About

1990s … In a far hacking scene …

Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and Usenet are in vogue to connect with communities, even before IRC, in the late ’80s and early' 90s. Just like in the spirit of WarGames. Everything was in place to satisfy the curiosity of young people who only wanted to discover and learn new things while exchanging, face to face or online.

The fact that everything is not so accessible makes attractive the environment that is still outlawed, whether with the use of ToneLoc, e-zines, warez, bomb recipes, bananadine or still unique games of doors or MMOs. The technology begins and so does the security of information. Exploration of garbage cans, red boxes, whistles from cereal boxes, 2600 meetings, e-zines, DEF CON, the beginnings of free software - in short, opportunities aren’t lacking. The whole thing is essentially done in terminal and the only interfaces were made of drawings with characters (ASCII art). Some establish their network of contacts with a local scene, while others connect further, with cDc, Phrack, LoD, CCC, MoD or other groups.

Quebec hasn’t escaped that wave, especially since many future initiatives stem from projects from this era. Starting from Northern Phun Co and Corruption Addicts via Illegal Granted Access, Total Control, Pyrofreak, Underdark, Quebec Hacker Alliance and Rectum Crew, there was everything to make a world, be it in phreaking, hacking, cracking, virii, carding or other illegal stuff whose authors “protect themselves” from the potential consequences behind dubious disclaimers. This is the intense period when the world exchanges on IRC, be it on EFNet, Undernet or others. The WWW / Internet is becoming accessible to the general public and the cable modem is starting. Mr. and Mrs. everyone discover the long dark world with graphical interfaces accessible by Windows. Piracy is essentially frowned upon and information security is mostly part of the world of network administrators.

With this accessibility, other horizons are opening up, since the toll-free calls are quietly a thing of the past, it is possible to communicate with the Francophonie and other countries in a more accessible way (read economic). We discover Madchat, kewl.org, CYBz, Coromputer, ZATAZ, WebHack and other groups. The general public is quietly aware of the existence of this counter-culture as demonstrated by the release of Hackers and The Matrix.

Little by little, the BBS and IRC users leave the school and settle on the job market so they mature and grow older/wiser, lack the time to chill on chats. Experience is gained during this decade, while other communities or events take the reins - MafiaBoy, iLoveYou, … Times change, one generation does not recognize or support the previous one, so things are changing fast, especially malicious actors.

Events and meetups are set up to exchange locally, like the 2600 meetups that take place in Montreal and Quebec City (sporadically), the mtl2600 forum and the first version of the Hackfest, organized by CENTINEL (do you know where the name of our mascot comes from?) from Laval University.

2000s

After 3 editions of Hackfest organized by Laval University, qc2600 meetings begin with several members of “underground” and ethical hacking groups of the Quebec City scene. These being pretty much on the line of legality, turned into monthly meetings at the Cage aux Sports or the Place Laurier Food Court with computer security friends who started a job in the domain from 2004 until around the summer of 2009 where one of our co-founders has the idea to redo the Hackfest but somewhere out of university. So on a certain June morning, a planning took place, an incorporation was created, and the Hackfest Reloaded was born. It was supposed to take place at Laval University but the H1N1 virus robs us of our premises so the event was transferred to a hotel and 4 months later, on November 7, 2009 more than 175 people showed up in the basement the Hotel Universel where about 8 conferences were held followed by a lockpicking contest and a Red vs Blue CTF!

TODAY

Sharing information, networking, and discussing projects or challenges in the workplace are critical to the progress/evolution of the information security community, especially with malicious actors who have made significant progress in recent years, often after being associated with organized crime or governments. It goes without talking of organizations that are helpless facing challenges and are just starting to organize themselves. This is what Hackfest has been promoting for 10 years and intends to continue!

Under the auspices of Hackfest Communication, a non-profit organization, at the local level we got iHack (mini-Hackfest, https://ihack.computer), QuebecSec (conferences and local monthly meetings, https://Quebecsec.ca) and La French Connection’s French podcast (https://securite.fm) and DEF CON’s Canadian party (https://hack-n-moose.ca). In addition, the Hackfest team is present in schools and various events, such as the ex-CQSI and now SéQCure.

In addition, a striking and critical element that allowed many people to flourish and stand out in the middle was the Hackfest CTF, especially with super creative minds bringing ideas equally crazy from each other - nuclear reactor, WarGames, a dam mock-up, reality business, bomb … The Hackfest would not be what it is without the CTF teams and collaborators who have succeeded each other over the years by constantly raising the bar and not running away from any challenge. At the image of our world that is getting increasingly complex. The number of registrations and the required logistics surprises us from year to year, especially the speed of registrations being sold out!