RVA5sec 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.

RVAsec HackRVA United States Richmond Electronic Badge USB CTF Custom Firmware Serial Speaker LED Sensors No Image North America

EventRVA5sec 2016

SeriesRVAsec

LocationRichmond, Virginia

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

badge team

HackRVA

RVAsec credited HackRVA for the 2016 badge line.

Source

badge-team interview credit

Morgan Stuart

The 2016 interview identifies Morgan Stuart in the badge-team context.

Source

event host

RVAsec

RVAsec provided the conference context for the 2016 badge.

Source

interviewer

Paul Bruggeman

The 2016 interview is attributed to Paul Bruggeman.

Source

Why 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 interview says the hardware was mostly reused from the prior two years with improvements based on attendee feedback, and that more than 350 boards had been quality checked before the conference. The team built the badges by hand and emphasized reusable hardware after the event.

Software & Apps

HackRVA describes mostly custom firmware, standard USB reflashing, a shifted focus toward CTF challenges, and experimentation with low-frequency serial transmissions through the speaker and badge LED sensors.

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.

Compatibility: RVA5sec 2016 Badge

Source

badge hacking workflow source-backed

Standard USB reflashing

HackRVA described standard USB as a way to make post-event reflashing easier.

Compatibility: RVA5sec 2016 Badge

Source

firmware experiment source-backed

Low-frequency serial transmission experiment

HackRVA discussed low-frequency serial transmissions from the speaker to nearby badge LED sensors.

Compatibility: RVA5sec 2016 Badge

Source

Operational 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.

missing rights-cleared image note

No RVA5sec 2016 Badge image is published because the current public source trail has not been paired with a reusable original badge or artifact photo or official upstream raster render with source URL, license or permission basis, attribution, and processing notes.

The United States record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying source-page media, documentation screenshots, event photos, social media, placeholders, or generated approximations.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and RVAsec 2016 badge source trail.

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.

Sources

RVAsec: RVAsec badge archive Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official archive context for the RVAsec badge lineage. RVAsec / HackRVA: Hack.RVA: 2016 Badges! Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official source for 2016 badge hardware reuse, USB reflashing, CTF challenge focus, quality-check count, and credits.