Community Calendar
DC865 Sept Talk - You Left Your Threat Model at the Office
Join us Tue 9/22 at the KEC in Market Square where Joe Gray will present our September talk. 6:30pm meet & greet, 7pm presentation.
RSVP using the Eventbrite link below!
Synopsis
Security professionals spend their careers thinking adversarially. Then 5PM hits. At home, the average practitioner has a VPN, Signal, a password manager, and a Ring camera. That’s it. That’s the plan.
This talk is about the gap between professional tradecraft and personal risk, and what it actually looks like to close it. We’ll cover why the standard compensations fall short, why intelligence professionals face a uniquely asymmetric threat that most handle wrong in both directions, and why the threat landscape now includes a variable that doesn’t show up in most personal threat models: ordinary people under economic pressure. Desperation is a threat actor too.
We’ll apply the security/accessibility/usability tradeoff practitioners already understand to the home environment, covering physical security, communications resilience, and the question nobody in this room has a written answer to: what is your incident response plan for a home invasion?
The methodology is familiar. The target is just closer to home. The call is coming from inside the house, literally.
Bio
Joe Gray is a Navy submarine veteran, competitive shooter, and ham radio operator who has spent nearly 20 years turning adversarial thinking into a profession. He is an Expert Cyber Threat and AI Researcher at Kudelski Security, the author of Practical Social Engineering via No Starch Press, and a 3-time winner of the TraceLabs OSINT Search Party CTF at DEF CON. Through activism and OPSEC, Joe is trying to make tin foil hats en vogue again.
Agenda
6:30pm Meet & Greet (drinks provided), show up anytime.
7pm DC865 March Talk.
Optional after party at Tommy Trent’s.
OWASP+DC865 Aug Talk - The Dark Side of AI
Join OWASP Knoxville & DC865 Thursday 8/27 at the Farragut Community Center where Chris Lindsey will present The Dark Side of AI.
Agenda
6:00-6:30pm Doors Open (Pizza and Networking)
6:30-8:00pm Dark Side of AI Talk
8:00pm Hangout at 35 North Bar & Grill
Discover the risks of AI-assisted coding and learn how to build secure applications with AI through safer development practices.
AI is the ultimate accelerant for application development - it's power unmatched - but without balance and control, it can quickly ignite new risks, turning potential into destruction. Explore the tangible impact of AI-generated code in this session buy playing with fire - Using GPT-driven prompts, we'll build a fully functional application, and in real time, we'll uncover how common security flaws like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and weak authentication can manifest in AI-generated code.
Through hands-on exploration, we'll walk through the potential impact of these vulnerabilities and how these risks could be avoided with secure coding practices, defined policies, developer guardrails, and thorough security audits and code review.
By the end of the session, you'll have a deep understanding of how to:
Recognize and assess the risks AI introduces in your code.
Implement secure coding practices and enforce security policies.
Integrate security audits, code reviews, and testing into your development workflow to ensure AI-generated code is safe for production.
This session is vendor agnostic and designed to empower you to reap the benefits of AI without sacrificing security.
RSVP below so we can save your spot!
DC865 Lock Pick Night
No speaker, no slides — just an evening of picking locks with fellow hackers. Bring your own picks if you've got 'em, or use what we've got.
DC865 Summer Social
Food. Drinks. Nerds.
Hopefully some deodorant.
DC865 is a place for hackers, sysadmins, developers, and students to meet, create, and learn. Join us this month at Tommy Trent's in Market Square for our in-person social. There's no speaker and no agenda, but feel free to bring a good story!
DC865 May Talk - RTFMv2 Penetration Testing, Streamlined
Join us Tue 5/26 at the KEC in Market Square where Shane Farris will present a demo of RTFMv2. 6:30-7pm meet & greet, 7pm presentation.
Synopsis
RTFMv2 is an integrated security assessment and red-team operations client built to centralize the day-to-day work of an engagement. The desktop client brings together reconnaissance, scanning, exploitation support, Active Directory assessment, web and API testing, tunneling, proxying, output parsing, evidence capture, and session management in one operator-focused interface. It wraps common security tools such as Nmap, Nuclei, sqlmap, ffuf/gobuster, ZAP, BloodHound, Certipy, Impacket, and related utilities while preserving engagement context through sessions, checklists, parsed results, command history, and saved artifacts.
