the coding and circuitry of the Requiem for Radio: Pulse Decay interface, and have a hands-on chance to explore its improvisational and musical possibilities. Requiem for Radio: Pulse Decay is a conceptual music project in which a theremin is used to trigger contact microphone recordings and images of Radio Canada International’s shortwave radio towers that were demolished in 2014. The workshop includes a demonstration of the interface and an opportunity to play the instrument. Basic programming and electronics knowledge is helpful, but not required.
Saturday 1400-1600 Paris
Practical Malware Analysis
Sam Bowne, Elizabeth Biddlecome
Learn how to analyze malware, including computer viruses, Trojans, and rootkits, using disassemblers, debuggers, static and dynamic analysis, IDA Pro, OllyDbg, and other tools. This is a hands-on workshop, not a lecture. Familiarity with programming in C and assembler is helpful but not necessary. A laptop with VMware or VirtuaBox installed is required.
Friday 1830-2130 Budapest
A Role-Playing Counterintelligence Game for Activists and Hackers
Lisha Sterling, Joel Preston Smith
Activist movements and hacker groups sometimes have to contend with a hidden enemy in their ranks. One or more informants might infiltrate the group, or existing members are persuaded by outsiders into becoming informants. And sometimes, key members of a community just do dumb or terrible things. How can you tell the difference? One time-honored tactic of law enforcement, as well as government and private intelligence agencies, is to break up or otherwise neutralize an effective resistance action by sowing division and discord, and exploiting fear and paranoia from within. In this role-playing game called “Assholes and Infiltrators,” participants will practice counterintelligence strategies to learn how to feel safer and more effective in their work, and learn ways of dealing with problematic community members.
Friday 1200-1330 Budapest
Running Your Own Home Tor Relay with Raspberry Pi 3
Learn how to set up your first home server, using Linux and the Raspberry Pi. We’ll learn how to use the command line, configure security measures to harden your server, and run a Tor relay at home, helping the fight against censorship and protecting free speech worldwide. A laptop with SSH or PuTTY installed is required. There is a $70 fee for a Raspberry Pi 3 and accessories.
Sunday 1300-1600 Hardware Hacking Village (Mezzanine)
Think Like a Hacker: Lateral Thinking and Social Engineering for Complete Newbies
Are you brand new to HOPE? Do you want to understand the hacker mindset? This is the workshop for you! We’ll do hands-on thinking exercises for finding vulnerabilities. We follow these with examples of past hacking to demonstrate counterintuitive strategies. We’ll explore cognitive issues which may keep us from seeing security holes. We’ll explore how these activities change what we think, feel, and see, and what we can do with the systems around us.
Saturday 1230-1400 Budapest
Turn a Raspberry Pi 3 into a Generative Art Installation
Evelyne Drouin, Jeffrey Dungen
Create generative art from ambient Bluetooth signals with a Raspberry Pi 3! Plug in headphones and relax to (surprisingly!) soothing sounds. Plug in a monitor and enjoy ambient web visualizations. In this workshop, we’ll walk you through the steps to install our open source GeneraBLE software and the open source ZynAddSubFX synth, which together turn your Pi into a totally hackable and extensible generative art platform.
More info can be found at https://reelyactive.github.io/experience-generative-art.html. A laptop, Raspberry Pi 3 with at least 4GB SD, and power supply or USB cable (to power from a laptop) are required.
Saturday 2030-2200 Paris
Wi-Fi Data Safari Workshop and Walking Tour
Wi-Fi Data Safari is a critical software art project by the Branger_Briz collective. We will lead a small group on an outdoor Wi-Fi Data Safari, exploring the urban landscape of New York City while discussing the Wi-Fi activity we find, and how this data can be used by companies and governments. Our goal is to help people “see” the Wi-Fi activity around them and understand certain privacy/security concerns. A smart phone is required.
Saturday 1300-1430 - Meet at the InfoDesk (Mezzanine)