Participants demonstrated widespread flaws in wireless device drivers and pointed out holes in common NAC technology to crowded halls. Attendance at this year's conference was up 30 percent from last year, when researcher Michael Lynn stole the show for revealing a flaw (http://www.infoworld.com/4358) in Cisco's IOS operating system.

This year, one of Lynn's former colleagues at ISS provided one of the more notable presentations of the show, demonstrating a zero-day hole in wireless device drivers for an Apple laptop that could allow a hacker to seize control of the system.

Dave Maynor, a senior security researcher at SecureWorks (http://www.secureworks.com/), who worked at ISS until just one month ago, and Jon Elch (aka "Johnny Cache") played a video showing a MacBook being owned through an exploit of device drivers for an unnamed third-party wireless card. Although the researchers refused to name names -- pending a patch from the vendor -- IT should be aware that vulnerabilities can lurk in device drivers for wireless gear.

Wi-Fi exploits will be even more dangerous when wireless devices increase their range from a couple hundred feet to a mile or more in the coming years, Maynor told InfoWorld.

NAC technology from Cisco, Symantec, and other vendors also came under scrutiny.