## hpr4006 :: Holiday Challenges Ep 3 SANS Holiday Hack Challenge and KringleCon

 Holiday
Challenges Series - Ep 3 - SANS Holiday Hack Challenge with
KringleCon
Since some of the information you are about to hear is time specific,
I want to let you know that I am recording this near the end of November
in 2023.
If you missed the first episode, which introduces this series, you
can go back and listen to HPR3996
The SANS Holiday Hack Challenge is an interactive online technology
and hacking game combined with a virtual security conference, beginning
in the second week of December. By the time this episode drops, it may
already be live. You can tour the North Pole conference facilities,
meeting people, interactive non-player characters (NPC), and maybe even
some villains from Holiday Hack Challenges past, as you solve problems
and gather clues which you use to help save Christmas.
Everything can be done from within the browser, and did I mention
there is a virtual security conference, called KringleCon? Some of the
biggest rock stars (and most humble and brilliant people) in
CyberSecurity speak each year at KringleCon. Many of their talks also
provide clues to solving game challenges.
Ed Skoudis and his team (The same people who build SANS NetWars) work
tirelessly year after year to create the most amazing experience,
complete with custom music! This has become one of my favorite holiday
traditions each year. You can learn more about the 2023 challenge by
watching Ed's Inside SANS Holiday Hack Challenge 2023 YouTube video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Gmdr_CxzQ
You can access this year's challenge by visiting sans.org/holidayhack
or https://www.sans.org/mlp/holiday-hack-challenge-2023/
There, you will learn more about all things Holiday Hack before the
game opens in the second week of December. If you want to play now, or
just get a feel for it, you can access three of the previous years'
challenges right now at the same site.
I am not associated with SANS or the Holiday Hack Challenge in any
way, other than to have participated for several years now, and I have
watched other people learn and grow by taking part in it.
I hope that you have enjoyed this short series. If there are other
online challenges you find interesting or informative, I encourage you
to record a show about them.
Have a wonderful day.
