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DEF CON 25, the 25th addition to the hacking conference held in Las Vegas, will take place between July 27th - 30th at Caesars Palace.

The entrance fee is $260 and amongst the attendees are, security professionals and researches, students, journalists and obviously hackers.

There is also usually a lot of Federal law enforcement agents, such as the FBI and DoD.

With cyber security such a massive issue these days it seems the smart thing for these organisations to mingle with the best minds in the field.

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As well as a number of official competitions to get the very brightest competing against other, there are also a number of unofficial activities that sound pretty awesome.

Take from the DEF CON forum entitled "DC25: [Official / Unofficial] [Parties / Social Gatherings / Events / Contests]"

Here are a few of the competitions on offer,

Beard & Moustache Competition, Beverage Chilling Contraption Contest (sounds very interesting and practical in the Las Vegas heat), DEF CON Scavenger Hunt and Hacker Jeopardy to name a few.

It seems the local business's are slightly worried with so many hackers in town and as a result they have suspended a number of digital services that they feel may be vulnerable.

Caesars Palace who are hosting the conference put out a notice saying:

"Due to the DEF CON Hacking Conference, the business centre computers will be closed Monday, July 24 through Monday, July 31.

Please see an associate for any printing needs.

We apologise for the inconvenience

Thank you"

UPS also seemed worried about the conference, but it appears their grasp of cyber security may be a little off, their notice read:

"The UPS Store

Due to the DEF CON Hacking convention, we will be accepting email print jobs with attachments only. We will not accept USB prints or any links.

We apologise for the inconvenience."

I may be wrong but a dodgy e-mail attachment is no different than a dodgy file on a USB drive?

I've never personally been to the DEF CON hacking conference before, but it sounds pretty cool.

I really like the way like minded people can organise such huge events and get together to compete and learn about the things they love.