BSides Maine 2026 · United States · 2026

BSides Maine 2026 Electronic Lighthouse Badge

Interactive hackable lighthouse attendee badge with a pulsing beacon

BSides Maine's official Bluesky account called its 2026 badge electronic, described it as a puzzle, and revealed the main attendee badge as a hackable lighthouse with a pulsing beacon. The official agenda says attendees collected conference badges and materials at registration, and its closing description refers to whether anyone solved the badge. This completed-event record therefore documents a real electronic attendee badge and its stated puzzle role without supplying unannounced technical details.

BSides Maine United States Maine Portland Hannaford Hall Security BSides Electronic Badge Lighthouse Badge Pulsing Beacon Puzzle Badge VIP Variant North America

EventBSides Maine 2026

SeriesBSides Maine

LocationHannaford Hall, Portland, Maine

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

official event and badge publisher

BSides Maine

The official BSides Maine account published the electronic-badge, puzzle, VIP-variant, and main-attendee lighthouse reveal statements. This is not a technical design or image-reuse credit.

Source

organizer-recognized electronic-badge contributor

Ryan Boutot

Lead organizer Ben Strout's public post-event recap gives Ryan Boutot recognition for the electronic badges. The source does not define individual design, hardware, firmware, manufacturing, or project-management responsibility.

Source

Why It Mattered

It brings Maine's inaugural Security BSides event into the compendium with an organizer-published badge that was intentionally more than an admission credential: a lighthouse-themed electronic object presented for exploration, collaboration, and hacking. The source trail is strong enough to establish artifact, event, and interaction context, while its technical limits remain plainly visible.

Hardware

Official event posts call the badge electronic and identify the main attendee form as a hackable lighthouse with a pulsing beacon. They do not identify whether the beacon was an LED or another mechanism; nor do they publish a microcontroller, display, radio, battery, connector, PCB, antenna, sensor, dimensions, material, schematic, BOM, Gerber, enclosure, assembly method, production quantity, or other hardware specification. This record does not infer those properties from the lighthouse theme, electronic label, or a pre-event mention of soldering irons.

Software & Apps

The official account says the badge was built and full of puzzles, and another official post frames it as a puzzle for exploration, collaboration, experimentation, and hacking. The agenda later refers to whether anyone solved it. No firmware, binary, source repository, flashing workflow, protocol, application, puzzle mechanics, flag inventory, solution, scoreboard, licence, or security review has been published in the reviewed sources.

Lore

BSides Maine held its first event on May 30, 2026 at Hannaford Hall in Portland. Its organizer account announced an electronic badge designer clue in February, a VIP special-edition badge before the event, a main-attendee lighthouse reveal on May 29, and a completed-event agenda with registration pickup and badge-solving context. Lead organizer Ben Strout's public post-event recap recognizes Ryan Boutot for the electronic badges, but does not define an individual design, firmware, manufacturing, or project-management role.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

event logistics official agenda

Registration badge-pickup workflow

The official agenda tells attendees to check in and pick up their conference badge and materials during the registration window.

Compatibility: BSides Maine 2026 registration context; the source does not prove individual completed pickup, badge variant, replacement policy, or allocation count.

Source

event-issued electronic badge official pre-event reveal; completed event

Main attendee hackable lighthouse badge

The official BSides Maine account calls the main attendee badge a hackable lighthouse with a pulsing beacon.

Compatibility: BSides Maine 2026 main attendee badge only; the source does not disclose recipient count, physical construction, or electronic compatibility.

Source

official puzzle framing official pre-event announcement; completed-event agenda retained

Badge puzzle and collaborative-hacking prompt

Official BSides Maine posts frame the badge as a puzzle for exploration, collaboration, experimentation, and hacking; the agenda later asks whether anyone solved it.

Compatibility: BSides Maine 2026 badge context; no source identifies a puzzle mechanism, flags, software, scoring, reward, or solution.

Source

ticket-tier variant official pre-event announcement

VIP special-edition badge announcement

The official BSides Maine account advertised a special-edition badge and swag as VIP perks before the event.

Compatibility: VIP ticket context only; no reviewed post-event source establishes the variant's form, technical differences, recipient count, or completed handoff.

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

hardware and physical-form archive gap note

The sources call the badge electronic, hackable, lighthouse-shaped in theme, and equipped with a pulsing beacon, but do not identify whether that beacon is an LED or another mechanism; nor do they identify controller, PCB, power, radio, connector, display, material, dimensions, schematic, BOM, Gerber, manufacturer, or production quantity.

