November Talks!
This November we have two talks from two speakers for your enjoyment! Join us for food and a chance to catch up with local devs.
November Talks:
Python used in DEFCON Pinball CTF
by Michael Hans
Encapsulate Bureaucracy in 12 minutes
by Dan Funk
Full talk descriptions below. We hope to see you there!
Encapsulate Bureaucracy in 12 minutes
Speaker: Dan Funk
Are you building applications that require a "human in the loop"? Is there a constant demand for your software to adapt rapidly to changing regulations and laws? We've built a tool that python shops can use to externalize business processes - so that your code is focused on solving technical problems, not political ones. More information about our project is available at spiffworkflow.org.
Speaker Bio: Dan is the CEO of SpiffWorks, a business process modeling and automation (BPMN) platform that allows organizations to gain real-time visibility, reduce risk, and safely accelerate the adoption of AI using established standards.
SpiffWorks was founded in 2025, and is built on top of the open source SpiffWorkflow library, which is maintained by Dan and his team. We are currently working with the GSA and EEOC in the DC area. We are also working internationally, with projects in Poland, Finland and Germany.
Previously Dan served as a software engineer and manager at RosettaStone and as lead software architect at the University of Virginia. He is also the co-founder of the non-profit Staunton Makerspace, now in its 10th year.
Python used in DEFCON Pinball CTF
Speaker: Michael Hans
We'll walk through an async Python API built with Quart that ingests nudge events from ESP32 sensors. You'll see how we designed an event-driven state machine that tracks multiple sequence candidates.
We'll discuss the challenges of working with physical sensors, including implementing acceleration-based debouncing to filter vibration echoes while preserving aggressive "slap save" nudges, handling dropped events, and processing with sub-50ms latency requirements.
Finally, we'll explore using Python and SQLite to handle writes from multiple sensors, sequence state management, and real-time dashboard queries.
Speaker Bio: Michael Hans is a technical leader with experience across companies ranging from startups to global consulting firms. When he's not building secure products and leading engineering teams, you can find him volunteering at security BSides conferences, competing on pinball, or working on bikes with his kids.