Help the FTC zap robocallers by participating in these three contests at
DEF CON 22 in Las Vegas, NV, August 7-10, 2014.
1.Creator: Build a robocall honeypot by Friday, 8/8, at noon PDT
2.Attacker: Identify a honeypot’s security vulnerabilities by Saturday, 8/9, at noon PDT
3.Detective: Analyze data from an existing robocall honeypot by Saturday, 8/9, at 7 pm PDT
$17,000 in Total Cash Prizes
Contest Details
“Rachel from Cardholder Services” is one of the most notorious — and most annoying — robocallers ever. The FTC is challenging the tech-savvy public to help us zap Rachel and her robocall buddies by creating the next-generation robocall honeypot at DEF CON 22. A robocall honeypot is an information system designed to attract robocallers, which can help researchers and investigators understand and combat illegal calls.
Contestants may participate in one, two, or all three phases:
1.CREATOR
The first phase is a honeypot building contest. Contestants will build honeypots that can identify inaccurate information in the calls they receive, such as spoofed caller IDs. The honeypots should also catalog calls and identify those that are likely robocalls.
Deadline: noon PDT on August 8, 2014
2.ATTACKER
The second phase is a honeypot circumvention challenge. Contestants will develop methods to prevent honeypots from collecting accurate data about calls that they place to the honeypot – essentially disabling the honeypot from fulfilling its purpose.
Deadline: noon PDT on August 9, 2014
3.DETECTIVE
The third phase is a data analysis challenge. Contestants will review data from an existing honeypot that we will provide at DEF CON 22 and develop algorithms to predict calls that are likely to be robocalls.
Deadline: 7 pm PDT on August 9, 2014