Cybersecurity Conference Badges
I'm in the process of decluttering my office and I started going through my box of conference badges. So, I thought writing about what I've collected over the years might help me decide what to keep, donate, or sell.
Sharing a picture or two (and a memory or three) with anyone who cares has to be better than keeping them in a box for another decade or two only for them to be thrown out.
The first conference badge that I actually kept was for defcon XX.
Let's start there.
Defcon
After going through these badges and only counting five for defcon, I would have sworn I've been to more! But to be honest, a lot of my memories from these events are blending together. After all it's been almost 7 years since I've attended one.
It's probably because of my remote participation in various defcon CTFs that it feels like I've been to more than I actually have. The one thing I can say for certain about attending defcon in person is that I was always glad I went.
It's probably because of my remote participation in various defcon CTFs that it feels like I've been to more than I actually have. The one thing I can say for certain about attending defcon in person is that I was always glad I went.
Defcon 20 (20120726 - 20120729)
$200 cash at the door (adjusted for inflation $282.89 in 202512 US dollars).This badge is powered by a parallax propeller chip and could send/receive signals to other DC20 badges. There were many badge types which encouraged socializing in order to learn more about the badge before any write-ups were available. I believe the badge counted how many of each badge type you encountered unless you encountered an uber badge. Then your badge would go into a locked-out mode for some period of time before it would start tracking badges again.
Because this was my first defcon - I spent a lot of time playing around with this badge when not attending talks, parties, and other events. I recall being able to update my badge's config to act like an "uber" badge while at the con but not accomplishing much more than that.
Because this was my first defcon - I spent a lot of time playing around with this badge when not attending talks, parties, and other events. I recall being able to update my badge's config to act like an "uber" badge while at the con but not accomplishing much more than that.
I came home with big plans for it and ended up cutting the bottom of my badge off so that it would fit in an Altoids tin. It was a project with forgotten goals that never came to fruition.
CarolinaCon X
CarolinaCon 12
CarolinaCon 13
CackalackyCon 2019
I'm not going to include any non-security conference badges such as all things open, employer held conferences, or any that have my personal information on them such as VMworld 2014 - where I got to see the Black Keys perform and experience a 6.0 earthquake.
GrrCON 2019 Front
BTV SOA
 DC20 Front |
 DC20 Back |
I also found this pick set while going through the box. Lock picking was new to me at the time and Jos and deviant gave a presentation on how lock picking and key impressioning works.
Defcon 24 (20160804 - 20160807)
I think this was the defcon I got to attend right around the time I was being considered to join the pentesting team at Secureworks. I got to meet a lot of that crew and I was super pumped to work with such talented hackers.
Anyway, I was at some rooftop vendor party with some friends and someone there pulled out a home made star trek phaser that had a high powered laser in it. It was super neat. Next thing I know - we're talking to Kevin Mitnick who proceeded to shine it all over the city and was dangerously close to pointing it at the airport. The only thing I really remember from this event was being nervous about getting arrested. I want to say that Kevin just shrugged it all off and said something along the lines of "don't worry about it" just before he left and went about the rest of his evening. No one got in trouble as far as I'm aware but that's my Kevin Mitnick story.
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Defcon 25 (20170727 - 20170730)
This rubber badge pays homage to the badge for the very first defcon. If memory serves right, I probably spent too much time in the physical security village where I was learning how to pick locks better and bypass tamper indicators.
Totally unrelated to lockpicking - I do have a funny memory from this con that involves law enforcement. nbd, I wasn't in any real trouble or anything but IYKYK!
Totally unrelated to lockpicking - I do have a funny memory from this con that involves law enforcement. nbd, I wasn't in any real trouble or anything but IYKYK!
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Defcon 26 (20180809 - 20180812)
At this defcon event, I spent most of my time in the IoT hacking village with a coworker (at the time) who was visiting from Japan. I actually wrote a blog post about this event which can be found here: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2018/08/def-con-26-iot-village-sohopelessly.html)
Here's the badge I received:
 DC 26 Front |
 DC 26 Back |
Defcon 27 (20190808 - 20190811)
This stone part of this badge was made out of quartz and to be honest I have no clue what this badge is actually capable of. Maybe this will make a decent future blog post/write-up even though it's a fairly old badge now.
I wrote up a post on car hacking at DC27 already. You can find it here:
I wrote up a post on car hacking at DC27 already. You can find it here:
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Derbycon
I was lucky enough to attend DerbyCon four times. The CTFs there were some of the best.
