HackMiami is a formal organization of information security professionals who host the annual international

hacker conference A computer security conference is a convention for individuals involved in computer security. They generally serve as meeting places for system and network administrators, hackers, and computer security experts. Events Common activities at hacke ...

that takes place in Miami Beach, FL known as the 'HackMiami Conference.' The organization has been involved in research primarily in the fields of

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, de ...

analysis,

botnets A botnet is a group of Internet-connected devices, each of which runs one or more bots. Botnets can be used to perform Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, steal data, send spam, and allow the attacker to access the device and its conn ...

web application security Application security (short AppSec) includes all tasks that introduce a secure software development life cycle to development teams. Its final goal is to improve security practices and, through that, to find, fix and preferably prevent security ...

research,

cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing t ...

research, and network security research. The organization also organizes bi-weekly local events themed around ethical hacking topics throughout South Florida, and offer information security consultation services to both individuals and businesses.

History

HackMiami gatherings informally began in 2008 and the organization officially incorporated in 2009. The original concept was a now retired goal of opening a physical

hackerspace A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" ( 501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology ...

located in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

, Florida. HackMiami began as a group of computer science and engineering students having biweekly meetings held at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florida ...

. The group initially focused on hardware research and development, as well as renewable energy projects. The group eventually stopped meeting at the university in order to maintain the quality and control of their research. In early 2009, the group began to focus on web application security and malware analysis. In 2011, the organization pivoted to the a different business model of security consultation services and niche event planning in lieu of managing a membership based

. In the year 2021, at DEFCON 29 Conference in Las Vegas, Jonathan Respeto and Chad Seaman, representing HackMiami, won the DEFCON Black Badge by placing first in the DEFCON Capture The Packet competition. In the year 2022, at DEFCON 30 Conference in Las Vegas, Rod Soto and Jonathan Respeto with a team composed of Hackmiami and Pacific Hackers members won Red Alert ICS CTF.

Annual Conference

HackMiami holds an annual conference called the HackMiami Conference in South Florida. The first 2013 HackMiami Conference took place over May 17–19, 2013 in Miami Beach, Florida. The event was the subject of the Rolling Stone article "The Geeks on the Front Lines." written by journalist David Kushner, which discussed the topic of government recruitment of hackers for digital warfare. The Winter Hacker Festival presented by HackMiami took place December 7, 2013 in Miami Beach, FL. The event featured an all day edition of the K&&K CTF hacking tournament and featured performances from YTCracker,

Lil Wyte Patrick Dhane Lanshaw (born October 6, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wyte, is an American rapper. He is a member of the rap collective Hypnotize Minds and owner of the independent label Wyte Music. Early life Growing up in Frays ...

Project Pat Patrick Earl Houston (born February 8, 1973), better known by his stage name Project Pat, is an American rapper from Memphis, Tennessee. He is the older brother of Juicy J, the co-founder of Three 6 Mafia. Houston was formerly a member of hip h ...

, Dual Core, and DJ Percent 27. The 2014 HackMiami Conference took place May 9–11, 2014 in Miami Beach, FL and featured presentations from RSA Threat Labs, Team Cymru, Dave Marcus of Intel Security, and HackMiami Board

Alexander Heid Alexander Heid is an American computer security consultant, white hat (computer security), white hat hacker, and business executive. Heid is a co-founder of the South Florida hacker conference and hacker group known as HackMiami, and currently s ...

, James Ball, Rod Soto and Christopher Snyder. The 2015 HackMiami Conference took place May 15–17, 2015 in Miami Beach, FL and featured presentations from Dave Monnier of Team Cymru and

John McAfee John David McAfee ( ; 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British-American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States ...

and HackMiami Board

, James Ball, Rod Soto and Christopher Snyder. During the 2015 HackMiami Conference, ethical hacker Seth Wahle demonstrated an Android malware deployment method whereby he was able to infect mobile devices through a

near field communication Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be ...

microchip implant that had been injected into his hand. The 2016 HackMiami Conference took place May 13–15, 2016 at the historic Hotel Deauville in Miami Beach, FL and featured presentations from

Iftach Ian Amit Iftach Ian Amit (Hebrew: יפתח איאן עמית) is an Israeli Hacker/computer security researcher and practitioner. He is one of the co-founders of the Tel Aviv DEF CON Group DC9723, the Penetration Testing Execution Standard, and presented ...

and

and HackMiami Board

, James Ball, Rod Soto and Christopher Snyder. The 2017 HackMiami Conference took place May 19–21, 2017 at the Hotel Deauville in Miami Beach, FL and featured keynote presentations from Michael Gough , Neil "Grifter" Wyler, and HackMiami Board

, James Ball, Rod Soto and Christopher Snyder. In July 2017, the Hotel Deauville was damaged by an electrical fire and has since been condemned for demolition. The closure of the hotel forced HackMiami Conference to seek another venue for subsequent years. The 2018 HackMiami Conference took place May 18–20, 2018 at the Seacoast Suites Miami Beach in Miami Beach, FL and featured keynote presentations from

Christopher Ahlberg Christopher Ahlberg, born 1968, is a Swedish/American computer scientist and executive. Ahlberg is the co-founder and CEO of Recorded Future, as well as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Hult International Business School. Career Before co-foun ...

Recorded Future Recorded Future is a privately held cybersecurity company founded in 2009, with headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts. The company specializes in the collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination of threat intelligence. Recorded Future ...

, Jack Daniel of

Security BSides Security BSides (commonly referred to as BSides) is a series of loosely affiliated information security conferences. It was co-founded by Mike Dahn, Jack Daniel, and Chris Nickerson in 2009. Due to an overwhelming number of presentation submissi ...

, and HackMiami Board

, James Ball, and Rod Soto. The 2019 HackMiami Conference took place May 17–19, 2019 at the Seacoast Suites Miami Beach in Miami Beach, FL and featured keynote presentations from Dave Marcus, Vinny Troia, and HackMiami Board

, James Ball, and Rod Soto. Due to the COVID pandemic and macroeconomic issues of 2020-2022, no annual conference was held and the bi-weekly local meetups migrated to a hybrid format of online and on-site. The 2023 HackMiami Conference is scheduled to take place May 19-20, 2023 in Sunny Isles Beach, FL.

Public Gatherings

HackMiami holds public biweekly meetings where matters of information security and the progress of ongoing projects is openly discussed. Members are encouraged to present any new information or research to the group and there is active participation and collaboration between all attendees. The attendees of the local meetings and conference maintain communication throughout the year via private

Slack Slack may refer to: Places * Slack, West Yorkshire, a village in Calderdale, England * The Slack, a village in County Durham, England * Slack (river), a river in Pas-de-Calais department, France * Slacks Creek, Queensland, a suburb of Logan City, ...

and

Discord Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...

servers.

Founders

Current Founders that make up the board of directors for the HackMiami organization:HackMiami Board Members,https://www.hackmiami.org/History.html

- Co-founder James Ball
- Co-founder Rod Soto
- Co-founder

References

{{Hackerspace Hackerspaces Technology conferences Hacker culture Hacker conventions Recurring events established in 2013 Organizations based in Miami