Zardus
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zardus.bsky.social
Zardus
@zardus.bsky.social
Retired DEFCON CTF org.
Shellphish Captain Emeritus.
ASU Prof.
angr hacker.
pwn.college sensei.
Looking for students/interns!

https://yancomm.net
https://github.com/zardus
https://defcon.social/@Zardus
The room is FULL for @the_robwaz’s talk about Speculative Execution and micro architectural vulnerabilities at @DEFCON Academy (but I only photographed the man himself)!
August 10, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Spread the word! @DEFCON’s brand new @DEFCONAcademy is giving out shirts, coins, and stickers! And also KNOWLEDGE! So tell your friends (including you, @DEFCON account!) and come by room 235 today to LEARN TO HACK and GET SOME SWAG!
August 10, 2025 at 4:52 PM
The @the_robwaz is setting up for his @DEFCONAcademy talk on Race Conditions at 1pm in room 235! At @DEFCON? Come learn about concurrency errors in software!
August 9, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Hello Hackers! Earned a @pwncollege belt? Other amazing achievements? Hanging out @DEFCON? Come by @DEFCONAcademy and get belted at 5pm!
August 9, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Hello Hackers! Come to @DEFCON Academy (room 235) for a live episode of our pwn.talk starting NOW!
August 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Standing room only at @x3ero0’s @DEFCON Academy talk about Getting into CTF!
August 8, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Come to @DEFCON Academy to see @TheWyrmSuperior talk about buffer overflows, starting in two minutes!
August 8, 2025 at 9:58 PM
We are going full speed in @DEFCON's @DEFCONAcademy! Two talks down (Intro to Linux and Intro to Assembly), with the next talk (Intro to Buffer Overflows) at 3pm. Meanwhile, learners are learning through hands-on challenges between the talks. Come by and LEARN TO HACK in W235!
August 8, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Me waiting for the @DARPA AI Cyber Challenge result announcement after having interviewed all the teams:
August 8, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Hello hackers! Excited for @DEFCON tomorrow? Make sure to stop by @DEFCONAcademy, a brand new community effort to provide a path for everyone to LEARN TO HACK. Read on for the details! 🧵
August 8, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Hello hackers! Another @pwncollege semester ends, continuing @ASU's @ace_inst's never-ending quest to revolutionize the way hackers learn to become productive members of the cybersecurity community. Read on to learn what this means for students and Capture the Flag! 🧵
May 13, 2025 at 11:36 PM
@defcon Quals process:

Days 0-2: hack
Day 3: party, sleep, (new:) reassure the kids I won't be gone next weekend
Day 4: close hundreds of tabs, terminals, IDA instances of chals. Terminate the angr script that never did finish before the CTF ended.
Finally, inner peace.
April 16, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Today, I participated in @DEFCON Quals #CTF with @Shellphish! After missing last year's quals due to family traditions (defcon.social/@Zardu...), it was great to be back! We got 5th place and (unless our calculations are off) are heading to finals!
Zardus: "Today is @defcon Quals... and for the first time …" - DEF CON Social
Today is @defcon Quals... and for the first time in 15 years, I am not involved in any capacity! After 9 years playing, 4 years hosting, and 2 years playing again, this weekend is going to be a family event rather than a caffeine-fueled hacking extravaganza... Complex emotions!
defcon.social
April 14, 2025 at 8:50 AM
And AZ CTF comes to a close! Congrats to the winners! And, of course, everyone can now tackle the chals on #pwncollege at: pwn.college/az-ctf-2...
April 6, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The first edition of the Arizona CTF (this one open just to undergrads in the state's various colleges) is running right now! Just over 100 undergrads pwning at the moment across AZ, 13 challenges solved, 10 challenges and 5 hours to go. First prize is $1337. Hype!
April 5, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Hello aspiring cybersecurity professors! ASU is hiring faculty in all security disciplines and all levels, and the first deadline is TONIGHT! Apply at apply.interfolio.com... and don't worry --- you can still apply tomorrow if tonight is impossible :-)
December 9, 2024 at 11:53 PM
Hello hackers! In case you missed it at @DEFCON: @perribus, @adamdoupe, @the_robwaz, @TheConnorNelson, @TheDarkTangent and I announced @DEFCONAcademy! I kept meaning to spread the word, and now that there's hype (news.asu.edu/2024103...), it's time for the thread!

Read on! 🧵
DEF CON Academy looks to serve, build community | ASU News
Every year, a legion of hackers, programmers, cybersecurity professionals and researchers descend on Las Vegas for the most storied convention in the hacker community: DEF CON.
news.asu.edu
November 1, 2024 at 4:46 PM
After a year on sabbatical, I'm about to teach again! ASU CSE 365 (Intro to Cybersecurity) stream starting, with @TheConnorNelson, imminently at twitch.tv/pwncollege!
pwncollege - Twitch
The twitch stream for the white-belt to blue-belt education platform from Arizona State University. You can view our platform at https://pwn.college/.
twitch.tv
August 26, 2024 at 8:34 PM
We did it!!!! @Shellphish qualifies for the AIxCC finals!!!
August 11, 2024 at 8:07 PM
Also! Are you a @pwncollege-belted hacker? We’ll do a belt ceremony ON STAGE at the end of the talk! Come to Track 2 right now!
August 10, 2024 at 11:35 PM
Hello hackers! @perribus and I are about to announce @DEFCONAcademy at 4:30pm on Track 2 at @DEFCON! Can't make it to the talk? Feel the FOMO! But don't worry, we miiiiight make a thread later.
August 10, 2024 at 11:02 PM
48 hours later, the @pwncollege V8 Exploitation #QuarterlyQuiz has still not been competed! There's still a chance to nab that 🥇 out from under @ky1ebot's nose! Give it a try at pwn.college/quarterl... !
August 4, 2024 at 2:32 AM
Hello hackers! The next #pwncollege Quarterly Quiz IS HERE! Want to test your skills on a clever collection of challenges covering concepts in v8 (chrome's javascript engine) pwning? Head over to pwn.college/quarterl... and get hacking!
August 2, 2024 at 12:01 AM
Fun story: dad calls me yesterday. He upgraded Ubuntu. Now, nothing works. Normal boot hangs at an initramfs issue. Recovery Mode boots into a login screen with cyrillic character input for some reason (???). His username/pw are not cyrillic, so he can't log in. Can I help?
July 6, 2024 at 4:20 PM
Boring weekend? Check out one of our latest projects: the CTF Archive on pwn.college: pwn.college/ctf-arch...

Capture the Flag events are depressingly fleeting: here for a weekend, then gone. The CTF Archive hopes to help change that, keeping them alive in the dojo.
June 29, 2024 at 9:35 PM