X-CTF 2016 Badge
NUS Greyhats' X-CTF 2016 finals used a custom ESP8266 electronic badge documented by the official event page, the badge designer's hardware and firmware writeups, and public hardware and firmware repositories.
Country dossier
Worldwide badge coverage for Singapore, grouped into seeded badges, event editions, add-ons, operational issues, resources, and evidence sources.
Seeded artifacts
NUS Greyhats' X-CTF 2016 finals used a custom ESP8266 electronic badge documented by the official event page, the badge designer's hardware and firmware writeups, and public hardware and firmware repositories.
SINCON 2023's first badge was a Khong Guan Building-inspired interactive CTF badge with a custom single-sided PCB, ABOV A96S174 MCU, CH340G USB-serial bridge, micro-USB, CR2032 holder, 12 MHz crystal, SMD passives, and 1206 LEDs.
Off-By-One Conference 2024 used an Octopus-themed hardware badge with ESP32-S3 and ATmega328P controllers, dual 128x128 GC9A01 round LCDs, IR, WS2812 LEDs, buttons, a user-flashable MicroPython challenge surface, and six published challenge flags.
NUS Greyhats' public GreyBadge archive identifies the 2025 GreyCTF badge as GreyMecha/Army, with RP2350-side CircuitPython firmware, KiCad hardware files, an ECP5U_25 FPGA schematic, GC9A01 SPI display, Li-ion power-path circuitry, summit UF2/filesystem releases, and named challenge apps.
A community HFSDR badge preorder for DEF CON Singapore 2026, documented through Hackin7's r/Defcon preorder post and the linked public rhgndf/hfsdr hardware, firmware, host-software, and WebUSB archive.
HTX's official DEF CON Singapore coverage documents Public Safety Village badges, including a badge image described as featuring illuminated icons of emergency vehicles, alongside the first DEF CON Public Safety Village.
A source-backed TISC@DEF CON SG finals challenge artifact: CSIT's official C517 page documents the on-site TISC finals, and a finalist writeup says each of the top-50 finalists received an ESP32 hardware trinket running a customized BLE mesh chat protocol to reverse engineer.
NUS Hackers' Hack&Roll 2026 introduced the event's first custom PCB badge, documented by the organizer recap, a Friday Hacks making-of talk, and a public MIT-licensed ESP-IDF firmware and component archive.
Events
The June 18, 2016 NUS Greyhats student cybersecurity finals in Singapore whose participants received a custom ESP8266 electronic badge with LCD, buttons, LiPo power, and public challenge firmware.
The Singapore SINCON Reloaded 2023 edition held 5-6 January 2023 at Voco Orchard Singapore, where the first SINCON badge became a Khong Guan Building-shaped interactive CTF badge.
The June 26-27, 2024 first Off-By-One Singapore offensive-security conference whose source-backed Octopus hardware badge carried dual screens, ESP32-S3 and ATmega328P controllers, MicroPython challenge apps, and a six-flag badge challenge.
The July 5, 2025 NUS Greyhats cybersecurity summit in Singapore whose public GreyBadge archive documents the GreyMecha/Army badge, setup workflow, KiCad hardware, CircuitPython filesystem, FPGA files, and summit firmware releases.
The April 28-30, 2026 official DEF CON Singapore conference at Marina Bay Sands, represented here by a source-backed unofficial/community HFSDR badge, HTX Public Safety Village badge artifact, and CSIT TISC finalist ESP32 challenge trinket without treating any of them as a universal admission badge.
The January 17-18, 2026 NUS Hackers student hackathon in Singapore whose organizers introduced their first custom PCB badge, later documented through a public ESP-IDF firmware and I/O component archive.
Lifecycle
The hardware tree includes an ECP5U_25 CABGA256 schematic and the firmware tree includes ECP5 projects, tests, and a UART coprocessor example with open FPGA tooling notes.
The repository setup flow flashes a CircuitPython UF2, then copies the RP2350 filesystem to CIRCUITPYTHON for the badge runtime.
The documented hardware includes IR transmitter/receiver and an SAO connector alongside the main badge controls and lights.
The Espressif component package exposes badge-specific control of Hack&Roll 2026 LEDs and buttons through the built-in GPIO expander.
The badge CTF uses serial interaction, OSINT, crypto, and stegano story challenges, six floor unlocks, elevator navigation, remembered flags, and a final trophy/leaderboard prompt.
The writeup documents USB file access, Python files, and six challenge flags across web, BLE, roulette, file, and inter-controller puzzle surfaces.
The firmware repository preserves applet, challenge, Wi-Fi scanner, LCD, and game source modules for the event badge firmware.
The filesystem README names the Grey finals challenges as Hornet Revenge, Leaky Pin, Bricked Up, Shooting Flags, Secure Memory, and CatCore.
The badge carried two 128x128 GC9A01 circular LCDs, buttons, WS2812 LEDs, USB-C, and a visible Octopus board shape.
The finalist writeup says each TISC@DEF CON SG finals participant was handed an ESP32 hardware trinket for one of the on-site challenges.
Hackin7's preorder post offered the HFSDR badge for collection at DEFCON SG, with battery and no-battery kit pricing and possible later handoff at Hackaday Europe or DEFCON US.
