Throwback to When Will Hurd Attended the Hacking Conference Def Con in 2015

Cyber-security has always been a great deal of discussion given the kind of malicious crimes that take place online. The leaders of the United States of America are hard at work to tackle and effectively control this situation. To discuss the latest advancements, innovations, tools, and more, each year, an internationally recognized conference known as DEF CON is hosted for this very purpose. In usual cases, the attendees on a yearly basis include hackers, cybersecurity professionals, lawyers, and activists. However as per an article in 2015 by Vice, there was one more person whose presence at the event was rather odd.

The former United States representative and Republican Will Hurd, reportedly attended the conference with highly skilled people from the field. In usual cases, politicians seldom grace the event, hence this was rather peculiar that he even attended it, but perhaps it wasn’t all for naught and he actually had some sort of relevance of being on the scene. Before he was elected to the designated post, Hurd was employed as a successful partner at a cybersecurity firm known as FusionX. That and the fact that he’s an honorary graduate in Computer Science from A&M. 

When it was time for him to officially enter the political realm in his post at the time, Hurd wanted to make sure he’d put his tech skill to good use and find a way to incorporate the bountiful knowledge he possessed, effectively. And so, later in that year, he hosted the first ever recorded Congressional Hearing on Encryption. He allegedly labeled a common FBI term, “Going Dark” as a “hypothetical” situation in which encryption is so pervading that agents are denied any form of access to necessary information during an active investigation of a case. 

During a conversation with Vice, Hurd explained his intent behind attending the said event and what he aimed to accomplish through it. “There’s so many people here that are involved in this space,” he began. Hurd continued to claim that this was a golden opportunity presented to him, given the plethora of information he could learn from people who are involved professionally in this field. “It was a good opportunity to have some side conversations with folks who are leaders in the industry, in cybersecurity and privacy.”

Apart from political duties, Hurd was reportedly the Chairman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Information Security. In light of this serious role, Hurd mentioned that “it’s been helpful to get the talent in one room, to have conversations” about his role as a member of the mentioned association. The former representative of the States claimed that overall it was a great experience for him and concluded by elaborating on one final reason. “Just to see this, to understand the scale is important. I have walked away with some new ideas on areas where we can be focusing."