38C3: This was the first day of the hacker congress

Thousands of hackers from all over the world are meeting in Hamburg for the 38th Chaos Communication Congress. The first day of the congress, themed "Illegal Instructions", began with a gloomy prophecy from the organizers and offered participants a handout on how to resist data octopuses and repressive governments. But the agenda also included typical hacking topics ranging from leaky patient files and do-it-yourself medication to a VW data leak.

Opening lecture paints a dark picture

Gabriele Bogk painted a gloomy picture in her opening lecture: "We are living in difficult times," stated the veteran hacker. Providing society with tools to fight back is one of the aims of the Congress. Resistance against authoritarian regimes is not futile.

The CCC is expecting over 14,000 participants at its annual conference, with over 140 presentations on offer. Away from the presentations, hackers, technology enthusiasts, activists and philosophers will find plenty to interest them. Every corner of the CCH (Congress Centrum Hamburg) is occupied, including hundreds of project stands ranging from lock picking to the OpenStreetMap project and the Center for Political Beauty.

The corridors and exhibition halls were accordingly busy: thousands of guests flocked to the CCH to discuss projects, software, open source and the digital society.

VW leaks, DIY drugs and insecure voting software

The lectures on the first day of the congress were also very well attended – Hall 1, which can accommodate three thousand people, was already full to capacity in the morning. If you didn't want to miss any of the lectures, you had to have the stomach for it. This was rewarded with varied presentations:

• Bianca Kastl and Martin Tschirsich showed serious weaknesses that could allow unauthorized persons to access the data of 73 million insured persons shortly before the nationwide launch of the electronic patient file,
• Mixæl Swan Laufer explained to the audience how his "Four Thieves Vinegar Collective" pirates expensive medicines for the benefit of those in need,
• CCC spokesperson Linus Neumann and Thorsten Schröder gave German software for analyzing election results a miserable report card and
• Flüpke analyzed the VW data leak with data journalist Michael Kreil. Using hand-painted maps for data protection reasons, the hackers showed that even secret service employees and VW board members could have been completely monitored using their vehicle data.

Felix "fefe" von Leitner entertained the audience with his traditional Fnord news review at a late hour in Hamburg's largest seated hall. However, anyone who wanted to listen to this had to hold out until 1 am.

The 38th Chaos Communication Congress will take place at the Congress Centrum Hamburg until December 30. The event is sold out.

(nie)