RTFMv2 also includes a console interface and Lua automation layer, allowing operators to script repeatable workflows, open and control tool windows, run commands, process output, and chain tasks across the client. Its plugin model extends the client with additional modules such as passive OSINT, command search, password-cracking workflows, and other specialized tooling, while optional server-side components provide collaboration, scheduling, C2, and tool-management capabilities when needed.
Overall, RTFMv2 is designed as a practical operator workspace for authorized security testing, helping teams move from discovery to validation and reporting without constantly switching between disconnected tools.
More info
DC865+OWASP Don’t Just Shift Left. Start Left Before the Code Writes Itself
Join us Tue 4/28 at the KEC in Market Square where Matt Perrotti will present our April talk. 6-6:30pm meet & greet, 6:30pm presentation.
DC865 March Talk - AI For Good?
Join us Tue 3/24 at the KEC in Market Square where Wesley Kirkland will present our March talk. 6-7pm meet & greet, 7-8pm presentation.
This will be a hybrid event. For those that can't join us in person, please use this Zoom link to watch the presentation starting at 7pm.
Synopsis
This presentation explores how using AI‑assisted coding to modernize ETSA's 14‑year‑old website introduced new security concerns that required thorough penetration testing to fully understand. As AI tools were used to rapidly build a modern, secure, serverless Next.js application, ETSA had to evaluate the risks of AI‑generated code, ranging from subtle vulnerabilities to weaknesses introduced by automated architectural decisions. By combining accelerated development with continuous CI/CD scanning, best‑practice hardening, and targeted web app penetration testing by Zelvin Security, we validated the security of AI‑produced components, third‑party integrations, and overall system design. This session demonstrates how AI can dramatically speed up development without sacrificing code quality or security if accompanied by rigorous testing to deliver a maintainable, cost‑effective solution that meets our community’s needs.
Agenda
6:00-7:00 Meet & Greet (drinks provided), show up anytime.
7:00-8:00 DC865 March Talk.
8:00 Optional social at a nearby pub.
To receive email notifications of new events, follow us on Eventbrite: DC865 Events.
RSVP using the source link below.
DC865 Feb Talk - A Dark Matter
Join us at our new downtown meeting location at the KEC in Market Square! 6-7pm meet & greet, 7-8pm presentation.
This talk examines the DarkMatter incident as it has been documented through open-source reporting: the rise of a UAE-based cybersecurity firm, the global race to build sovereign cyber capability, and the subsequent revelations about offensive cyber operations that blurred the line between defense, intelligence, and private enterprise.
Public reporting has focused on what was visible from the outside - journalistic investigations, legal actions, and the policy questions that followed. What it has not captured is how these events looked and felt from within: how decisions were made in real time, how intent evolved under pressure, and how individuals navigated an environment where governance lagged far behind capability.
In this presentation, we will briefly ground the audience in the publicly reported facts of the DarkMatter incident, then move beyond them. Drawing on first-hand experience, the talk presents a never-before-told perspective on the people, tradeoffs, and dynamics that shaped what ultimately became a global cautionary tale.
DC865 Jan Talk - Exploring the EFF Rayhunter
Join us at TEKsystems Thursday 1/15, where Brian Parton will present our January talk!
Using 20 years of experience in the mobile telecom industry, Brian will deep dive into how cell site simulators (aka IMSI-catchers) work on 1G to 5G cellular networks. The EFF Rayhunter aims for cheap and easy detection of these fake base stations. We’ll explore the device’s capabilities and look at locally obtained data to determine if it’s useful or even relevant in today’s world of rapidly expanding mass surveillance.
6:00-6:30 Meet & Greet, food/drinks provided.
6:30-7:30 DC865 Jan Talk
7:30-9:00 Optional social nearby at Smoky Mtn Brewery (Turkey Creek)
Grab a free ticket so we have an estimated head count for food/drinks!
