Live Recon Contest

DEF CON 33 • 8th-9th August 2025

27+ hours of hybrid (online + offline) OSINT on multiple real-world target companies and live reconnaissance. Both contests were found challenging by participants as they struggled through the full run. Live Recon featured 47 teams with 67 participants; findings included 367 web logins impacted by infostealers and the Dark Web, and 14,500+ lines of unique raw data points (subdomains, IPs, emails, URLs, GitHub accounts, LinkedIn profiles).

Event statistics

47 teams67 players

Winners

1st Prize

pdteam

2nd Prize

pinja

3rd Prize

KaalChakra

Contest Leads

Himanshu Kumar Das
Ankur Bhargava

Jury Team

Daniel Miessler
Ben Sadeghipour

Why Participate?

Community support: Your participation helps support the community

Crack team of experts: Engage with the best in the biz

VIP treatment: Limited slots mean your company gets the full treatment

Treasure trove report: Walk away with a comprehensive dossier

Rules of the Contest

1Reconnaissance Only: No hacking or exploitation of any kind is allowed
2Report Submission: Submission of a detailed CSV file in a given structure is mandatory
3Presentation: Participants will present their findings in front of a jury
4NDA Compliance: All participants must sign an NDA to ensure the confidentiality of the findings
5Time Limit: All reconnaissance activities must be completed within the specified time frame
6Ethical Conduct: Participants must adhere to ethical guidelines
7Scope: Recon must be limited to the provided target scope
8Evidence Collection: All findings must be backed by appropriate evidence
9Original Work: All work must be original and performed during the contest