Country dossier
Worldwide badge coverage for United Arab Emirates, grouped into seeded badges, event editions, add-ons, operational issues, resources, and evidence sources.
Seeded artifacts
Special-edition electronic badge with Badge Village hacking path
A conservative record for the special-edition electronic badge given to HITBSecConf2018 Dubai attendees, documented by the official event archive as a hackable badge with Badge Village support.
AVR/OLED Packet Hack Village badge with CTF binary-input mode
A source-backed Packet Hack Badge record for HITB+CyberWeek 2021 Abu Dhabi, documented by a first-hand Hackster project page and a public firmware repository.
Events
Hack In The Box's 2018 return to Dubai and the Middle East after an eight-year hiatus, with a special-edition electronic badge for attendees and a Badge Village for reprogramming, unlocking features, mini-games, and functional expansion.
The November 21-25, 2021 HITB+CyberWeek hybrid event in Abu Dhabi whose public event pages document ADNEC context, hardware and software challenges, competitions, and Packet Hack Badge lineage.
Lifecycle
HITB described badge hacking as a path to unlock secret features, mini-games, and expanded functionality during the Dubai event.
The README documents `make HANDLE=...` personalization, and the Hackster writeup describes lanrat's quick script for flashing usernames plus serial communication hooks tied to Rx/Tx pins.
The Hackster writeup says holding S1 launches Insert Code mode, where right-side keys enter a Packet Hack CTF binary value and S2 clears input.
The badge sat in a broader hands-on event environment with soldering, hardware/chip-off, IoT, car-hacking, wireless, AI, open-source, and maker activities.
The public firmware initializes TWI and OLED display handling, personalizes a handle, and cycles Packet Hack and HITB imagery on the badge.
The project documents male headers, pinouts, jumper wires, ISP programmer use, Microchip Studio / AVR toolchain builds, avrdude flashing, and fuse recipes.
The event archive says Badge Village helped attendees get started reprogramming the special-edition badge and hacking it to do more.
Operational history
The record is treated as a Packet Hack Village / HITB+CyberWeek artifact rather than a universal admission credential.
The dossier records distribution and hacking context while avoiding unsupported component-level claims.
The record stays at source-backed hardware surfaces and avoids unsupported component-level claims.
The entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying event imagery or using generated placeholder art.
The entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying Hackster or GitHub-hosted media, screenshots, or generated placeholder art.
The catalogue can document firmware behavior while avoiding unsupported reuse claims for source or media.