DEF CON
The 2020 remote Safe Mode edition whose official support badge was a LosT / 1o57 cassette-tape puzzle artifact spanning the tape, lanyard, printed liner notes, audio contents, and forum/media-server collaboration.
Virtual / online · United States · 2020
A LosT / 1o57-designed DEF CON 28 Safe Mode support badge built as an audio cassette in a jewel case, with puzzle material spread across the A/B tape audio, lanyard characters, printed liner notes, media-server contents, and DEF CON forum solving space.
The AND!XOR DC28 Badge was an unofficial DEF CON 28 Safe Mode badgelife board shipped through pandemic-era proxy drops, with an STM32F412RET6 MCU, 0.96 inch OLED, ST7735 128x160 TFT, APA-102C LEDs, BlackBerry Q10 keyboard, USB-C, Keystone 1020 battery holder, MyBASIC hardware scripting, and an embedded BENDERPISS CTF text adventure.
Lifecycle
The Safe Mode badge was a real cassette tape in a jewel case, with side A/B markings, label art, and audio content that formed part of the challenge.
The RTFM documents SYM/ALT key chords for movement, quit/back, delete, special characters, and Bling Rager mode on the BlackBerry keyboard interface.
The badge hosted a BENDER CTF variant playable directly on the badge while mirroring interaction over an RS232 serial connection.
The RTFM BOM documents an STM32F412RET6 badge with a 0.96 inch OLED, ST7735 128x160 TFT, APA-102C LEDs, USB-C, BlackBerry Q10 keyboard, and coin-cell holder.
Folded liner notes and the cassette audio carried track-list, color, character, tone, and number-station-style clues for remote badge solving.
The lanyard carried unusual character strings and is identified by official forum and writeup sources as one of the challenge surfaces included with the badge.
The public repository preserves firmware, Gerbers, SPI tooling, troubleshooting notes, a flash-image archive, and Apache-2.0 license metadata after the CTF window.
Operational history
The record captures the verified hardware/software surfaces without claiming complete CTF reconstruction or complete production logistics.
The catalogue records the verified analog badge surfaces and leaves complete audio forensics for a later artifact-level pass.
The catalogue treats the board as an unofficial DEF CON-adjacent badgelife artifact and avoids implying it was the official DEF CON 28 admission badge or a universally issued attendee item.
The record remains image-free rather than copying Hackaday.io media, social posts, repository-adjacent screenshots, article images, or generated artwork.
The entry remains image-free rather than copying Hackaday or personal writeup photography without provenance.
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.