BSides Canberra 2018 · Australia · 2018

BSides Canberra 2018 BUSSide Badge

NodeMCU-based electronic badge and hardware-interface tool

The BUSSide was the BSides Canberra 2018 electronic badge, issued to 2,000 delegates and documented through official BUSSide pages, CSides talk notes, GitHub Pages documentation, and a public source repository.

BSides Canberra Australia BUSSide NodeMCU ESP8266 I2C SPI UART JTAG Oceania

EventBSides Canberra 2018

SeriesBSides Canberra

LocationCanberra

CountryAustralia

People

Authors & Credits

BUSSide documentation and project publisher

InfoSect

Publisher identity for the BUSSide public site and linked documentation trail.

Source

BUSSide talk presenter and tool author credit

Dr Silvio Cesare

Named presenter for the Hardware Interfacing with the BUSSide talk record; the BUSSide controller banner credits Dr Silvio Cesare of InfoSect.

Source

event and badge publisher

BSides Canberra

The BUSSide page identifies the project as the BSides Canberra 2018 electronic badge.

Source

Why It Mattered

It corrects the Oceania record with a year-specific Australian badge that turned a conference credential into a practical hardware-analysis tool for UART, SPI, I2C, JTAG, EEPROM, and flash work.

Hardware

The BUSSide documentation lists a NodeMCU v2, four 4-pin female header strips, one 10-pin male header strip, a 10-wire rainbow cable, and USB cable. The public docs note that v1 and v2 share software but have different physical board layouts.

Software & Apps

The repository and docs describe Arduino IDE firmware for a NodeMCU 1.0 board at 160MHz plus a Linux Python controller. The command surface includes UART detection and passthrough, JTAG discovery, SPI flash read/dump/fuzzing, I2C discovery, I2C EEPROM dumping, and automatic UART console entry.

Lore

The CSides talk abstract says the BUSSide was given away at BSides Canberra and then actively developed as a low-cost hardware hacking tool, explicitly comparing it with JTagulator and Bus Pirate capabilities.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

firmware workflow source-backed

NodeMCU Arduino firmware path

The public docs use the Arduino IDE, NodeMCU 1.0 board support, 160MHz setting, and espsoftwareserial library before uploading the BUSSide firmware.

Compatibility: BSides Canberra 2018 BUSSide Badge

Source

hardware tool source-backed

BUSSide hardware interface mode

The BUSSide was developed to detect I2C, SPI, UART, and JTAG pinouts, dump I2C EEPROMs and SPI flash, and auto-detect UART settings for an interactive console.

Compatibility: BSides Canberra 2018 BUSSide Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

board-revision caveat note

The public BUSSide docs say the illustrated v1 board was replaced by a v2 model with the same software but a different physical layout.

The record avoids treating documentation images, pin locations, or layout details as universal across all BUSSide boards.

Confidence: primary docs
Status: documented caveat
Timeframe: current BUSSide archive pass
Source note: BUSSide GitHub Pages assembly documentation.

missing rights-cleared image note

No local BUSSide image is published because the recovered documentation images have not been paired with explicit reuse rights, attribution, and processing notes for catalogue publication.

The 2018 BUSSide record stays source-backed and image-free rather than copying documentation screenshots or board photos without complete provenance.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy, BUSSide home page, GitHub Pages documentation, and BUSSide repository.

Resources

BUSSide badge home badge page · Primary BUSSide page identifying the badge as the BSides Canberra 2018 electronic badge and summarizing UART, SPI, I2C, and JTAG interface use. BUSSide documentation badge docs · GitHub Pages documentation for assembly parts, NodeMCU setup, Arduino IDE firmware upload, Linux Python controller, and supported hardware-interface commands. BUSSide hardware interfacing talk talk record · CSides record describing BUSSide distribution to 2,000 delegates and its I2C, SPI, UART, JTAG, EEPROM, flash, and auto-UART behavior. BUSSide repository firmware source · Public repository linked from the BUSSide docs for firmware and controller source.

Sources

BSidesCbr GitHub Pages: The BUSSide Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary documentation source for NodeMCU v2 parts, v1/v2 layout caveat, Arduino IDE programming, Python controller, command surface, UART/JTAG/SPI/I2C behavior, and Linux controller requirement. CSides / BSides Canberra: Hardware Interfacing with the BUSSide Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Talk record source for BUSSide distribution to 2,000 delegates and hardware-interface functions. GitHub: BSidesCbr/BUSSide Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Public source repository linked from the official BUSSide documentation. InfoSect / BUSSide: The BUSSide Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary source identifying BUSSide as the BSides Canberra 2018 electronic badge and summarizing UART, SPI, I2C, and JTAG hardware-interface scope.