BSides Perth 2018 · Australia · 2018

BSides Perth 2018 NodeMCU Badge

Handmade NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi badge with badge-hack contest context

Contemporary Australian Cyber Security Magazine coverage documents BSides Perth 2018 attendees receiving a cool, unique handmade conference badge using a NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi SoC, with a badge-hack prize promoted before the event.

BSides Perth Australia Perth NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi Badge Hack Oceania

EventBSides Perth 2018

SeriesBSides Perth

LocationUWA Business School, Crawley, Perth

CountryAustralia

People

Authors & Credits

event and badge-hack publisher

The BSides Perth Team

The pre-event coverage is signed by The BSides Perth Team and documents the redesigned badges and badge-hack prize.

Source

event-report publisher

Australian Cyber Security Magazine

Publisher of the contemporary 2018 report documenting the handmade NodeMCU ESP8266 badge.

Source

Why It Mattered

It keeps the Australian BSides map honest by adding a Perth line supported by public reporting, while preserving the distinction between sourced high-level hardware facts and unrecovered schematics or firmware.

Hardware

The recovered public reporting identifies a handmade conference badge based on a NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi SoC and describes it as redesigned from the ground up compared with 2017. This pass does not claim exact PCB layout, display, battery, sensors, or enclosure details.

Software & Apps

No 2018 firmware repository has been recovered in this pass. Coverage documents a badge-hack prize and later sponsor material says past BSides Perth electronic badges displayed sponsor messages, event schedules, and CTF challenges, but the record avoids assigning those behaviors to the 2018 badge without a direct technical archive.

Lore

The 2018 event ran September 15-16 at UWA Business School and was framed as doubling the local BSides community from the inaugural year, with badge hacking presented as part of the participant experience.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

badge hacking contest source-backed

Best badge hack prize

Pre-event coverage told attendees there would be a prize for the best badge hack, framing the badge as a hackable participant artifact.

Compatibility: BSides Perth 2018 NodeMCU Badge

Source

hardware architecture source-backed

NodeMCU ESP8266 handmade badge

Australian Cyber Security Magazine reported that 2018 delegates received a handmade conference badge using a NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi SoC.

Compatibility: BSides Perth 2018 NodeMCU Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

lineage-behavior caveat note

Later sponsor-pack material says past BSides Perth electronic badges displayed sponsor messages, schedules, and CTF challenges, but the recovered source does not identify which exact year carried each feature.

The 2018 entry cites this only as broader Perth lineage context and does not treat it as direct 2018 behavior proof.

Confidence: retrospective source only
Status: documented as lineage context
Timeframe: 2017-2021 BSides Perth badge line
Source note: BSides Perth 2021 sponsor-pack transcript.

missing rights-cleared image note

No local BSides Perth 2018 badge image is published because public photos and event media have not been cleared with exact reuse rights, attribution, and processing notes.

The 2018 Perth entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying conference or magazine imagery.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and Australian Cyber Security Magazine event coverage.

primary technical archive gap note

The recovered source trail documents a NodeMCU ESP8266 handmade badge and badge-hack contest, but this pass did not recover an official 2018 schematic, PCB, BOM, firmware repository, or direct organizer badge writeup.

The record keeps component claims to the published NodeMCU ESP8266 detail and avoids assigning unverified display, battery, schedule, or CTF features.

Confidence: credible secondary source but incomplete primary archive
Status: needs official schematic or firmware recovery
Timeframe: current BSides Perth 2018 pass
Source note: Australian Cyber Security Magazine 2018 report and BSides Perth 2021 sponsor-pack retrospective.

Resources

BSides Perth 2018 event page event page · Official 2018 event page for the Western Australian BSides edition. BSides Perth 2018 podcast-series report event report · Australian Cyber Security Magazine report documenting more than 300 delegates and a handmade conference badge using a NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi SoC. BSides Perth 2018 pre-event badge coverage event report · Australian Cyber Security Magazine source for the September 15-16, 2018 UWA Business School event, redesigned badges, and badge-hack prize. BSides Perth 2021 sponsor-pack retrospective lineage reference · Sponsor-pack transcript corroborating the BSides Perth pattern of hackable smart badges and past electronic badges with schedule, sponsor-message, and CTF-challenge behavior, kept as lineage context rather than direct 2018 component proof.

Sources

Australian Cyber Security Magazine: BSides Perth 2018 Draws Close Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Contemporary pre-event source for September 15-16, 2018 dates, UWA Business School venue, redesigned badges, and badge-hack prize context. Australian Cyber Security Magazine: @BSidesPer 2018 Podcast series #BSidesPerth Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Contemporary event report source for more than 300 delegates and the handmade NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi SoC conference badge. BSides Perth / ReadKong transcript: BSides Perth 2021 Sponsor Pack Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Retrospective source for the broader BSides Perth hackable smart badge lineage; used only as context for past electronic badge behavior, not as standalone proof of 2018 component details.