Hacker Con Badges

DEF CON 10 · United States · 2002

DEF CON 10 Human Badge

Pre-electronic physical badge with corner-hole lore

A DEF CON 10 physical badge artifact documented by InfoconDB event metadata, the official program's note about the badge form factor, and official DEF CON media-server badge images.

DEF CON United States Human Badge Identity Artifact Pre-electronic Badge Las Vegas North America
EventDEF CON 10
SeriesDEF CON
LocationAlexis Park Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada
CountryUnited States

People

Attribution Gap

No public individual author, designer, firmware, or team credits have been seeded for this badge yet. Add named credits only when a primary badge-team page, repository, talk, or other source identifies the people or team behind the work.

Why It Mattered

It extends the DEF CON lineage into the tenth-anniversary pre-electronic years while preserving the artifact as documented: a physical conference badge with playful material lore, not a firmware platform.

Hardware

The official program jokes about attendees being careful with their ninja throwing badges and says holes were put in the corners. The official media-server badge image shows a simple DEF CON 0A/10 design surface. No electronics, power source, microcontroller, firmware, display, RF, or badge-hacking contest hardware is claimed.

Software & Apps

No software or firmware is claimed. This record treats the DEF CON 10 badge as a physical admission/identity artifact from the pre-electronic DEF CON era.

Lore

The 2002 program frames DEF CON 10 as the tenth year of the conference and calls out the physical badge's corner holes in a joking badge-safety paragraph. That source-backed physical lore is preserved without importing the rights-limited archive photo as a local image.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

missing rights-cleared image note

No local DEF CON 10 badge photo has been added because the official media-server badge images do not provide a complete reusable license, attribution, and processing-provenance trail for this catalogue.

The record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying DEF CON archive photography without complete rights clearance.

Confidence
local project policy
Status
needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe
current catalogue build
Source note
badge.gallery image policy and DEF CON media-server copyright context.
non-electronic scope note

DEF CON 10 is modeled as a non-electronic physical badge because the public source trail proves a badge artifact but does not support electronics, firmware, or hackable hardware claims.

The compendium preserves the early physical credential without upgrading it into a circuit-board badge.

Confidence
source-backed classification
Status
documented
Timeframe
2002-2006 DEF CON badge transition
Source note
DEF CON 10 official program, DEF CON 10 media-server badge images, and later DEF CON badgelife histories placing the first active electronic DEF CON badge at DEF CON 14.

Resources

Badgelife history article · VICE/Motherboard history placing the first DEF CON electronic badge at DEF CON 14 in 2006, supporting DEF CON 10's conservative non-electronic classification. DEF CON 10 badge photo evidence rights-limited archive photo · Official archive JPEG used only as artifact evidence; it is not republished because the media-server copyright and attribution trail do not satisfy the site's image policy. DEF CON 10 event metadata event page · InfoconDB source for the August 2-4, 2002 DEF CON 10 dates and Alexis Park Resort, Las Vegas venue context. DEF CON 10 media image archive official media archive · Official media-server directory whose file listing includes DEF CON 10 badge images. DEF CON 10 program official program · Official program PDF source for the tenth-year event context and badge form-factor note about ninja throwing badges and corner holes.

Sources

DEF CON Communications: DEF CON 10 Program Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official program source for tenth-year context and badge form-factor language about ninja throwing badges and corner holes. DEF CON Media Server: DEF CON 10 images Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official media-server listing preserving files named as DEF CON 10 badge images. DEF CON Media Server: DEF CON 10 dc-0A-badge.jpg Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official archive image evidence for the visible physical DEF CON 10 badge artifact; used for description only, not as a local published image. InfoconDB: DEF CON 10 (2002) Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Event-context source for DEF CON 10 dates, schedule archive, and Alexis Park Resort venue metadata. VICE / Motherboard: A History of Badgelife, Def Con's Unlikely Obsession with Artistic Circuit Boards Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Secondary context source stating that DEF CON 14 in 2006 was the first electronic DEF CON badge, supporting the non-electronic classification of DEF CON 10.