DEF CON 27 · United States · 2019

DEF CON 27 Badge

Crystal NFMI badge-game platform

A Grand Idea Studio DEF CON 27 badge built around NXP hardware with a KL27 ARM Cortex-M0+ controller, NFMI communication, quartz or crystal face details, role-specific badge identity, public firmware and schematics, and a conference-wide interaction game.

DEF CON United States NXP KL27 NFMI Crystal Badge Firmware Hacking North America

EventDEF CON 27

SeriesDEF CON

LocationLas Vegas, Nevada

CountryUnited States

Image Provenance

Asset: optimized WebP from official project-page photo
Status: licensed original photo
Source: dc27_bdg_img1.jpg
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Attribution: Grand Idea Studio / Joe Grand
Notes: Original 1400x853 official DEF CON 27 project-page JPEG downloaded from Grand Idea Studio and preserved in Public/images/source. The published WebP delivery asset is auto-oriented, metadata-stripped, and otherwise kept as the real upstream badge photo. The Grand Idea Studio DEFCON 27 Badge page states that all designs are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license; this is not generated content or a placeholder. The published badge.gallery delivery file is an optimized WebP generated from the rights-cleared local derivative/source with metadata stripped, WebP quality 82, and a maximum side cap of 1600 pixels when the source is larger; upstream source URL, license, and attribution remain unchanged.

People

Authors & Credits

DEF CON 27 badge story author

Sean Gallagher

Author of the Ars Technica badge-life story used for DEF CON 27 context.

Source

DEF CON 27 technical writeup author

Ross Younger

Author of the DEF CON 27 badge writeup used for firmware and chameleon-hack details.

Source

badge designer

Joe Grand / Kingpin

Grand Idea Studio and Ars Technica identify Joe Grand as the returning official DEF CON 27 badge designer.

Source

badge silicon and engineering support

NXP

NXP's technical guide documents badge devices, tools, and engineering support for DEF CON 27 badge hacking.

Source

Why It Mattered

It is a modern anchor for official DEF CON badgelife: a high-volume, visually distinctive badge with serious embedded security surfaces, published tooling, and post-event firmware-hacking culture.

Hardware

Grand Idea Studio and NXP sources document NXP KL27-class hardware, NFMI communication, badge role differences, programming/test fixtures, SWD/UART hacking paths, and hardware files. Independent writeups document KL27P64M48SF2, NXH2261UK, 1.8 V serial, and debugger-based workflows.

Software & Apps

Public materials document official firmware release, MCUXpresso/NXP SDK workflows, badge pairing/game state, badge-type spoofing or chameleon firmware experiments, and multiple community firmware forks.

Lore

The badge game required interaction with different badge types to complete DEFCON letter levels. Its crystal aesthetic and NFMI implementation made it one of the most technically discussed official DEF CON badges.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

event game historical

NFMI badge pairing game

The DEF CON 27 badge game used near-field magnetic induction badge interactions and role-specific badge types to advance through DEFCON letter levels.

Compatibility: DEF CON 27 Badge

Source

firmware hack historical

Chameleon firmware workflow

Community firmware work modified the official source to broadcast as multiple badge types and complete other badges through spoofed interactions.

Compatibility: DEF CON 27 Badge

Source

security research source-backed

NFMI remote-code-execution research

Grand Idea Studio links post-event research into over-the-air remote code execution against the badge's NFMI subsystem.

Compatibility: DEF CON 27 Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

battery short caveat note

Public firmware-hacking notes warned that badge resets could be caused by the battery touching metal and suggested insulating with the lanyard cloth.

The catalogue records practical handling behavior that matters for surviving badges and post-event hacking.

Confidence: technical writeup
Status: documented
Timeframe: DEF CON 27 badge hacking
Source note: DEFCON 27 badge firmware/writeup sources.

image provenance upgrade note

The DEF CON 27 visual uses Grand Idea Studio's official `dc27_bdg_img1.jpg` badge photo under the project page's Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International design-license statement.

The public badge page, image archive, and API now point at a real upstream badge photo with source URL, license, attribution, and processing notes preserved.

Confidence: official page license and exact raster source
Status: licensed original replacement applied
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: Grand Idea Studio DEFCON 27 Badge page, official image URL, and badge.gallery image policy.

Resources

Ars DEF CON 27 badge story article · Context article on Joe Grand's return, badge aesthetic, high-volume DEF CON context, and the official crystal-badge story. DEFCON 27 badge getting started guide · NXP guide documenting KL27/Kinetis hardware, programming setup, firmware source, schematics, tools, and hacking paths. DEFCON 27 badge project page project page · Grand Idea Studio source for DEF CON 27 badge project files, firmware, fixtures, community resources, and NFMI/security-research links. DEFCON 27 badge writeup writeup · Independent technical writeup for KL27P64M48SF2, NXH2261UK NFMI, SWD/UART, firmware building, and chameleon firmware approach.

Sources

Ars Technica: Badge life: The story behind DEFCON's hackable crystal electronic badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Context source for Joe Grand's return to official DEF CON badge design, crystal-badge framing, and conference-scale badge culture. Grand Idea Studio: DEFCON 27 Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary project source for official files, firmware, fixtures, linked hacking projects, NFMI security research, and badge-game framing. Grand Idea Studio: dc27_bdg_img1.jpg Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Image-provenance source for the official DEF CON 27 badge photo published on the Grand Idea Studio project page; the page states that all designs are distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. NXP Community: DEFCON 27 Badge - Getting Started Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary technical guide for NXP KL27 hardware, programming workflow, firmware source, schematics, tools, and component details. rhye.org: DEFCON 27: Badge Writeup Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Technical writeup source for KL27P64M48SF2, NXH2261UK NFMI, badge-type byte behavior, UART/SWD paths, firmware build changes, and chameleon firmware.