Hacking during the wee hours of the morning
All of these badges are iron-on patches so there is nothing of interest printed on the backs.
DerbyCon 3.0 "All in the Family" (20130927 - 20130930)
My coworker (at the time), and now long time friend, jpopio presented at this one! What a lad. He (and others that I'm not sure are okay with being named here) really helped, encouraged, informed, and guided me early on in my career.
Also, I almost got banned for life while attending my very first derby! I forgot my badge in the hotel room and n8 and I thought sneaking me in to the after party would be some fun hacker shit to do. I got busted after an hour or so I recall Dave being annoyed but overall cool about it and left me to the mercy of the goons. I had to debase myself a little bit, get on my knees, and apologize (I think to "Banshee"), but that was the end of it. If anyone working that con remembers this moment - I'm sorry for the trouble but thanks for the memories!Banshee
Also, I almost got banned for life while attending my very first derby! I forgot my badge in the hotel room and n8 and I thought sneaking me in to the after party would be some fun hacker shit to do. I got busted after an hour or so I recall Dave being annoyed but overall cool about it and left me to the mercy of the goons. I had to debase myself a little bit, get on my knees, and apologize (I think to "Banshee"), but that was the end of it. If anyone working that con remembers this moment - I'm sorry for the trouble but thanks for the memories!Banshee
DerbyCon 3 Front
DerbyCon 7.0 "Legacy" (20170920 - 20170924)
This was before I started the blog but I think this is the one where a drunk dude was harassing me while I was trying to compete in the CTF. Thankfully one of his crew eventually pulled him away and the rest of the event went well. If you wanted to read another hacker's perspective and DerbyCon experience, be sure to check out Doylersec's content on the DerbyCon CTFs. Referencing his pictures confirmed that we got second place at this event.
DerbyCon 7 Front
DerbyCon 8.0 "Evolution" (20181003 - 20181007)
Vanilla Ice and The Offspring played this con and it was amazing.
My CTF write-up can be found here: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2018/10/2018-derbycon-ctf-jenkins.html
My CTF write-up can be found here: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2018/10/2018-derbycon-ctf-jenkins.html
DerbyCon 8 Front
DerbyCon 9.0 "Finish Line" (20190904 - 20190908)
The last one! We fought hard but the other teams fought harder. See: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2019/10/trudging-through-derby-mud-in-lock-step.html
DerbyCon 9 Front
Shmoocon
My introduction to Shmoocon was around the 2011/2012 timeframe thanks to the interesting work that that Michael Ossmann was doing and some knowledgable people I was working with at the time (before I was officially in the security field). I was under the impression that the real cutting edge content in the hacker space was presented at this con and that I should try to go if I could ever afford to. Then I heard that it was almost impossible to buy a ticket.
A few years later, I found myself in a better position to attend on my own dime and decided to go for it. I successfully got a ticket first try! I ended up attending Shmoocon 7 times and had a success rate of ~57% when trying to buy a ticket on F5 day. In the end, if you really wanted to attend this conference, all you had to do was get yourself there. There were always extra tickets shuffling around on day 1 registration. Failing that lobbycon was worth attending even if you couldn't get to a badge of your own. The key take away was you have to try - even without a ticket in hand.
The energy and crowd at ShmooCon was second to none. It will be missed!
A few years later, I found myself in a better position to attend on my own dime and decided to go for it. I successfully got a ticket first try! I ended up attending Shmoocon 7 times and had a success rate of ~57% when trying to buy a ticket on F5 day. In the end, if you really wanted to attend this conference, all you had to do was get yourself there. There were always extra tickets shuffling around on day 1 registration. Failing that lobbycon was worth attending even if you couldn't get to a badge of your own. The key take away was you have to try - even without a ticket in hand.
The energy and crowd at ShmooCon was second to none. It will be missed!
ShmooCon XII (20160119 - 20160121)
Sadly, this badge was super fragile and I lost one of the decoder wheels on day one of the conference. It doesn't matter though - I still had a lot of fun and I sat through a lot of talks and ceremonies at this con. One of the stranger events I was in the room for was an auction for a star gate. Life sure can be funny sometimes. I guess you could say that this memory came full circle at the end.
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ShmooCon XIII (20170113 - 20170115)
I may have tossed the pig skin around a little too much in the hotel lobby at this one.
