The 10 most terrifying security nightmares revealed at the Black Hat and Def Con hacker conferences

Hacker heaven

Hacker heaven

It's that time of year again: The wonderful, terrifying week when hackers and security gurus descend upon Las Vegas to show off their skills and unleash presentation after presentation full of scary-sounding exploits. This year is no different. Over the previous week, we've heard tales of planes brought down by rogue code, snoops spying on your security cameras, and secretive, undetectable code that can turn any USB drive into an unstoppable malware vessel.

If the past is any indication, most of these exploits are scarier in theory than in fact—but they still offer a startling glimpse into the dangers inherent in an increasingly connected world. Here are the creepiest security stories coming out of Black Hat and Def Con in 2014.

Hacker heaven

It's that time of year again: The wonderful, terrifying week when hackers and security gurus descend upon Las Vegas to show off their skills and unleash presentation after presentation full of scary-sounding exploits. This year is no different. Over the previous week, we've heard tales of planes brought down by rogue code, snoops ...

Credit: Dreamstime

It's that time of year again: The wonderful, terrifying week when hackers and security gurus descend upon Las Vegas to show off their skills and unleash presentation after presentation full of scary-sounding exploits. This year is no different. Over the previous week, we've heard tales of planes brought down by rogue code, snoops spying on your security cameras, and secretive, undetectable code that can turn any USB drive into an unstoppable malware vessel.

If the past is any indication, most of these exploits are scarier in theory than in fact—but they still offer a startling glimpse into the dangers inherent in an increasingly connected world. Here are the creepiest security stories coming out of Black Hat and Def Con in 2014.

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Tags BlackHat 2014DefCon 2014

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