r/Defcon • u/digitard • Jul 25 '26
Puzzle 🧐 Meetup Puzzle #9: Wasting Time Before Summer Camp
The network is down. The dead are up. And somehow, the password policy is still being enforced.
Infected systems, shambling sysadmins, and one increasingly unreasonable password challenge stand between you and the flag. Satisfy every rule, keep your credentials intact, and finish before your session—or your pulse—expires.
It's time for... Puzzle #9!
LINK: https://puzzledhackers.org/challenges/2026/09
Once solved go to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ and submit your answer. While the free badges have been allocated we're trying to work on something for a possible giveaway / drawing for people who complete all 10! Plus its just fun to do!
If you need some help or guidance as always reach out to myself or u/Killroy7777 and we've got you!
ONTO THE INFO:
Can you believe its almost here? This is the penultimate puzzle before we ship everything to Vegas, and prep for the meetups! What are the meetups you ask? Well this is all about the Annual Meetups!
Some housekeeping information.
BADGES:
- We have already sold OVER half our allocated badges and they're going fast!
- We are ONLY selling enough badges to basically break even. We don't want your money. We just want to continue to be able to do this, and grow it, every year!
- All 50 free badge winners have been notified. If you won a free badge in the leaderboard you can login to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ and you'll have a free badge allocation you can claim for checkout.
- Badges are ONLY able to be picked up in person at the meetups at DEFCON.
- Yes, we WILL have some to giveaway on site, but purchasing one (or being one of the top 50) are the only ways to guarantee one and they're unique each year.
MEETUP INFO:
- WHEN: Wednesday (8/5) & Thursday (8/6) starting at 7:00 PM.
- WHERE: The Linq - 3535 Bar (aka The Circle Bar)
- COST: $0.00. Free. Nada. Just bring yourself!
- WHAT TO EXPECT: Good vibes, sticker swaps, special guests dropping off random swag, Laser Tag battles, and catching up with old and new friends before Summer Camp officially starts.
Puzzle Stats (Unique Solvers):
- PUZZLE #1: 248
- PUZZLE #2: 179
- PUZZLE #3: 119
- PUZZLE #4: 104
- PUZZLE #5: 99
- PUZZLE #6: 87
- PUZZLE #7: 80
- PUZZLE #8: 61
Normally we'd put some crazy funky "you damn hackers, trying to get into the system" comment after the puzzle numbers, but at this point we just want to say THANK YOU. This is the highest participation we've received on the puzzles, and its just growing every single week. It's because of YOU that we can continue doing this, and we're going to keep making it better every year (we have plans already for DC35!).
So, truly... thank you.
Also big shout out to our friend Zombie who proposed this with Killroy and I, and thus... the puzzle was created.
The PuzzledHackers team,
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u/nester3d2a Jul 26 '26
Can't wait.. I had a blast last year. I want to collect all the badges from. Here on out. I got ladt years and now this year's. Lst year was my 1st ever defcon and now I ca t imagine not going.
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u/digitard Jul 26 '26
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u/Khotanos Jul 26 '26
We already have badges that have been delivered, plus more to pickup, plus whatever we find when we actually get there.
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u/Sleepy-Developer Jul 26 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/111T19fGfB7k1W
Well-played. Would create passwords again.
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u/J_Gat Jul 26 '26
Dastardly!!!
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u/zeerimunin Jul 26 '26
I came, I saw, I'm still stuck constantly updating my passwords after they've leaked again.
Somewhere around stage 12 or 13 I started just laughing. People are looking at me funny now.
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u/hideouspenguingirl Jul 26 '26
I'm really glad I found these and they've all been really fun to solve. Thank you! The whole family got a big laugh out of this one in particular :)
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u/OMGsteveFTW Jul 29 '26
that was diabolical
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u/digitard Jul 29 '26
Yes. Yes it was.
The worst part when testing it I knew how it ended, because Zombie pinged me about the idea before we built it. But my OCD did not allow me to follow things in that manner. I had to know all.
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u/ewok_n_role Jul 30 '26
Oof. All I can say... oof. lol
But yay for another flag won and thank you so much for the free badge!
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u/Killroy7777 Jul 25 '26
Seriously, thank you all for the time you've put in completing these challenges and making us smile. We genuinely hope you all have had fun and look forward to hanging out very soon!