Lifecycle
Badge ecosystems keep moving after handout: apps, hexpansions, SAOs, antennas, cases, repair parts, firmware updates, and post-event hardware experiments.
The AVTOKYO badge used a Pina Colada cocktail-glass shape with transparent non-masked PCB areas to celebrate the conference's no drink, no hack motto.
SourceThe CODE BLUE badge used a scary face with transparent unmasked PCB areas and visible tracks like veins, matching the blue/black conference color treatment.
SourceThe official ROOTCON 15 Artwork/badges directory lists rc15_badges.png as the public badge artwork file.
SourceThe first-hand writeup says the badge indicated information such as build status, last commit, and GitHub stars.
SourceThe product documentation names a 3 MP SC3336 camera and MIPI CSI connection as part of the 2026 camera-badge surface.
SourceThe organizer retrospective says each attendee received a chip for event activities, challenges awarded experience points, and the chip software was reversible for hidden discoveries.
SourceThe official product page says BENDER hacking challenges will appear on the CTFd-hosted server at 10:00 Vegas time on Friday, August 7 because the badges are part of a DEF CON Contests & Events challenge, with activation instructions promised for the same day.
SourceThe official badge page documents a BLE padlock interaction as one of two badge challenges.
SourceThe 2016 interview says the badge focus shifted toward CTF challenges.
SourceThe official badge page says a badge competition runs throughout both conference days, that little is needed to join beyond a USB-C cable and a powerbank, and that a phone or laptop gives the full experience. Rules, scoring, and prizes will be released during the conference.
SourceThe official badge page frames the electronic badge as a custom-designed hardware CTF with hidden puzzles and special stages only badge holders can access.
SourceThe official guide documents a mystery encrypted message, D-pad decryption-method selection, classic-cipher basics, and advanced Base32, XOR, AES-128, and ChaCha20 challenges.
SourceThe 2019 badge challenges used blinked binary, silkscreen encoding, badge-role variants, SSRF, and a Docker-hosted challenge app.
SourceThe page documents limited-access and full-access challenges whose solved binary codes are entered through the badge buttons to blink different LED sets and unlock behavior.
SourceA one-byte EEPROM state byte at address 0 gates three hidden bonus LED animations, each unlocked by winning one of three single-player games (Stop The Light, Follow The Sequence, Find The Sequence), with matching two-player variants.
SourceThe first flag path used UART-visible boot/output behavior and per-badge material documented in the Darkglade EasyFlag writeup.
SourceEight hardcoded 4-byte UIDs map to village and event markers (HW Village, Talks1, Talks2, Solder Village, Blue Team, Vendor, CTF, Check-In); scanning a matching tag collects it and lighting all four LEDs blue requires all eight.
SourceThe current Hardware Village page says attendees can test their skills by uncovering secrets hidden in the event's electronic badge.
SourceThe post-event account says attendees were encouraged to explore, modify, and hack the badge, interact with embedded challenges, and discover hidden functionality without publishing challenge implementation details.
SourceThe official badge page says AvengerCon IX's badge carried a small four-challenge CTF contest.
SourceThe hard flag path involved firmware inspection, Lua crypto module behavior, AES routines, and badge-specific challenge material.
SourceThe official source describes a hidden hardware/firmware challenge using reverse-engineering skills, with prizes for successful solvers. It does not independently identify the exact Roulette board, its eight-stage maker CTF, or a shared challenge implementation.
SourceWith a 3.3 V USB-serial adapter at 9600 baud, grounding pin 12 starts a probe, contact, handshake accepted sequence and an ASCII-art prompt asking for the full name of the person you see; rick astley returns ACCESS GRANTED and a bit.ly GrrCON15b link to a short video.
SourceThe badge CTF uses serial interaction, OSINT, crypto, and stegano story challenges, six floor unlocks, elevator navigation, remembered flags, and a final trophy/leaderboard prompt.
SourceThe repository documents a challenge where the badge emits the encrypted text OIMXEXEXDXLXANYLOXMX and transmits the key MALUMABEBE through LED timing before validating SOLVE:YOAMOMEDELLIN.
SourceThe writeup documents USB file access, Python files, and six challenge flags across web, BLE, roulette, file, and inter-controller puzzle surfaces.
SourceThe PN7150 NFC daughterboard supports tag and reader detection, Mifare Classic read and write, and a flag-hunt where tapping a tag unlocks a flag and broadcasts it to every nearby badge.
SourceThe released documentation identifies a Konami-code challenge, a snake-style game, registration QR behavior, and serial-only challenges. The event CTF's final operation and individual results remain unrecovered.
SourceThe official badge page documents a one-time-password flow as the second badge challenge.
SourceThe challenge path unlocked rainbow LEDs, login/password interaction, named LED patterns, and custom pattern definition.
SourceThe README says a very partial RubberDucky 2.0 script interpreter is commented out in the code and tied to a single-prize badge competition.
SourceThe badge doubled as a scavenger hunt where attendees collected codes to light the LEDs.
SourceThe Wombat-2 CTF presented seven official puzzles; each successful binary flag lit the matching progress LED on the badge.
SourceNoroff reports that the duck-shaped electronic badge used seven LED lights, each representing a unique challenge, and quotes SolaSec saying there were seven different ways to hack it.
SourceThe firmware encodes two static flags (a plaintext constant and a Ghidra-disassembleable byte-assembled string) plus a hash-based unlock that celebrates a specific UID-derived LED combination.
SourceThe 2024 badge used micro-USB CTF interaction, correct flags, persistent progress, and LED animations to show unlocked challenge state.
SourceThe badge challenge centers on encrypted logs, hidden communications, coordinates, and a rogue underground bitcoin-mining operation stealing power from local businesses.
SourceThe badge emulates magnetic stripe cards over USB serial and includes a solo Simon Says memory game triggered by holding button 4.
SourceThe guide says Badgey Bodgerton uses a supplied bodge wire plus a user-installed 3 mm LED, 1 kΩ resistor, and polarized buzzer in challenge work. It describes the parts and their badge-local challenge context without revealing answers or proving every badge shipped with identical parts, that a participant completed the work, or that any assembly is safe or successful.
SourceThe public challenge archive documents main-badge CAN enumeration, a physical-inspection flag under the battery pack, random traffic, and a UART Python REPL path.
SourceThe ShenLabs footer states that the fictional site was created for the BSides Roanoke 2026 badge challenge, using clearance and decryption framing; it does not establish that the web experience ran on, or was physically encoded into, the attendee badge.
SourceThe official CyberThreat page says CyberThreat 2024 used brand-new hackable badges from Secure Impact with nine challenges.
SourceThe firmware repository preserves applet, challenge, Wi-Fi scanner, LCD, and game source modules for the event badge firmware.
SourceThe filesystem README names the Grey finals challenges as Hornet Revenge, Leaky Pin, Bricked Up, Shooting Flags, Secure Memory, and CatCore.
SourceHITB invited attendees to learn how to hack the badge, expand its functionality, get started reprogramming, and unlock secret features, challenges, and more.
SourceHackRVA's recap documents games and puzzles as part of the 2018 hardware badge experience.
SourceThe Badge Village promised secret feature unlocks, mini-games, hidden challenges, and help getting started with reprogramming the badge.
SourceThe Badge Village promised secret feature unlocks, mini-games, hidden challenges, and help getting started with reprogramming the HITB2018PEK badge.
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