Labshock Runs Hands-On OT Labs at DEF CON in the ICS Village
Attendees operated real industrial systems rather than watching them described, working through defence scenarios on running plant instead of on slides.
August 28, 2025 — Labshock took part in DEF CON 2025, running hands-on OT and ICS cybersecurity labs in the ICS Village.
Participants worked directly on real industrial systems inside the platform, interacting with the process and then testing defences against it. Nothing was presented as a slide deck — the format put people in front of running plant and let the questions come from what it did.
That choice reflects how the platform is meant to be used. An industrial control system is easy to describe accurately and hard to understand from a description; the gap closes when somebody sends a command and watches a physical state change in response.
The format on the floor was the ICS Skill Circuit: six micro-lessons paired with six capture-the-flag objectives, so a visitor with no OT background could work a short path end to end and a seasoned defender could skip to the flags. It ran alongside a give-and-take raising money for Girls Who Code.
Labshock thanks Mike Holcomb, Anusha Iyer, David Mazary and the Corsha team for their support in making the sessions happen.
Expanded labs and CTF challenges are planned for DEF CON 2026.
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