BSides Ballarat
The February 28-March 1, 2026 regional Victorian BSides edition whose public event page documents the Underground interactive ESP32 conference badge, SAO support, and limited BSides SAO add-on.
Emerging Technologies Hub, Central Ballarat, Victoria · Australia · 2026
BSides Ballarat 2026's public event page documents an Underground interactive conference badge designed and produced by Firnsy at Ballarat Hackerspace, with ESP32 processing, a screen, controls, badge-to-badge communication, SAO support, and a limited BSides SAO add-on; a public maker writeup also documents a third-party WS2812B Simple Add-On for the badge.
Lifecycle
The event offered an exclusive BSides SAO add-on with ticket purchase, with proceeds supporting Ballarat Hackerspace.
The badge challenge centers on encrypted logs, hidden communications, coordinates, and a rogue underground bitcoin-mining operation stealing power from local businesses.
The BSides Ballarat page documents an interactive ESP32 badge with screen, controls, badge-to-badge communication, and SAO add-on support.
A maker writeup documents a simple BSides Ballarat 2026 SAO board with a six-pin pass-through connector and a WS2812B addressable RGB LED driven from pin 5.
Operational history
The entry remains image-free rather than copying conference-page imagery or publishing generated badge art.
The record captures the public badge and add-on evidence while avoiding unsupported chip pinout, firmware, radio, protocol, or shipped-behavior claims.