VanishID Returns to DEF CON 34 as Pinball Hackers Village Sponsor and Contest Builder
After its village contest earned a coveted Black Badge last year, VanishID brings its custom pinball challenge back to
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After its village contest earned a coveted Black Badge last year, VanishID brings its custom pinball challenge back to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES, August 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — VanishID, the agentic AI-powered external identity protection company, will be on the floor at DEF CON 34, August 6–9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall, as a sponsor of the Pinball Hackers village and the builder of its signature pinball contest.
This marks VanishID’s continued investment in one of the hacker community’s most hands-on villages. VanishID is a proud sponsor of the Pinball Hackers, the team that runs the village. VanishID engineers are part of the team, contributing to both the hardware and software behind the games.
Last year, DEF CON designated the contest VanishID helped build as a Black Badge contest, meaning its winners earned one of the community’s highest honors. A Black Badge grants the person who earns it free DEF CON admission for life, and DEF CON’s organizers decide mid-conference which contests carry that status. Earning the designation in only the team’s second year of participation was an honor. Out of the hundreds of contests that run across DEF CON, this one stood out for its design and the way it pulled players in.
The contest is a game within a game: a custom puzzle layer built on top of a standard Stern pinball machine. Players make shots to trigger events, follow a narrative, and solve their way through a challenge that lives on the machine for the length of the conference. The build is non-destructive and fully reversible, applied on-site and removed when the event ends.
VanishID is returning this year with a new challenge for the village. The team is keeping the details under wraps until players step up to the machine in Vegas.
“Getting the opportunity to learn new things while building something people enjoy is a privilege, and we’re thrilled that DEF CON has extended that privilege to us for another year. This community is second to none in creative spirit and we hope we can meet that standard with our contest this year,” said Michael Hans, VP of Engineering at VanishID.
Participants who progress far enough in the contest earn commemorative challenge coins, provided by the Pinball Hackers community.
Media attending DEF CON 34 are invited to stop by the Pinball Hackers village to see the machine and meet the VanishID team. Alex Mulfinger and Michael Hans are available on-site for interviews.
About VanishID
VanishID is the external identity security company. Its agentic AI platform puts autonomous agents to work finding and neutralizing the exposed personal information attackers use against executives, employees, and their families. The agents hunt exposure the way an adversary would, at machine speed, across data brokers, breach dumps, the dark web, and public records. They remove what they can and mitigate residual risk. Onboarding takes a name and a corporate email, with no lift for the security team. The platform never trains on personal data and is SOC 2 Type II certified. More than 100 organizations rely on VanishID, from Fortune 500 enterprises and financial institutions to health systems and public sector agencies. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, VanishID is backed by Dell Technologies Capital, Crosslink Capital, Rally Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Bright Pixel, LockStep Ventures, and strategic angels including former Palo Alto Networks CEO Mark McLaughlin and former Mandiant CPO Christopher Key.
Learn more at vanishid.com.
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