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ShmooCon XIV (20180119 - 20180121)
see: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2018/05/cryptotoken-challenge-by-trimarc.html
I'm not sure if this was their only electronic badge, but it is the only electronic badge that I have from ShmooCon. I haven't looked into any preexisting write-ups or information about this badge yet. But under the plastic housing is an ESP8266MOD.
I'm not sure if this was their only electronic badge, but it is the only electronic badge that I have from ShmooCon. I haven't looked into any preexisting write-ups or information about this badge yet. But under the plastic housing is an ESP8266MOD.
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ShmooCon XV (20190118 - 20190120)
and this one after the event: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2019/02/bhis-ctfshmoocon-2019-blockchain.html
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ShmooCon XVI (20200131 - 20200202)
This was a fun one. Right before ShmooCon started I got to attend the Red Team Operations training event provided by SpecterOps. I think this was the calm before the storm that was Covid. Shortly after this conference I went to Japan for work and when I got back to the states in late February the whole world had changed.
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ShmooCon XVII (20220324 - 20220326)
For some odd reason I enjoyed taking the train to get to and from this conference. It took a really long time and there were always extra delays - like that one time we had an extended stop so the police could arrest somebody. TBH - I'm not 100% sure that was this one or not. Maybe this was the shmoo where I accidentally ran a red light, right in front of a cop, while driving Bace's car.
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Shmoocon XX (20250110 - 20250112)
The final badge for ShmooCon! A rubber affair complete with its own resin casting of the infamous Stargate with pieces of the original embedded in it. We went out with a bang and I brought my whole family! We even attended the spy museum after the conference.
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Cackalackycon (Formerly Carolinacon)
If you're curious about the name change, the TLDR is CarolinaCon was held in Raleigh, NC moved to Charlotte somewhere around 2018 and the core/local team that was running it reinvented it as "Cackalackycon." If you wanted to learn more about that change, you can read more about it over at my friend Patrick's blog.
This conference has a very to similar vibe and culture to ShmooCon and a CTF that is reminiscent of DerbyCon. I've made so many connections here and it's such a good time I've even started taking my family.
CarolinaCon X (20140516 - 20140518)
I recall meeting up with n8 and Percent_X at this con. Also, building and breaking my lego badge and attending talks by some of the greats. Just check out this lineup.
The badge started as an orange block of lego bricks with a white lego piece (#2432) for the lanyard to clip to. They had a table of loose and random lego pieces so anyone who wanted to could customize it. For some reason, I put together this fragile monstrosity. No one will ever know what it actually looked like as I'm certain that I, and most everyone else who added bricks on to their badge, lost more than a few pieces.
CarolinaCon X
CarolinaCon 11 (20150320 - 20150322)
A simple laminated badge.
CarolinaCon 11 Front and Back
CarolinaCon 12 (20160304 - 20160306)
This badge has a simple circuit that responds to how much light is detected. The more light there is, the faster the light blinks until it's just "on."
CarolinaCon 12
CarolinaCon 13 (20170519 - 20170521)
This badge, like all of the other electronic badges, you had to solder yourself. I believe this badge indicated the conference's wifi signal strength. I'm not familiar with atmega328p-pu chip, but I think I'll try to mess around with a bit. There is nothing really of interest on the back of this badge other than the battery pack.
CarolinaCon 13
CackalackyCon 1 (20190531 - 20190602)
The first of hopefully many CackalackyCon badges. A simple paper-board badge with a plain white back.
CackalackyCon 2019
CackalackyCon 2 (20230507 - 20230507)
Covid caused some funny timing issues between conferences and I'm assuming some logistical issues for getting badges together. I don't remember the details for exactly why there was a paper and electronic badge that said carolinacon16 on it. But the electronic half of the badge(s) had tiny light up eyes and a CR2032 battery pack that you had to solder on.
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CackalackyCon 2024 (20240517 - 20240519)
Great information about this badge can be found here: https://medium.com/@persinac/cackalacky-con-2024-retro-backend-infra-6a5517f5c117
 CackalackyCon 2024 Front |  CackalackyCon 2024 Back |
CackalackyCon 2025 (20250516 - 20250518)
Egg.
 CackalackyCon 2025 Front |  |
We also came home from this conference with this special edition cast metal badge. My kid has no idea about who gave it to us. So whoever you are - thank you!
Cackalackycon Special Award
B-Sides
Wow this post is taking a while to write. Rapid fire time - here are my various BSides badges!
