Blogue: From the Alps to Montréal
As we approach ConFoo, we like to take some time to sit down with some of our beloved veteran speakers to see how they feel about the event. Today, we’re catching up with Marcus Bointon; skier, songwriter, PHP developer, author, pentester, and writer for Radically Open Security.
Hi Marcus, and thanks for sitting down with us today. Let’s start with something easy. You currently live in the French Alps and have attended conferences all around the world. Why do you keep coming back to ConFoo?
You have to understand that I live in a small town of no more than 15,000 people, right in the middle of the French Alps. It’s great for skiing, but I do miss the city sometimes. Conferences are a good opportunity to step into a very special kind of vibe. And since ConFoo is right in the heart of Montréal, it really captures that feeling for me. It might not seem exotic if you're a local, but Montréal feels very far away and exciting for some of us!
I’ve also been a speaker at ConFoo since 2018, so it’s become a bit of a comfort zone for me. It’s a very creative event. I remember during the online edition in 2022, they organized a sort of speed dating where you and a random attendee were paired in a chat room for five minutes. After that, both of you had to agree to keep the conversation going. I haven’t seen many events show that level of creativity in how they connect people.
And there’s always fun to be had. I remember playing a game of Cards Against Humanity with Yann and some attendees. They had the biggest deck of cards I’ve ever seen! It’s moments like those that make ConFoo so special.
Marcus Bointon can truly be considered a veteran speaker at ConFoo, with his eighth set of sessions coming up for the 2026 edition. We asked him what makes ConFoo such a great place to speak.
I have to admit it’s because speakers are treated extremely well. Some conferences expect a lot from speakers while offering very little in return. At ConFoo, Yann and his team really take care of you. Just having hotel and transportation costs covered can mean a lot when you’re traveling from abroad. You feel respected as a professional.
And the people you meet are amazing. Over the years, I’ve worked alongside some incredible speakers that I’m always happy to see again. Coming to ConFoo now feels like coming home and having a drink with old friends. I enjoyed last year’s event so much, and met such great people, that I was inspired to write a song about meeting nice people at conferences!
ConFoo was built as a way to help developers level up their careers, wherever they are on that journey. Even speakers come to learn. We asked Marcus what he’s particularly looking forward to this year.
Like many professionals, I’m interested in the big elephant in the room: AI. But probably not for the reasons you might expect. As a pentester, I look at it from three angles.
- Right now, AI is terrible for privacy. Data leaks happen all the time, and we need to talk about how professionals can deal with that reality.
- Our customers are worried about their privacy. There’s a growing fear that poorly written code in LLMs could have long-term consequences.
- Finally, we need to talk honestly about how we use these tools ourselves. I use some AI tools in my own work, even though I don’t necessarily recommend them to my students. Transparency matters.
I also have other things I’m excited to share with the community, like a project I’ve been working on called badsmtp. It’s an open-source mail server and hosted service that lets you test email clients. I’m really passionate about it and eager to get feedback.
If you’d like to learn more from Marcus Bointon, be sure to check out his sessions at ConFoo 2026, or book a seat in his workshop on Full-Stack Security for Web Applications. You can also explore his passion for music over on his blog.
