The DEF CON Badge

Do You Want Your Own DEF CON 20 Badge to Play With?

Get 'em while they're hot at HackerStickers.com!

This page is dedicated to the awesomeness that is the DEF CON Badge! If you have other great hacks or interesting uses for the DEF CON badge, send them over to Neil {at} defcon ]dot[ org

From LosTboY in the DEF CON 20 Program:

My goal last year with the badges was to foster communication amongst attendees. There was phenomenal participation in the 'mysteries' tied to the badges and the conference, and I hope that everyone had fun. Helping build the hacker global community is a great side benefit that I always hope I can be a part of.

This year I decided to try and combine the awesomeness of the legacy of electronic badges Joe had set, with the well-received badge challenge from last year, but with a twist - rather than handing you a purposefully designed circuit for hacking, I've tried to give you a development platform. A platform that hopefully you'll take home and use.

I went with the Propeller ucontroller for a number of reasons. It's no secret that I used to work for Parallax, and as such have experience with their chips. All of the software for programming the Propeller is free, and there's quite a variety; C, ASM, SPIN- and if you're feeling nostalgic a Z80 emulator and a C64 emulator in the works as well. The chip itself has 8 32-bit processors, so the pains involving interrupts and timeslicing are non-issues.

Fabrication of the badge was all done in the US this year as well, to avoid all the import issues DEF CON has encountered in the past. The VGA and PS/2 connectors were left off of the build intentionally, so that the badge is lighter while you wear it at con- but everyone got them as encouragement- either to visit the Hardware Hacking Village and attach them here, or to solder on at home. Now you have an excuse to finally learn to solder if you haven't before. Drop by the HHV, they'll teach you. You can power the badge via the USB connection or batteries, either one.

The USB connector can be used with a serial terminal (some output may already be there on boot, hint hint), and I've broken out I/O pins (on the top) for your hacking pleasure.

The badge challenge this year is actually two challenges in one- the 'crypto-mystery' game, AND hardware hacking/ development/modification. Teams completing the game will require a 'modification' as part of their 'conclusion', and those wishing to submit a hardware mod need to do so with a team with the appropriate 'codeword' discovered in the game. Now you have to talk to each other ;)

Hints for the game will be forthcoming from my twitter account (#1o57), but here's your first one:
www.defcon.org/1057/??????????

Happy 20th DEF CON. Thanks DT.


LosT's Site with links to the firmware: http://lostboy.net/defcon-20-badge

Short Video on the manufacture of the DEF CON 20 badge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhf_YTGrl58

How to guides for getting started with the DEF CON 20 badge, by Parallax, the manufacturers: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/141494-Article-Parallax-Propeller-on-DEF-CON-20-Badge-Start-Here!

"How did you hack your DEF CON Badge" thread on the Parallax forum: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/141567-How-did-you-hack-your-DEF-CON-20-Badge

1o57 Wiki, a wiki dedicated to the DEF CON 20 Badge and Contest by xtat: http://1o57.wikispaces.com/DC20+Badge+Contest

POV Hack by yakhack: http://yakhack.wordpress.com/category/hacking/defcon-20/

TV Remote/Lockout hacks and write-up on The Dust Bath Blog: http://thedustbath.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-defcon-20-badge.html