HackRVA
RVAsec credited HackRVA for the 2016 badge line.
SourceRVA5sec 2016 · United States · 2016
RVA5sec 2016 Badge
Hand-built badge with USB reflashing and CTF challenge hooks
The RVA5sec 2016 badge is documented by HackRVA's official interview as a hand-built custom-firmware electronic badge with reused/improved hardware, standard USB reflashing, low-frequency serial-transmission experimentation, and CTF challenge hooks.
EventRVA5sec 2016
SeriesRVAsec
LocationRichmond, Virginia
CountryUnited States
People
Authors & Credits
Morgan Stuart
The 2016 interview identifies Morgan Stuart in the badge-team context.
SourceRVAsec
RVAsec provided the conference context for the 2016 badge.
SourcePaul Bruggeman
The 2016 interview is attributed to Paul Bruggeman.
SourceWhy It Mattered
It records the fifth-year RVAsec/HackRVA badge line as an iterative community hardware project, with explicit production numbers, team credits, firmware goals, and challenge behavior rather than just a photo of a conference object.
Hardware
The hardware was mostly reused from the prior two years with improvements based on attendee feedback, and more than 350 boards had been quality checked before the conference, per the interview. The team built the badges by hand and emphasized reusable hardware after the event.
Software & Apps
Mostly custom firmware supported standard USB reflashing, a shifted focus toward CTF challenges, and experimentation with low-frequency serial transmissions through the speaker and badge LED sensors, per HackRVA.
Lore
The badge-team interview explicitly names the project as a learning process for the local hackerspace, with more volunteers joining, production getting easier, and attendees encouraged to modify and reuse the badge after RVAsec.
Lifecycle
Add-ons & Upgrades
badge challenge
source-backed
Badge CTF challenge hooks
The 2016 interview says the badge focus shifted toward CTF challenges.
Source
badge hacking workflow
source-backed
Standard USB reflashing
HackRVA described standard USB as a way to make post-event reflashing easier.
Source
firmware experiment
source-backed
Low-frequency serial transmission experiment
HackRVA discussed low-frequency serial transmissions from the speaker to nearby badge LED sensors.
SourceOperational history
Issues & Camp Impact
missing rights-cleared image
note
The official interview includes badge imagery, but this pass did not recover a reusable image license or explicit permission, attribution, source URL, and processing notes.
The record remains image-free rather than copying article media.
- Confidence
- local project policy
- Status
- needs licensed original replacement
- Timeframe
- current catalogue build
- Source note
- HackRVA/RVAsec source audit.
source-depth caveat
note
The public source documents behavior and production context through an interview rather than a full hardware repository or final attendee manual.
The record avoids claiming a recovered schematic, BOM, final firmware tree, or complete CTF source.
- Confidence
- official interview
- Status
- documented
- Timeframe
- RVAsec 2016
- Source note
- Hack.RVA: 2016 Badges interview.
Resources
HackRVA 2016 badge interview
official badge-team interview · Official HackRVA interview documenting the 2016 badge, team process, production quantity, USB reflashing, CTF focus, and serial-transmission experimentation.
RVAsec badge archive
official badge archive · Official RVAsec badge archive tying the 2016 interview into the public RVAsec badge lineage.