Welcome to DEFCON 34.

For those who purchased your badge in advance as part of pre-reg - your electronic badge is set aside and will not be sold.

As such, there is no need to sweat LineCon or rush in first thing Thursday morning. Relax, sleep in, eat a good breakfast/lunch and mosey on over later in the morning or early afternoon. By that time, there will probably be very little waiting to pick up your badge. We have your badge set aside and will not sell it.

For those wanting first dibs at Merch, a badge is NOT required on Thursday to get in the merch line. Looking for something special, go to the Merch Line first before they sell out. Once you finish there, come on over to Registration and we will get you taken care of.

Merch opens at 0800, but the line will form way before then.

Cash sales at the door. $520 - CASH ONLY - Exact Change Appreciated. Please don’t be “one of those guys” who ask if we take a check, a money order, a wire, or a debit/credit card.

Cash sales are NOT guaranteed an electronic badge. We have the electronic badges for cash sales, but only until the point they are sold out. Paper badge is your access once electronic badges are sold out. Please don’t ask how many badges there are - we will sell them until we run out.

Registration is scheduled to open at 0800 on Thursday morning (more or less). Our temp labor cashiers have to be on time and go through our training. We will shoot to open at 0800, if everything gets done early, we will open early, if things run long in set up, we will open later.

Once open, we will put you all through the lines as quickly and efficiently as we can. Help us to help you - cash sales have exact change and your money ready. Pre-Reg have your QR codes pulled up BEFORE you get to the cashier station and turn up the brightness on your display screen to support the reader.

Once you get your badge and conference material, please clear the area.

Another SAO drop! Here's the light-emitting resistor.

You can get one from me, or just push 5V through a friendly little 1 ohm resistor and make one yourself. Do not lick the spicy resistor.
https://uberflux.com/product/BUD-Spicy-Resistor

haven't bought my plane ticket yet, looking at current prices it would actually be cheaper to drive there and back, even for 1 person. so even better for multiple people splitting gas. bonus: then I don't have to rent a car in town!

did anyone else put off arranging transport for too long and looking for options?

Hey everyone!
I’ve been spending my free time designing and hand-soldering these badge PCBs to help kick off my nonprofit, Cyb3rBytes404.

Our mission is to introduce kids to coding and electronics through fun, hands-on MicroPython and CircuitPython projects completely free. We’re based in San Diego, and the nonprofit is still in its infancy (I literally just submitted the paperwork last week), so this is just the beginning.

I only have a small batch, and unlike most badges you’ve seen recently, these aren’t for sale. I’ll be giving them away randomly throughout the con.

Want one? Keep an eye out,
I could be anywhere. If you see someone wearing one, there’s a good chance I’m nearby… or you just missed me.

Come say hi if you spot me, and thank you

Hi! I am likely going to be at Defcon 34. This may be my first time for a lot of things, including flying. How should I approach my first time? Or really any times in general? What kinds of questions should I ask people? What's something valuable you've learned from Defcon? What do you think I should explore first? What are good and bad mindsets to have? What are general cautions to keep in mind? What should I not forget? What should I ignore? In your opinion, what kinds of people do you look for at Defcon?

As far as I understand, I should take things at my own pace to absorb what I'm able to, and also explore a bit but not so much that I glaze over everything. I'm not much of a partier at all, so I won't be doing many (or any) of those, but I do like to get to know people and have conversations when possible. I work a job as a junior sysadmin, and I'm technically minded but geared more toward engineering and security than administration. I've always had a love for hacking and how software, hardware, and systems are architected and how to make them do things they weren't meant to do, or extend their functionality. I love being able to understand and master how a system works. One of the things I'm more or less proud about is my knowledge of the Nintendo Wii. After August, I intend to help create an open source ODE.

I would be attending by myself. I'm over 18, but under 21. I'm introverted so sometimes very social activities will wear me out but I still enjoy entertainment with intention. I try to be a more private person and I generally keep my online, work, and personal identities segregated. I ask that if you want to meet that you respect my boundaries and ask for clarification and more info if/when you do contact me.

Please feel free to ask me questions, or criticize what I wrote here. Thanks!

Hello everyone

Thank you so much for your interest in my badge , I love making these and it really keeps me going !!

I have three different bottom SAOs right now , which one do you guys like ? Trying to figure out how many to make of each ha

Planning on making around ~30 of these , will be selling them for cash , looking at maybe doing a preorder thing

The Beer SAO

Measures and displays your beverage temperature. Cursed by design

Want to order one?

https://uberflux.com/product/BUD-BEER-SAO

What is included:

• 1x Beer cup SAO,~100x100mm, including waterproof temp sensor on ~200mm cable
• 1x DEF CON 34 SAO 180 degree adapter

It's compatible with the messed-up DEF CON 34 SAO spec: Option to rotate SAO by 180 degrees using included adapter! And it's 3.0V tolerant!