East Tennessee ISC2 Chapter & 10-Sec/DC865 Christmas Cyber social
Join the East Tennessee ISC2 Chapter & TenSec DC865 Christmas Christmas Cyber social at Chuy's Tex Mex . We invite East Tn Cyber folks to attend East Tennessee (ISC2) & DC865/TenSec Chapter December Social Meeting. RSVP NOW!
This is an awesome time for us to get together,celebrate the season, share what we have learned (Through experience, training, or conferences), celebrate success, and encourage one another with a bit of Holiday Cheer!
Please RSVP as soon as possible before COB Dec 8th. This will help us to ensure we have adequate servers.
To be fair to our servers, please don’t ghost your rsvp.
DC865 Fall Social
DC865 Fall Social
Food. Drinks. Nerds. Hopefully some deodorant.
Join us this month at Double Dogs in Hardin Valley for our in-person social. There's no speaker and no agenda, but feel free to bring a good story!
DC865 Sept Talk - Hillbilly Storytime: Pentest Fails and AMA
Join us at C-Spire, where Adam Compton will (virtually) present our September talk!
6:00-6:30 Meet & Greet, food/drinks provided.
6:30-7:30 DC865 Sept Talk
7:30-8:30 Optional social nearby at Xul Beer (Hardin Valley)
Adam Compton, aka the Hillbilly Hacker, will be giving his popular talk Hillbilly Storytime: Pentest Fails, where he’ll share hilarious and painfully relatable stories from the trenches of offensive security. After the talk, we’ll host an Ask Me Anything session where folks can ask about pentesting, career paths, or just hear more wild stories from someone who’s been through it all and still enjoys the ride.
Grab a free ticket so we have an estimated head count for food/drinks!
DC865 Aug Talk - Back2Basics SQLi & XSS
Join us in-person at TEKsystems in Turkey Creek, where Mark Gaddy will present our August talk!
6:00-6:30 Meet & Greet
6:30-7:30 DC865 August Talk
7:30-8:30 Optional social next door at Smoky Mtn Brewery
DC865 June Talk - Signals & Survival: Hacking the Airwaves
Signals & Survival: Hacking the Airwaves with GMRS, Ham, Prepping, Python & OSINT
This month, join us at C-Spire where JOSINT will present: Signals & Survival: Hacking the Airwaves with GMRS, Ham, Prepping, Python & OSINT.
When the grid’s down, the towers are fried, and Starlink’s geofenced… what’s your backup? This talk is a crash course for hackers who want to own their airspace. We’ll cover how to legally (and cheaply) get on the air with GMRS, how to program both GMRS and Ham radios for tactical flexibility, and why every hacker should have basic radio comms in their threat model. But this isn’t just about old-school voice. We’ll explore how to blend light prepping with SDR tools like HackRF One, PlutoSDR, and even Flipper Zeros. We’ll also look at encoding and digital methods (yes, including Rattlegram and similar low-bandwidth hacks) for when stealth or data transmission matters. To take it further, I’ll attempt to demonstrate how Python scripting can forecast band conditions and weather to inform your comms strategy—and how OSINT techniques can give you real-time intel when it counts. Whether you’re building a resilient hacker network, a light prepper loadout, or just want to say “Hello world” over the air when the lights go out, this session will get you started.
Grab a free ticket so we have an estimated headcount for food/drinks!
DC865 April Talk - Public Internet Security - Wesley Kirkland
The talk will be on SSL certificates and what they mean, the differences, and how they play into your website.
Wesley Kirkland is a DevOps/Cloud Engineer at Fortellar. He is passionate about various tech fields, including Home Automation, Email, Internet Presence, AWS, and DevOps. Wesley is also a dedicated cat dad to his two adorable tuxedo kitties. Outside of tech, he enjoys baking and cooking, finding that food fuels the soul and provides a delightful break from the desk.
DC865 March Talk - The Wigler: Locating Laptops Without GPS
Have you ever landed on an endpoint on an offensive operation and needed to physically know where it was? Has an employee absconded with a company GPS-less laptop and you're tasked to get it back? Are you conducting an IR or LE investigation and need to prove where someone was at a certain time? Do you want to impress your loved ones with your knowledge of obscure mathematical formulae? Come learn about a geolocation technique distilled from my time running counter-terrorism operations to help you answer "Yes!" to at least one of the questions above!
