Evan "Shortrange" Cook

Evan "Shortrange" Cook is a physical security researcher who is passionate about hacking the planet! A first-place winner of the DEFCON 2025 Embedded Systems Village CTF and SAINTCON 2024 RFID CTF, Evan knows how to train and speak success in RFID hacking. He is a battle-tested educator who has workshopped over 300+ students — ranging from newbies to industry professionals to tier-one special forces operators — in the art of successful access control exploitation. Committed to lowering the barrier of entry for beginners, he created the world's FIRST open-source access control simulation lab built entirely with off-the-shelf parts, proving that high-end security research doesn't require a high-end budget. Evan is passionate about "bringing RFID to the people" through talks, workshops, trainings, and open-source projects. Where digital and physical worlds collide... you'll find Shortrange ready to "Hack the Planet!" with you.