DEF CON 34 · United States · 2026

AND!XOR DC34 5N4CK3Y Badge

Independent BENDER contest badge whose official shop source went offline after DEF CON 34

AND!XOR's source-backed DC34 5N4CK3Y project is an independent DEF CON BadgeLife contest badge with limited philanthropy units and a stated free-badge distribution route through challenges, contests, events, and other convention activity. Its official product page, captured before the event, said BENDER hacking challenges and same-day activation instructions were scheduled for August 7, without disclosing the board or firmware implementation. At the September 25 recheck the entire AND!XOR shop, including the DC34 product page, returned 404, and the official GitHub account still listed no DC34 repository, so philanthropy shipping, giveaway completion, BENDER activation, and recipient outcomes remain unreviewed. It is an independent post-event record with an unreviewed outcome, not the official DEF CON 34 Human badge.

AND!XOR 5N4CK3Y DEF CON 34 United States Las Vegas BadgeLife Fulfilment Unconfirmed BENDER CTF Independent Badge North America

EventDEF CON 34

SeriesDEF CON

LocationLVCC West Hall, Las Vegas, Nevada

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

badge project, distribution, and activation publisher

AND!XOR

Official publisher of the DC34 5N4CK3Y philanthropy page and the linked official GitHub account.

Source

project sponsor

Doc

Named as `Doc` by the official DC34 product page among sponsors; the source does not identify a fuller organization or personal name.

Source

project sponsor

Urbane Security

Named by the official DC34 product page among sponsors thanked for making the giveaway model possible.

Source

project sponsor and challenge-hosting platform

CTFd

Named by the official DC34 product page among sponsors, and the same source says BENDER challenges will appear on a CTFd-hosted server.

Source

Why It Mattered

It brings a long-running independent DEF CON badge lineage forward to the current event without inflating a deliberately teaser-style announcement into a hardware specification. The evidence establishes a real planned badge, its BENDER game/activation context, a philanthropy-supported distribution model, and source/publication ownership while retaining strong boundaries around technical, delivery, allocation, and image claims. The post-event disappearance of the shop source is documented as an evidence boundary rather than read as a distribution outcome.

Hardware

AND!XOR's official DC34 product page called the item a real badge and a premium convention-hardware experience, and referred to firmware and possible GPIO in deliberately playful sales copy. It did not identify a microcontroller, radio, display, LEDs, battery, connectors, PCB shape, schematic, BOM, Gerbers, dimensions, production configuration, or electrical specifications. The record therefore models a documented physical badge project without inventing an electronic design from marketing language, and the page's later disappearance adds no hardware information.

Software & Apps

The official product page said BENDER hacking challenges would become available through its CTFd-hosted server on Friday, August 7, 2026 at 10:00 Vegas time because the badges are part of a DEF CON Contests & Events challenge, and that activation instructions would appear on AND!XOR's GitHub account on the day the contest started. The September 25 recheck of that account found still no DC34 repository, activation instructions, firmware, or challenge archive, so the record does not claim any activation, firmware, or software outcome.

Lore

The storefront listing, captured before the event, described a limited philanthropy sale intended to reserve one badge while helping the project manufacture and give away additional units. It said more than 84 percent of the badges were planned to go out free through hacking challenges, contests, events, and assorted convention activity, with philanthropist badges shipping by early August, no Las Vegas pickup, and no international shipping. At the September 25 recheck, after DEF CON's official wrap-up announcement, the shop root and the DC34 product page both returned 404 and the GitHub account exposed no DC34 activation or archive material, so those distribution intentions remain unverified rather than confirmed or refuted.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

badge challenge announced pre-event

BENDER contest activation

The 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.

Compatibility: AND!XOR DC34 5N4CK3Y Badge

Source

distribution model announced pre-event

Philanthropy-supported badge distribution

AND!XOR says its limited philanthropy sale reserves a badge for supporters while helping manufacture additional badges to give away; it says more than 84 percent are planned for free distribution through convention challenges, contests, and events.

Compatibility: AND!XOR DC34 5N4CK3Y Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

activation and delivery boundary note

The captured official page scheduled BENDER challenge availability and activation instructions for August 7, 2026 and said philanthropist badges would ship by early August. DEF CON's official news confirms the host conference wrapped on August 10, 2026, but the September 25 recheck found the entire AND!XOR shop returning 404 and the official GitHub account still without DC34 activation material, so completed activation, shipping, giveaway, and challenge outcomes are unreviewed rather than confirmed or refuted.