DC865 February Talk - Mastering the Art of OSINT & Reconnaissance: A Deep Dive for Offensive Security Pros
🧑 Name: Joe B. Blind Hacker
📖 Bio: Hacking to learn—I've been navigating the web since the dawn of time!
🏷️ Title: Habitual Line Crosser
💡 Talk Topic: Mastering the Art of OSINT & Reconnaissance: A Deep Dive for Offensive Security Pros
🌐 Social Media: Follow me as The Blind Hacker!
Virtual only this month: https://meet.google.com/npu-ixcs-gqc?pli=1
DC865 - Jan Talk - When Best Practices Become the Absolute Worst
Join us at TEKsystems in Turkey Creek this month where Adrian Sanabria will dive into his talk: When Best Practices Become the Absolute Worst. Grab a free ticket via EventBrite so we have an idea of how much food/drinks to have.
DC865 - Dec Social
Join us at XUL Beer Co. in Hardin Valley for the December in-person social. There will be no speaker and no agenda. This will just be a time for us to get together, celebrate success, and encourage one another.
I was never here (How to Live Off The Land in Physical Security)
Join DC865 this month at C-Spire's office in West Knoxville where Westley Ramey will present this month's talk on physical security. Remember to grab a free ticket so we know how much pizza to order!
DC865: Vintage Geek Tour
The folks at Vintage Geek have graciously opened their doors to us for an afterhours tour of their museum. This tour has limited capacity and a $10 entrance fee. Please see Eventbrite for tickets.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dc865-invades-vintage-geek-tickets-1028147626227
Exploiting Business Logic Flaws: The Hidden Weaknesses That Hackers Love
The local OWASP Knoxville chapter has been officially reactivated! On September 24th, Chandler Johnson will be kicking off the first event with a presentation on business logic vulnerabilities in web applications. Before technical demonstrations there will be discussion on foundational theories and concepts critical to understanding these vulnerabilities. Following this theoretical groundwork, Chandler will provide detailed technical demonstrations, showcasing how these vulnerabilities can be exploited in real-world scenarios. His presentation will offer both a conceptual overview and practical insights, equipping attendees with the knowledge to recognize and mitigate these security risks effectively.
Writing Custom Commands in Splunk - the Why & the How.
Join us at TEKsystems in Turkey Creek this month where John Heasman will deep dive on writing custom Splunk commands.
DC865 - August Talk - Bridging Worlds: How Varied Backgrounds Enhance Cyber Security
Diverse backgrounds and non-traditional career paths bring exceptional value to cyber security. During this presentation Zac Mazza, CISSP, an IT director for a large company focused on SaaS platforms for retail healthcare, shares his non-traditional path from sales that led him to lead corporate IT and cyber security. Whether you are someone looking to break into cyber security or an experienced leader, this presentation will provide insight on how to leverage non-traditional skills to help compliment an all-star team.
Grab a free ticket on Eventbrite just so we’ll have an estimated head count.
After the talk, there will be an optional social near Hardin Valley for food/drinks (location TBD).
DC865 June Talk - Email: It Used to Be So Easy, Even a Bird Could Do It!
This month, join us at TEKsystems' office where Wesley Kirkland will present this month's talk on email security.
Choose your own Adventure: Ransomware Analysis
Spend an hour with Marc Messer learning how to analyze executable files for fun and profit. This helps lead into low-level computing, computer architecture, and operating concepts in a hands-on fashion. With a bit of knowledge, you can get started on malware analysis, reverse engineering CTF tasks, vuln research, and more.
Scanning the Planet with BBOT - DC865 April Talk
Join us in person or virtually for an exciting cybersecurity event featuring TheTechromancer from Black Lantern Security.
We'll meet in the basement of the downtown library from 6pm-7pm with an optional social afterwards (location TBD).
If you can't make it in person, join us online via Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/key-tekz-wun
