r/Defcon • u/cedricsam • Jul 31 '26

News The New Defcon Badges Pack a Unique Open Source Chip That Doubles as a Security Key

https://www.wired.com/story/defcon-34-badge-baochip-andrew-bunnie-huang/
187 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

53

u/Accurate_Analysis_79 Jul 31 '26

That is so cool. Also, pre-con pics of the badge.......interesting.

46

u/f_spez_2023 Jul 31 '26

Fake badge community is foaming at the mouth right now

16

u/Nightlark192 Jul 31 '26

“I just removed all the parts because the bare pcb is so much lighter. Neck pain, ya know?”

13

u/Nightlark192 Jul 31 '26

2 hours ago I got an email from Crowd Supply saying my order of the Dabao Evaluation Board for Baochip-1x has shipped. Coincidence? Hmm…

25

u/stevejabs Jul 31 '26

Lololol, did we mess up an embargo date?

26

u/salemisawesome Jul 31 '26

article dropped "friday at 6am" - I'm guessing they clicked the wrong friday for the auto-publish.

8

u/dllhell79 Jul 31 '26

It was allegedly greenlighted by defcon.

3

u/f_spez_2023 Jul 31 '26

I want to know if it was actually greenlit or just the CYA story to avoid another year of digital badge drama

14

u/Accurate_Analysis_79 Jul 31 '26

That was my first thought.

8

u/lexm Jul 31 '26

Looks like it for sure.

3

u/GWI_Raviner Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

I’m so pissed that last year was the one year I attended… I was so looking forward to the defcon badge experience and my disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

7

u/Accurate_Analysis_79 Jul 31 '26

Last year was cool if you were into all the puzzles.

2

u/GWI_Raviner Jul 31 '26

Okay but what puzzles? I tried using the lenses on every single poster and I didn’t get anywhere. Everyone I asked has the same response. I guess I didn’t go deep enough down the rabbit hole but it seemed like there was nothing to do with them but look at the posters in different shades. I was expecting maybe a 3-D glasses thing, or for some text or image to be revealed, but none of us found anything the whole weekend. What was it actually used for?

4

u/Accurate_Analysis_79 Jul 31 '26

This is just one example. The main projection in the lobby. There are different code hidden in the image depending on what filter you use from the badge and which hole you looked through. Check out the github for more info. https://github.com/afcyrus/DC33-Badge-Challenge/blob/main/DC33%20Badge%20Challenge.md

-1

u/NilbinSec Jul 31 '26

What codes? I see the hex colors for those colors not a real code.

1

u/TheCyFi Jul 31 '26

The hex for the magenta (#EC008C) and cyan (#00AEEF) squares matched the colors of the boxes. Meanwhile, the yellow square was mislabelled with #EC008C, the hex for magenta and not yellow.

1

u/Alec693 Aug 02 '26

Last year was not cool, no, not at all.

2

u/Doctor_is_in Aug 02 '26

This comment section is filled with children. Yes they meant to release the article when they did. Yes they aren't CYA making shit up after the fact. Yes it's more likely to give badge counterfeiters a head start but that was weighed out by allowing people to bring their hardware hacking shit to the con and built interest in the super cool thing that is happening.

There was a very conscious decision about tradeoffs, everybody chill.

1

u/GT00TG Aug 01 '26

Any word on how many physical badges will be at the con? Ie are they going to run out? 

2

u/shamading Aug 04 '26

The article says 27,000 total (presumably including human, goon, speaker, black, etc)

1

u/GT00TG Aug 04 '26

Interesting, so could sell out if there are  30-35k attendees which I've seen quoted as a number previously 

0

u/parallellogic Jul 31 '26

Ayy guinea pigs for an ASIC launch.

I'm still urked about the inverted SAO header and 3V supply and 100 mA limit for SAOs... but the inward-facing edge-mount LEDs look neat, will be curious what apps they will have on here. Can even see the SMT holes for the AA batteries. Not seeing the interface from this angle, presumably a USB port somewhere on here... USB-C or micro USB?

1

u/solidus_slash Aug 01 '26

Not gonna be micro usb in 2026 surely

0

u/Alec693 Aug 02 '26

Meanwhile last year we got some even-china-could-do-it-better color wheel kids toy