The catalogue records the named artifact and interaction wording without presenting a theme or generic electronic terminology as an architecture or hardware specification.

Confidence: official event posts
Status: electronic lighthouse and pulsing beacon documented; specifications unreleased
Timeframe: 2026 post-event source review
Source note: BSides Maine electronic badge clue and main attendee reveal posts.

missing rights-cleared image note

No BSides Maine 2026 Lighthouse Badge image is published because the official site, Bluesky posts, and organizer recap do not pair a selected factual badge image with a reusable licence or explicit permission basis, attribution, source URL, and processing record.

The completed Maine record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying social-media reveal media, event graphics, screenshots, or generated approximations.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs selected, attributable, cleared original
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and BSides Maine 2026 official / organizer sources.

recipient, variant, and credit scope gap note

The organizer announced a main attendee badge and a special VIP edition, while the agenda documents generic registration pickup. None of the reviewed sources supplies a delivery ledger, variant inventory, recipient count, special-edition handoff, individual builder roster, or role-specific design/manufacturing/firmware attribution. The lead organizer's post-event thanks to Ryan Boutot supports only an organizer-recognized electronic-badge contributor credit.

The catalogue keeps main-attendee, VIP, event-logistics, and contributor statements distinct instead of treating an advertised variant or a thank-you as universal allocation or sole authorship.

Confidence: official event posts and organizer recap
Status: main attendee and planned VIP variant named; detailed fulfillment and individual roles unpublished
Timeframe: 2026 post-event source review
Source note: BSides Maine badge reveal, VIP announcement, 2026 agenda, and Ben Strout organizer recap.

software and puzzle archive gap note

Official wording confirms puzzle and solve context but does not disclose firmware, application, source repository, flashing method, protocol, flag count, challenge sequence, answers, scoring, prizes, source licence, or security analysis.

The entry does not turn the verified puzzle framing into unsupported CTF, firmware, networking, or credential claims.

Confidence: official event posts and agenda
Status: puzzle role documented; implementation unreleased
Timeframe: 2026 post-event source review
Source note: BSides Maine badge puzzle post and 2026 agenda.

Resources

BSides Global May 2026 listing official Security BSides event listing · Security BSides community listing for the May 30, 2026 Hannaford Hall, Portland, Maine event date and venue context. BSides Maine 2026 agenda official event agenda · Official event agenda for registration badge/material pickup, conference context, and closing wording that asks whether anyone solved the badge. BSides Maine VIP special-edition badge announcement official event social post · Official pre-event post advertising a special-edition badge as a VIP benefit; it does not describe the variant or prove final handoff. BSides Maine badge puzzle prompt official event social post · Official BSides Maine post stating that the badge was also a puzzle intended for exploration, collaboration, experimentation, and hacking. BSides Maine electronic badge designer clue official event social post · Official BSides Maine post calling the upcoming artifact an electronic badge while withholding a named designer, component list, or technical specification. BSides Maine lead organizer post-event recap organizer post-event recap · Lead organizer Ben Strout's public post-event recap identifies BSides Maine as completed and gives Ryan Boutot recognition for the electronic badges, without defining an individual technical role. BSides Maine main attendee badge reveal official event social post · Primary official source naming the main attendee badge a hackable lighthouse with a pulsing beacon on the day before the completed event.

Sources

BSides Maine: BSides Maine 2026 agenda Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official event source for registration badge pickup and closing badge-solving context; it does not describe components or puzzle implementation. BSides Maine: BSides Maine electronic badge designer clue Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official account source calling the upcoming 2026 artifact an electronic badge. The post does not name the designer or disclose hardware. BSides Maine: BSides Maine badge puzzle prompt Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official account source framing the badge as a puzzle for exploration, collaboration, experimentation, and hacking. BSides Maine: BSides Maine VIP special-edition badge announcement Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official pre-event VIP-benefit source for a special-edition badge, without form, technical, or completion evidence. BSides Maine: BSides Maine main attendee badge reveal Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary official source calling the main attendee badge a hackable lighthouse with a pulsing beacon. Ben Strout / BSides Maine lead organizer: BSides Maine lead organizer post-event recap Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Organizer recap source confirming the first event completed and recognizing Ryan Boutot for the electronic badges; it does not define Boutot's specific technical role. Security BSides: BSides Maine May 2026 event listing Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official Security BSides community listing for the May 30, 2026 Hannaford Hall, Portland event context.