The catalogue records announced game and logistics context and a post-event source outage, not a completed physical run, completed server activation, delivered firmware, or observed attendee experience.

Confidence: official product page capture and post-event source recheck
Status: official shop source offline after the event; outcome unreviewed
Timeframe: rechecked 2026-09-25
Source note: AND!XOR DC34 official product page capture and September 25, 2026 shop and GitHub rechecks.

allocation and fulfillment boundary note

The source says philanthropy units are limited and more than 84 percent of badges are planned for free convention distribution, but it does not publish a total production count, exact giveaway count, recipient criteria, event-by-event allocation, final shipping completion, or complete physical variant list. It also says there is no Las Vegas pickup and no international shipping for philanthropy units.

The catalogue does not infer a universal attendee issue, final recipient count, or completed giveaway from the planned distribution model.

Confidence: official product page
Status: planned distribution only
Timeframe: pre-event source pass
Source note: AND!XOR DC34 official product page.

hardware and firmware archive gap note

Public DC34 material does not identify the board's components, radio, display, battery, connector, power, PCB, schematic, BOM, Gerbers, firmware, flashing procedure, protocol, source repository, or software license. The September 25 recheck found the official GitHub account still carrying no DC34 repository and the shop that promised day-of activation instructions no longer reachable.

The record does not turn marketing references to hardware, firmware, or GPIO into an unverified electronic-badge specification.

Confidence: official product page and GitHub inspection
Status: no DC34 archive published; shop source offline
Timeframe: rechecked 2026-09-25
Source note: AND!XOR DC34 official product page capture and official GitHub account rechecks.

independent badge classification note

AND!XOR describes a separate badge project participating in DEF CON Contests & Events and a philanthropy/giveaway route. It is not the official DEF CON 34 Human badge or a general admission credential.

The record can sit under the DEF CON 34 event without confusing the independent BadgeLife project with the official conference-access badge.

Confidence: official project page and DEF CON context
Status: documented pre-event
Timeframe: DEF CON 34
Source note: AND!XOR DC34 official product page and DEF CON 34 event context.

missing rights-cleared image note

No AND!XOR DC34 5N4CK3Y image is published because the official product page and GitHub account do not pair a specific badge image with source URL, reusable license or explicit permission basis, attribution, and processing notes. The product page's post-event disappearance removed the only official imagery source without changing its unstated reuse terms.

The United States record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying shop imagery, GitHub media, social posts, screenshots, placeholders, or generated approximations.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and reviewed AND!XOR DC34 sources.

Resources

AND!XOR DC34 Philanthropist Badge official badge project and distribution page · AND!XOR's official DC34 5N4CK3Y philanthropy-sale page, captured pre-event. It established the real badge, limited philanthropy units, BENDER challenge schedule, planned activation-instruction timing, planned shipping/no-pickup terms, and stated giveaway model. At the September 25, 2026 recheck the entire shop, including this page, returned 404. Product imagery was evidence only, never a reuse license. AND!XOR official GitHub account stated activation-instruction publisher · AND!XOR's official GitHub account, identified by the product page as the location where DC34 activation instructions will be posted when the contest starts. The September 25, 2026 recheck found the account still public but with no identified public DC34 repository or activation material.

Sources

AND!XOR: AND!XOR DC34 Philanthropist Badge Retrieved 2026-09-25 · Primary official source for the DC34 5N4CK3Y badge's limited philanthropy route, planned free-badge distribution through DEF CON activities, BENDER challenge timing, activation-instruction plan, sponsor acknowledgements, and shipping/no-pickup constraints, captured pre-event. The September 25 recheck found the shop root and this product page both returning 404, so the page survives only as the archived pre-event record and its disappearance is not read as a distribution outcome. It never provided technical design documentation or reusable image permission. GitHub / ANDnXOR: AND!XOR official GitHub account Retrieved 2026-09-25 · Official AND!XOR GitHub account, whose profile identifies it as the group's official account and whose existing public repositories corroborate its prior badge lineage. The September 25, 2026 recheck, after DEF CON's official wrap-up, still found no public DC34 repository, activation instructions, firmware, or hardware archive under this account.