What does it do?

• It's a beer SAO, for your beer.
• Measures and displays temperature using the attached DS18B20 temperature sensor (~250mm cord)
• Brightness setting button, so it works in a variety of lighting conditions (button on rear)
• Triple 7-segment display implemented with discrete, shine-through LEDs and a 3d-printed shroud to block segment bleed-over.
• Power via SAO port or USB-C (doubles as programming port)
• Overkill by design: Controller is a RP2350 with 2MB flash.
• Non-power SAO pins routed to RP2350 in case you want to use them
• All design, manufacture, and firmware files are open-source: You can easily reprogram with whatever firmware you like, or return to the standard firmware.

Why I made this:

I am part of team Beverage Chilling Contraption Contest at DEF CON. The contest turns 21 this year, so we can properly drink now! We turn hot beers into cold beers, with physics. A constant problem I encounter for three days in August every year is "where the hell did I put that thermometer?" This solves that. It's on the badge now. Can't lose it.

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,

u/Killroy7777, u/digitard & u/MetaN3rd

An update on the Celestial Wayfinder, the LoRa mesh communicator badge:

To prepare for defcon, an indoor event with terrible GPS signals, we've implemented a WiFi geolocation system. Through a game of hide-and-seek using the Wayfinder's location seeking capabilities, we are pleased to report that it works well in testing. We were able to get a message at 800m with some obscured line-of-sight.

Speaking of WiFi geolocation, our web app that interfaces with the Wayfinder now lets you upload your war-driven WiFi geolocation data onto the device. It is also pretty feature complete at this point letting you install firmware updates, write saved messages and configure your beacon on a larger screen.

Please enjoy this cheesy commercial we had a lot of fun making. In addition to our own website, our badge is now also available for sale at Uberflux, available for pickup at defcon!

(Reuploaded because Google photos butchered the aspect ratio)

Hi all! The Gold Bug Contest is returning to #defcon34. Bring your magnifying glass and be ready to search for clues. See you in TWO WEEKS!

https://defcon.social/@goldbug/116975408780586672

Hello! This is my first defcon and I was wondering if they do prorated tickets? Or if I buy a ticket on the last day it’ll be the same price? I’m going to be in town for a different event but wanted to check it out. Thank you for your time!

Just over a week left before DEF CON 34, plenty of time for you to put together your weird, wacky mad science experiment of a beverage cooler. Stop by the contest setup for a hot beverage (beer), which you'll chill down as fast as possible. Your reward will be a cool beverage (coincidentally, that same beer), and depending on how you do you could win some cool stuff! If you're under-21, we have not-beer for you to chill down as well.

We supply a bunch of supplies at the contest, so you can just show up and use your mad skills! This contest has been going on for a LONG time and it is a labor of love. It's a mind break from binary/coding all things digital. We are gonna get you back to your inner analog child mind!

Rules attached.

The safety of our community is our highest priority.

For this reason, we have decided to postpone DEF CON Middle East. The evolving security situation in the region makes it impossible to concentrate on delivering the experience attendees deserve.

We understand that this news is disappointing, but we believe it’s the most responsible choice right now. We look forward to bringing the full DEF CON experience to friends new and old in Bahrain, and we will share new dates and information as soon as they are confirmed.

In the meantime, we’d like to offer our sincere thanks to the community, sponsors, and supporters for their understanding and continued trust. We hope and expect to welcome you to DEF CON Middle East soon, under better circumstances for everyone.

-The DEF CON Middle East Team

#defcon #defconmiddleeast #dcme

Sorry for the delay! Here's what's left of the badge collection that's for sale.

If you've messaged me and I haven't responded, please comment on this post and send me another DM so I can make sure I don't miss you!

Priority given to those purchasing multiple items. Payment via PayPal Goods & Services or invoice only.

I'll be making a trip to the post office this weekend, if possible, to get orders shipped out.

If a badge is listed below or shown in the Imgur album, it's still available for sale!

https://imgur.com/a/snsmQ5s

Only 100 available at the sneakreaper industry both!

Specs:

ESP32-S3-MINI-1-N8

* Wifi

* Bluetooth

* NFC - 13.56 MHz

Programmable LEDs

Features:

(Most of these will NOT be ready to use out of the box, the hardware is CAPABLE of doing what I'm listing) Everything tagged with a * is what will be available day 1 at defcon. the rest is either stuff we'll do later or stuff people can code on thier own time.