BSides Raleigh 2015 (20151009)
A plastic badge that has a typo on it. It also came with a small dev board called a "glitch," but it had none of the required components to go along with it. I may still have that board somewhere but until further notice it's safe to assume it's gone forever.
BSides Raleigh 2015 Front
BSides Raleigh 2015 Back
BSides Cleveland 2016 (20160525)
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This was my first time presenting at a conference. The back of this badge is solid black akin to the black tint on the front. I also received a challenge coin for presenting. Maybe I'll do a post on my coin collection next.
BSides Cleveland Presenter's Badge
BSides Cleveland 2016 Challenge Coin
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BSides Raleigh 2016 (20161020)
A simple cardstock badge
BSides Raleigh 2016 Front
BSides Raleigh 2016 Back
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BSides Raleigh 2017 (20171026)
In addition to the cardstock badge, I was lucky enough to also receive a challenge coin and get Cliff Stoll to sign my 1st edition copy of the Cuckoo's Egg!
BSides Raleigh 2017 Challenge Coin
Signed Edition
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BSides Raleigh 2017 Front
BSides Raleigh 2017 Back
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Bsides RDU 2018 (20181019)
I'm not sure why the name changed from Raleigh to RDU.
This badge appears to be a real cassette. I think I have a tape player around here somewhere but I assume it's blank. I'll probably give this away and I don't want to destroy the stickers on it to see.
This badge appears to be a real cassette. I think I have a tape player around here somewhere but I assume it's blank. I'll probably give this away and I don't want to destroy the stickers on it to see.
BSides RDU 2018 Front
BSides RDU 2018 Back
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BSides Asheville 2019 (20190621 - 20190622)
A simple plastic badge.
BSides Asheville 2019 front and back
BSides Asheville 2019 front and back
BSides RDU 2019 (20191018)
A plastic badge with a lenticular print of a dumpster fire nyan cat.
BSides RDU 2019 Front
BSides RDU 2019 Back
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BSides RDU 2024 (20240913)
A simple plastic badge
BSides RDU 2024 Front
BSides RDU 2024 Back
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Bsides RDU 2025 (20250912)
A simple cardstock badge. The back of the badge is blank.
BSides RDU 2025 Front
BSides RDU 2025 Front
Other Conferences
Notacon (20140410 - 20140413)
I'm glad I got to attend the last notacon with an old friend from high school that used to host LAN parties. My understanding of the design for this badge is that it was part of a series that was going to spell NOTACON. It has an atmega328P-PN installed and I don't remember what it does!
Notacon 2014 Front
Notacon 2014 Back
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ArcticCon2019 (20190507 - 20190409)
Currently known as FiestaCon, I believe this was an invite only red team conference. This event gave me a lot of exposure and hands on experience with C2s.
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GrrCON (20191024 - 20191025)
At this conference I got to hack with CANB0$$. We got 1st place and won a Vespa. See: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2020/01/new-year-new-we.html
The badge is wood and laser cut into a skull with, um, someone etched on the front. There is nothing on the back.
The badge is wood and laser cut into a skull with, um, someone etched on the front. There is nothing on the back.
GrrCON 2019 Front
Hackers Teaching Hackers (20230902 - 20230903)
I first attended HTH, virtually, in 2020. See: https://blog.welcomethrill.house/2020/11/2020-hth-ctf-cloud-challenges.html
Then, in 2023 I was able to attend in person where I picked up this Knight Rider themed badge shown below. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend in 2024 or 2025 but I was able to send my team in 2025 and that was satisfying in its own right.
HTH 2023 Front
HTH 2023 Back
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Badgelife
I've never really been into badges for badges sake. But I'll admit there are a lot of cool ones out there. My favorite are from the hack for satan group. I missed out on the first one (which I really wanted and would absolutely still buy if they weren't all $666 dollars or more), but I was lucky enough to find a drop at Defcon 27 for the second release.
Hack for Satan (dc27 edition circa 20190808)
HFS Front
HFS Back
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Blue Team Village SOA
I don't remember which defcon I was at when I picked up this "Shitty Add-On." This was back when I collected every bit of swag I came across.
BTV SOA
Conclusion
I think I'll spend some more time messing with each of the electronic badges, maybe even do a writeup for each one if I get anywhere with them, then I'll decide what to do with those. As for the rest, I'll probably just give them away at other conferences and scrap whatever is unwanted.
Thanks for reading!
Strupo_
Thanks for reading!
Strupo_
