Romantic suspense research: DEF CON

May 30, 2019 | Leave A Comment

Right now I am working on Mission: Impossible to Love, book 3 in the Impossible Mission romantic suspense series. After coming up with a premise for the story, it’s time for the fun part: research!

In Mission: Impossible to Love, Sten Jenkins and Elizabeth “Izzy” Benson are sent to a hacker convention, posing as black hat hackers trying to sell software that could jeopardize the security of U.S. military drones.

In researching black hat hackers, I learned about DEF CON, one of the world’s largest hacker conventions. Held annually in Las Vegas, the event draws IT security professionals, law enforcement officials, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, students and–of course–hackers.

Since the first DEF CON in 1993, the event has expanded to feature speakers on a variety of topics, as well as cyber-security challenges and competitions known as hacking wargames. It has also gone international, with DEF CON CHINA 1.0, scheduled for May 31 to June 2.

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A hacker convention is the perfect setting for romantic suspense that includes technology, cyber crime and “virtual’ espionage. Such events are straight out of today’s headlines. I hope readers enjoy the very real element of cyber danger in my new military romantic suspense story, coming July 25.

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