The synthesis of a few ideas and thoughts milled over for a few years. From a _hacker_ space (::cough:cough::) focusing on Cannabis education and the availability of cultivation/processing know-how & equipment, to this - a village/mini-con at DEF CON focusing on all that AND the intersections of Cannabis and infosec/hacking. This is the first time so consider it Beta. No frills! Well...some frills. Inquire within ;)
Some people have pointed out that the connection between Cannabis and infosec/hacking might not be that clear, so here it is broken down.
See where this is going? The industry presents an interesting space for defense and is one attackers are already coming around to. Once interesting "hacks" - in the maker movement sense of the word - around people doing things like automating cultivation w/ microcontrollers, etc were included, it became apparent that there was a wide range of material to draw from. Material both directly related to infosec/hacking - via the unique space the Cannabis industry presents with it's "Kafkaesque" history and regulatory framework - and material unrelated to those yet totally on theme with things people have seen over the past few years at DEF CON. You'd be surprised at how many people who attend or even help organize DEF CON have Cannabis related projects on the side.
Well that village was probably awesome so that was by design to some degree. Drawing from previous DEF CON experiences and events was a goal in trying to present something familiar despite it's newness and novelty. At the same time we tried to make sure we weren't rehashing (pun intended) too many things you've seen at DEF CON before.