Security Fest 2023 · Sweden · 2023

Security Fest 2023 Gothenburg Skyline Badge

UV-printed cyberpunk skyline CTF badge

A full-colour UV-printed Security Fest badge inspired by Gothenburg's skyline with a cyberpunk treatment, backside-mounted components, Micro-USB CTF interface, cryptography puzzles, and soldering-village LED personalization.

Security Fest Sweden Nuvoton CH340 Micro-USB CTF Cryptography UV Print Skyline LEDs Soldering Village

EventSecurity Fest 2023

SeriesSecurity Fest

LocationGothenburg

CountrySweden

People

Authors & Credits

badge author and project designer

Abhinav SP

Listed as the Hackster.io project author for the Gothenburg Skyline badge.

Source

Why It Mattered

The 2023 badge documents Security Fest's move from blinky local references toward a more complete CTF object: city identity, visual production experiments, hands-on LED soldering, serial interaction, persistent flags, and prize flow.

Hardware

The Hackster bill of materials documents an MS51FB9AE Nuvoton microcontroller, Micro-USB Type B connector, 11 SMD LEDs, CH340G USB-to-serial UART, CR2032 battery holder, and backside-mounted components for a clean full-colour front.

Software & Apps

The badge CTF is played over a serial monitor with Both NL and CR at 9600 baud; sending three stars enters CTF mode, solving eight cryptography challenges unlocks eight building lights, and RESET clears state after reconnecting.

Lore

The design moved through ideas from Vikings to ancient ships before settling on Gothenburg's skyline, combining historic buildings, modern city shapes, cyberpunk color, and the Security Fest robot into one visible badge face.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

challenge software historical

Cryptography serial CTF

The badge CTF uses a serial monitor at 9600 baud; sending three stars enters CTF mode and solving eight cryptography puzzles unlocks eight building lights.

Compatibility: Security Fest 2023 Gothenburg Skyline Badge

Source

hardware personalization historical

Soldering-village LED personalization

Security Fest hosted a soldering village so attendees could solder their own LEDs in chosen colours and personalize the badge.

Compatibility: Security Fest 2023 Gothenburg Skyline Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

hands-on assembly dependency note

The badge's full visual payoff depended on attendees soldering their own LED colors in the conference soldering village.

This is a useful lifecycle record: the badge was partly a shipped object and partly an on-site hardware workshop artifact.

Confidence: primary writeup
Status: historical
Timeframe: at-conference badge hacking
Source note: Hackster.io Gothenburg Skyline Badge writeup.

missing rights-cleared image note

No Security Fest 2023 Gothenburg Skyline 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 Sweden 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 Security Fest 2023 badge source trail.

Resources

Gothenburg Skyline Badge mirror article mirror · Readable mirror of the badge writeup, useful for text extraction and corroborating serial/CTF details. The Gothenburg Skyline Badge badge writeup · Hackster project writeup for the Security Fest 2023 UV-printed Gothenburg Skyline badge.

Sources

Hackster.io: The Gothenburg Skyline Badge | Security Fest Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary source for design story, hardware components, UV printing, soldering village, serial CTF behavior, and author credit. JPRalves mirror: The Gothenburg Skyline Badge | Security Fest Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Corroborating readable copy of the Hackster project text.