The badge used multiple buttons for menu and challenge interaction, with GPIO support preserved in the public firmware.
The main schematic includes a GC9A01 IPS SPI display, while the firmware README describes user-customizable 240x240 JPG/GIF badge images.
The firmware and hardware trail document a Nokia 5110-style PCD8544 LCD as the badge display surface.
CSIT documents TISC@DEF CON SG as an online qualifier followed by on-site finals, while the finalist writeup says the top 50 finalists qualified and had six hours for five challenges.
Friday Hacks #287 framed the badge as an electronic-badge production story for over 1,000 units, spanning artwork, electronics/code, assembly, and programming.
The firmware README and main C source document a simple dice-lighting program driven by badge buttons and LEDs.
The badge is played by turning off battery power, connecting micro-USB, opening a terminal or Arduino IDE serial monitor at 9600 baud with Both NL & CR, and sending three stars to enter CTF mode.
The GitHub release trail now includes v1.0 during DEF CON Singapore and v1.1 afterward, with v1.1 documenting new graphics and a USB streaming reliability fix.
The preorder kit included solderable LEDs/resistors and SMA connector work, plus badge PCB, antenna, encoder, and screen.
The attendee writeup identifies an ESP32-S3 running Arduino and an ATmega328P running MicroPython, with the two controllers talking over I2C.
The host guide documents a Python probe and GNU Radio examples for streaming samples from the HFSDR USB device.
The releases page preserves Prototype 3 BOM/CPL/Gerber/schematic assets plus summit_v1 and summit_v2 firmware and filesystem release files.
The hardware writeup and repository document the badge around an ESP8266 module with USB serial programming and Wi-Fi features.
The public repository acknowledgements say Espressif Systems sponsored ESP32-C3-WROOM-02-N4 modules for the Hack&Roll 2026 hardware badge.
The hardware trail documents lithium-polymer battery power and MCP73831-based charging for portable badge use.
The repository README documents rotary-encoder controls for FM audio output and cycling LED modes when the device is used without a PC.
The HTX Public Safety Village page ties the village to AI and IoT public-safety challenges and says top HTX CTF finalists unlocked limited-edition DEF CON Singapore Public Safety Village swag.
HTX's launch report image metadata identifies a Public Safety Village badge featuring illuminated icons of emergency vehicles; no component or firmware details are public.
The repository describes pairing through the WebUSB UI, setting frequency and gain, pairing again, and then observing the waterfall.
The trinket ran a customized mesh chat protocol over BLE, with the challenge requiring reverse engineering to gain access to an administrative system broadcasting over the protocol.
The SINCON hardware village used the badge for a soldering activity with tiny SMD LEDs mounted upside down, pairing hardware work with the software CTF.
Operational history
The catalogue includes it as a source-backed C517 Village challenge artifact while avoiding an official admission-badge claim.
The catalogue uses the writeup to prove challenge behavior while avoiding full challenge-solution reproduction in the badge summary.
The event and badge are included, but distribution and admission-credential claims remain conservative.
The software section describes the recovered badge firmware without overclaiming complete event infrastructure publication.
The record is included as a hackable hacker-culture event artifact while keeping the event type explicit.
Hardware and software claims stay limited to the finalist writeup's challenge description.
Hardware claims stay limited to the organizer posts, repository README, code, component registry, and acknowledgements.
Hardware and software fields stay limited to the attendee writeup, licensed photos, and public event context.
Hardware claims are limited to preorder text, repository structure, README behavior, and host-guide protocol documentation.
The record documents the verified village badge artifact without inventing electronics, firmware, production, or distribution details.
Hardware files are cited as evidence, but repository images are not copied locally and reuse claims stay limited.
The Singapore record can show a real badge photo with source URL, license, attribution, preserved local source original, and optimized WebP delivery rather than generated or unclear imagery.
The Singapore record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying event photos or documentation screenshots without a complete image provenance record.
The Singapore record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying repository photos, sponsor artwork, or blog images without complete image rights.
The Singapore record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying repository artwork, social media, slides, screenshots, or generated badge art.
The Singapore record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying social-media previews, repository screenshots, repository artwork, or generated imagery.
The record remains image-free rather than copying the HTX article photo, using a documentation screenshot, or substituting generated badge art.
The Singapore C517 record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying an article photo, screenshot, or generated substitute.
The Singapore entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying project photos without a complete image provenance record.
The record is stronger for firmware artifacts but remains classified as community/unofficial unless an official DEF CON source identifies it as the official conference badge.
Repository files are cited as public evidence, but local reuse is limited: no repository images, artwork, hardware files, firmware, or slides are copied into the catalogue as licensed assets.
The catalogue cites repository facts as public evidence but does not reuse repository images, hardware files, or code assets as licensed local content.
The dossier records the observable hardware and serial CTF flow while avoiding unsupported repository or source-code claims.
The record is included as a Singapore hacker-culture competition badge while keeping the event type explicit.
Software claims stay limited to the recovered repository, filesystem README, and release assets.
The record is included as a source-backed community badgelife artifact connected to DEF CON Singapore, not as an official DEF CON badge claim.
The software section separates the recoverable ESP-IDF workshop code from any unrecovered event firmware or private production tooling.