The [MLF] team smashes the DEF CON 20 badge contest — a fever-dream of scytales, crypto, and the Rio hallway.
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CTF · Cryptography · Puzzle Hunting
Cracking badges, ciphers
Cracking badges, ciphers
& the occasional red herring.
Write-ups from years of DEFCON badge contests, Gathering 4 Gardner, and quarantine puzzle hunts — the ciphers, the dead ends, and the eventual solves.
// Field notes
Badge & puzzle write-ups
Step-by-step breakdowns of how each contest got solved. Click any card to open the full write-up.
Block ciphers, gray code, counting rods, and the chain-of-death — the full solve path to the black badge.
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Cistercian numerals, phone ciphers, potholder weaves, and badge firmware — decoding a very analog puzzle.
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Nyctograph alphabets, Shavian script, and a Feynman-flavored lanyard hunt across the con floor.
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The Gathering 4 Gardner 12 badge — gold-bug fits, nyctography, and a puzzle worthy of Martin himself.
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A pilot-episode puzzle review with @CryptoK: Vigenère, ROT13, Calibri "remorse," and endless Breakfast Club trivia.
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