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We're at Lorenzo White at DC30 in the Blackstone Cyber Village.

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And after the talk, we started talking about your experience at DEF CON.

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And what was your first year at DEF CON?

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So my first year was either 2014 or 2015.

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And I was in corporate America.

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I've been to plenty of corporate cyber events.

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I've been to RSA a couple of times and other smaller events like that.

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You know, the normal run-of-the-mill corporate.

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So I heard about DEF CON, knew how to come.

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Showed up my first day in a suit and tie.

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I think it was a regular conference.

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I was like, oh no, this is not...

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Looked around, walked back to my hotel room, changed and came back.

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And when did you end up spending your time at DEF CON that year?

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Man, it was great.

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So every conference I've been to, I learned so much in that first conference that I ever learned.

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Everything is hands-on.

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So many people to talk to and actually learn and interact.

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It's not just a bunch of vendors trying to sell you stuff.

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It's actually a learning experience.

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I'm not begging for you to book any conference.

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I'll tell anybody that.

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Even if they just want to think about cyber, come here and experience everything.

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See if you want to do it.

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You can go try whatever.

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If you want to do hacking, if you want to do GRC.

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There's someone here doing it.

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I think one of my favorite things about DEF CON is that it doesn't matter whether you go to the villages, whether you go to the contests.

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While all of those things are fun, you can find those things online.

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What you get at DEF CON is the people you meet.

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And the friends you meet along the way.

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You meet them one year, and then year after year.

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It's like coming back to camp or something like that, where you're meeting all the old friendships.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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My first one, I actually only knew one person here.

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And he was the one who told me to come out here.

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And then every year, I started learning to meet more people.

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I ran into him one time the whole time we were here.

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And then every year, I got tied in more with the local group.

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And a lot of people there go, too.

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And then going to all the B-sides and everything around all the other cyber events, too.

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And it started coming to one con with one friend.

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Found a few more friends.

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And now it's a village?

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Yeah, now it's a village.

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This year, I brought my nephew and another mentee of mine.

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They're young, fresh out of college, so they're here to learn and get them plugged in as well.