“As you may or may not know, a well-known hacking convention will be held in Las Vegas during your stay,” Resorts World Las Vegas writes. “We will be conducting scheduled, brief visual and non-intrusive room inspections daily,” it adds.

Resorts World Las Vegas, a hotel that is hosting attendees of the DEF CON hacking conference this week, will perform daily inspections of rooms including those displaying a privacy sign, according to a letter from the hotel given to guests. An information security professional posted a photo of the letter online. Members of the cybersecurity community have reacted with a mix of anger and disappointment on social media.

“Welcome, and thank you for choosing Resorts World Las Vegas. We are pleased that you have joined us, as you have chosen to stay with us for relaxation, fun and excitement!” the message, written on hotel letterhead, reads.

“As you may or may not know, a well-known hacking convention will be held in Las Vegas during your stay,” it adds. DEF CON runs from August 8 to 11, with many attendees already in the city for the separate Black Hat cybersecurity conference or other events. “We remain committed to our guests’ safety and understand the utmost importance of cybersecurity, as well.”

The letter then describes what staff at Resorts World Las Vegas will be doing: “In an effort to increase the safety of our guests, we will be conducting scheduled, brief visual and non-intrusive room inspections daily beginning Monday, August 5. Rooms with a privacy sign will be included as part of the inspection process.”

  • Vent@lemm.ee
    169·
    3 months ago

    But… it’s cybersecurity. What is a “brief visual and non-intrusive room inspection” even looking for? Anonymous masks? Green terminals with scrolling text? People shouting “enhance” and/or “I’m in”?

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
      69·
      3 months ago

      Possibly they’re looking for people assembling their sniper rifles, or trying to ensure that no hotel room gets gutted to become some group’s command HQ with 50 amps of electronics with no shielding sprouting from the wall sockets and clean (de)soldering stations set up alongside an electron microscope?

      I know what’s gone on in those hotel rooms in past years, and a lot of it is stuff I wouldn’t want to have to deal with as a hotelier.

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
      26·
      3 months ago

      Captain Crunch whistles.

      I’ve heard you can bankrupt financial institutions with one of those.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
        13·
        3 months ago

        For those who missed the joke: Payphone hackers (often called phreakers) discovered that a toy whistle from Captain Crunch cereal boxes could easily be modified to play the specific tone that payphones listened for to indicate that a coin had been inserted. Basically, the phone company didn’t know when a coin has been put in, without some sort of signal from the pay phone. And typically, the only lines run to the phone were the actual phone line. So the pay phone would play a specific 2600Hz tone, indicating that a coin was inserted.

        Using this toy whistle, you could essentially use payphones for free, and it was entirely untraceable until the company emptied the phone and counted the coins in the collection bin. In an era when cellphones were only for millionaires and were the size of literal bricks the world was almost entirely dependent on pay phones unless you were at home. So this was a major discovery for phreaks, who quickly began experimenting to see what other tones may be used to send signals.

        Naturally, the phone companies panicked, and quickly had the cereal company pull the toys from future boxes.

    • finestnothing@lemmy.world
      17·
      3 months ago

      I like to say enhance before opening the full file from a thumbnail in feh when showing my wife pictures. She hates it and I will not stop

  • edric@lemm.eeEnglish
    64·
    3 months ago

    How can an inspection be non-intrusive if it consists of physically entering a guest’s room? As an aside, I was hoping I could attend this year but my company said there wasn’t enough budget 🙄. Whenever I attend Defcon or Blackhat, I stay in hotels not directly within the vicinity of the con because of all the shenanigans.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.world
      15·
      3 months ago

      Non-Intrusive in that they enter the room, which is their property and they have the right to enter, but they aren’t going through your stuff.

        • jordanlund@lemmy.world
          12·
          3 months ago

          They do, and you agree to whatever rights are outlined in the rental agreement when you check in and sign the forms.

                • jordanlund@lemmy.world
                  7·
                  3 months ago

                  There are also rights people think they have on private property that they absolutely do not have. ;)

            • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              3 months ago

              So you can’t sign away your right to not have your room searched on the owner’s property?

              You’re getting upvotes and the other guy down. Based on feelings.

              Legal chapter and verse please.

      • machinin@lemmy.world
        10·
        3 months ago

        As a parent, I have the right to enter my kids’ rooms anytime I want. If I don’t do it respectfully, it will definitely be intrusive.

        The hotel does have their rights. When they abuse those rights, it becomes intrusive. Rights don’t really have anything to do with feeling that someone is being intrusive.

    • FuzzyRedPanda@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      How can an inspection be non-intrusive if it consists of physically entering a guest’s room?

      “Because we said it was!” - Hotel Management

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
    42·
    3 months ago

    Hotel clerk: Sir, is that dangerous equipment you’re setting up?

    Hacker: It’s just a WiFi coconut, a rubber duck, a flipper zero, and a few IMSI catchers.

    Clerk: Okay then. So, carry on I guess?

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    42·
    3 months ago

    “scheduled” - We’re telling you when we’re coming, hide yo’ shit!

    OTOH - WTF do they think they’re looking for? I don’t expect hotel staff to know a nefarious device from a multi-port USB hub.

  • 4am@lemm.ee
    36·
    3 months ago

    Would be great to find out that this wasn’t a real notice, someone just social-engineered hotel letterhead from three different hotels and printed up something inflammatory to catch the community’s attention.

  • Nasan@sopuli.xyz
    31·
    3 months ago

    For anyone else curious which hotels are affected by this measure:

    • Hilton Las Vegas
    • Conrad Las Vegas
    • Crockfords Las Vegas
  • Bahnd Rollard@lemmy.world
    22·
    3 months ago

    They appear to be starting this before the event, so something has them spooked (could just be the con full of spooks). Also with the volume of technical know-how that is going to be in attendance I think

    1. There is no way someone wont spot funny bususiness if a group or indivudal is trying to pull something.

    2. If a visual inspection is all their doing (unlikely) then this amounts to nothing more that security theatre. If they are being more invasive the attendees will know (its DEF CON for fuck sake).

    3. This may just prompt the attendees to book at another resort next year and hurt the hotel in the long run, seeing as this is very close to the opening of the con I dont see many groups changing their booking in time.

    • Drusas@kbin.run
      14·
      3 months ago

      If I learned this after I had booked, I would be expecting a refund as well as compensation for missing the conference if I couldn’t find alternative accommodation.

    • aramis87@fedia.io
      14·
      3 months ago

      If they are being more invasive the attendees will know

      With this announcement, I fully expect every DefCon room to be running their own security cameras.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    20·
    3 months ago

    They did know announcing this ahead of time is just begging to have their system hacked and taken down, right?

  • adam_y@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    3 months ago

    Yeah, OK, time to hack their schedule.

    Look on your list, you’ve already been in here today.

    This is just a tutorial level.

  • meco03211@lemmy.world
    11·
    3 months ago

    People in here speculating about them looking for “hacker shit” and I’m assuming it’s sex trafficking shit.

    • nolefan33@sh.itjust.works
      23·
      3 months ago

      It’s probably guns. That guy who shot all those people at the music festival in Vegas snuck a small arsenal into his room and they didn’t notice until the shooting.