May Contain Hackers 2022

Santeri Toikka

Team Manager & Hacker

MCH 2022 is a hacker event in a series of Dutch hacker conclaves organised by volunteers. It was preceded by Still Hacking Anyway in 2017. Camps are organised every four years, but like everything else, MCH was also delayed due to the pandemic. The camp was fully run by volunteers called angels. Angels were organised into 44 teams, who all had their own well-defined responsibilities, like waste management or providing campground power. During the event the angels completed 893 shifts working for 6 837.6 hours – keeping the dishes clean and info tents staffed. This was required as there were 3 219 attendees of which approximately one third decided to help in running the camp.

From Workshops to a Silent Disco

The official program took place in three huge circus tents and four smaller workshop tents. Each visitor could propose a topic, and the ones that were put on stage were picked by the attendees before the event by a voting system.

Some interesting topics:

· OpenRAN – 5G hacking just got a lot more interesting

· How does GPS/Galileo really work and how galmon.eu monitors all navigation satellites

· MacOS local security: escaping the sandbox and bypassing TCC.

Dutch camps are also about having fun together. The main party area had, in addition to bars and food trucks, a big music stage that featured performances all night. After midnight, the stage sounds were silenced, and silent disco took over the fields with three DJs playing different tunes.

Overview of the campgrounds. At the bottom of the picture is an area reserved for sleeping.

The Main Program Is the Alternative Program

The main attraction in these types of events is everything besides the official program. One of the more rewarding things to do is to explore the grounds and find new things.

Different interest groups had their own workshops and areas geared for the given purpose. The hardware hacking area had four buses that were modified to act as electronics laboratories on wheels.

The food hacking base was teaching how to ferment soybeans or how to make your own instant ramen. The theme of these areas was always something that the people involved enjoyed doing and would like to share with others.

The Finnish camp, called PRKL, wanted to bring in sauna and salmiakki. After a few hurdles, we managed to source a barrel sauna with an electrical hot stove in it. It has always been a big hit in the camp, and this year the village registration form had its own checkbox if the village had a sauna – a subtle hint for sauna fans.

Campgrounds were not short of light installations. Everybody had some.

An animated mechanical dragon was on display for a night.

Did You Get Excited?

The next Dutch camp will be held in 2025, but the next similar camp is Chaos Communication Camp in Germany already in 2023. If that’s too far in the future, there is an annual Chaos Communication Conference in Hamburg in the last week of Christmas.

CCC in Hamburg is held with a similar attitude as the camp, but in a conference centre with hotel accommodation.

If travelling abroad is too far from your comfort zone, hackers are gathering to Disobey on 17 and 18February 2023. Tickets will sell out fast!

If you want something right now, check out your local CitySec group or hacker space and join the action!