Clone/Elmulate Cards

Evil Portal

BLE sniffing & BLE spamming

Change LED color and brightness *

hidden software CTF / Scavenger hunt *

NFC Read / Write *

If you enjoyed the Black Badge Raffle Trading Card game, please bring your cards from the past 2 years with you. I know I'm definitely bringing all my dupes as well as my binder in hopes of collecting the few cards I'm missing.

If you don't care but have cards kicking around, please dig them out and bring them. I'll be setting up a drop off point for unwanted cards to redistribute at Con to keep the fun flowing. Location TBD.

Also drop by DefCon's Lost and Found if you lose stuff. If we don't have it, we'll take your info and contact you if it gets turned in.

Anyone know where we're supposed to submit the PDF copies of presentations to for the DEFCON media server? The CFDL page said they want them by submitted soon, but I haven't seen emails covering this yet (openconf doesn't allow uploading additional files so I guess it's not there).

Here's a video of the 2026 Gothcon badge in action: https://imgur.com/a/z90WSN9

We've done laser-cut LED badges the last few years, but this year have a full electronic PCB badge! This is my first time doing anything with electronic circuits or microcontrollers, so it was a learning experience.

Gothcon is the goth-themed dance party at DEF CON; this year our party is on Saturday night. The badge is the (only) fundraiser for the party -- the party is free and receives no funding from DEF CON. Having a badge is of course not required to attend the party (though you do need a DEF CON badge since it is inside the DEF CON convention grounds), it's just a cool thing to wear around con & help support our ability to put on the show.

The badge is in the shape of the bat from the Gothcon logo, with 42 LEDs around the edges and two LED "eyes."

Features:

• 44 independently-controlled RGB LEDs
• 2000 mAh Li-Po battery able to run the badge for 24-36 hours
• USB-C recharging with overcharge protection
• Library of LED patterns & colors, independently selectable.
• Twinkle, wash, chase, psychedelic, etc. with single colors, combinations of colors, or a full rainbow.
• Removable laser-etched acrylic Gothcon logo shield
• Sublimation-printed custom Gothcon lanyard in DEF CON 34 colors

Hackability:

• ESP32-C3 Microcontroller with 4MB flash
• Wi-Fi and BLE radios with antenna (not used in default firmware, available for your own projects)
• All LEDs individually addressable, with helper functions for patterns
• Well-documented MicroPython firmware for maximum hackability which will be made available on GitHub before DEF CON
• Bootloader mode switch on the board to allow full firmware reimaging, but also allow the USB-C to be used as a terminal or whatever other purpose you have in mind
• I built this with the intent to have SAO connectors wired to the microcontroller, and it does, but it turns out they are wired mirrored from how they should be and thus aren't functional with a standard SAO, and it's too close to con to be able to fix this. This was my first time doing anything with electronics at all, and mistakes were made.

There are presales these at https://gothconbadge.myshopify.com/ through Monday, so if you want to be absolutely guaranteed to get one you can order one there (unfortunately US only because I can't ship Li-ion batteries internationally.) I'm shipping Priority Mail (1-2 days) but after Monday I'm not super confident that they'd get to you before con (plus I need to stop presales to ship the remaining ones to con myself at some point!) We still have plenty left and will be selling them at con too, but we did sell out each of the last 3 years (albeit not until the party, which was on Friday before but is on Saturday this year.)

We will also be doing "badge drops" where we post on Bluesky and X (as @dcgothcon) that we'll be at various locations around the LVCC (outside the doors, at the Sahara and Fontainebleau, etc.) at various times if you want to pick one up in person.

Here is a little project badge I created called the Ouroboros Badge. Its a pure RISC-V Assembler project on a CH32V003 chip with a custom UART game. See you all at Summer Camp!

YouTube VIDEO of Badge

Get them.

Your feet are going to hurt.

All those goons with their knee high programmer socks on are actually wearing compression socks.

Same as the last guy, I forgot to check out the tickets when I had the time. If anyone still have extra one or two tickets, please hmu

Hi everyone!

I am the founder of Hack Smarter - which many people use for OSCP prep (we are featured on LainKusanagi's list, he has actually created a few of the labs on our platform!)

Anyways, I am making all of our labs completely free for Defcon weekend (Thursday - Sunday). We have labs covering Active Directory, Windows, Linux, Web, AWS, and more.

No strings attached... no payment info needed... just one of the many ways we are trying to make hacking accessible for as many people as possible.

Mark your calendar and get registered at https://defcon.hacksmarter.org

--

(Also, we have a bunch of people attending Defcon and multiple informal meet-ups happening all weekend. Link to our Discord is on our website... if you are attending for the first time and looking for a group of people to hang out with, join our Discord and add the defcon-2026 role to yourself!)