Last night  Mick Mowgli , Brighton based portrait street artist who has done work for premiership football clubs and TV companies, got into Amsterdam to paint a mural for us. You can see some of his work below, but check out  his Instagram account .

The piece Mick is painting, is a celebration of hackers and code breakers.

Tomorrow,  Daniel Cuthbert , well known in the security scene and  accomplished documentary photographer , is going to Amsterdam to photograph it. 

On Thursday after  my talk at Hack in the Box,  we are going to run a treasure hunt. Two cryptic clues, the first a clue to a checkpoint and the second to the mural. I reckon the fastest team will be there in less than 30 mins. The first clue will be shared in the hotel bar and the second sent via a DM on our Twitter when people send a selfie of themselves or their team at checkpoint one. The first person or team to take a selfie of themselves next to the mural, will win a very large, professionally produced, framed, signed copy of the work. It will be sent to them in a few weeks, so we can get the production complete. 

For a long time I have been disappointed at the mass of cheap, tacky, uncreative,  junk swag given out at security conferences . At previously Black Hats I have seen dog petting stations, balls pits and we have all seen the piles of cheap t-shirts and plastic gimmick, discarded in bins along the Vegas strip. And thats even before we talk about the  plastic bag problem .

We get why companies do it, it's brand awareness and that's why we are doing it as well, but I think marketing teams can and should be a bit more creative, and better for the planet. If you agree, we hope you share this and hopefully we can set a trend.

Good luck to those at the conference in Amsterdam that are going to do it. I have seen the mockup and its a spectacular piece if you love the history of the security scene. 

Note: I am working with Mick to find environmentally better alternatives to the current spray paints.