Cryptography and Information Security in the post-Snowden era
Bart Preneel
KU Leuven
CISPA Distinguished Lecture Series
Prof. Bart Preneel is a full professor at the KU Leuven; he heads the COSIC research group, that is a member of the iMinds Security Department. He was visiting professor at five universities in Europe. He has authored more than 400 scientific publications and is inventor of 4 patents. His main research interests are cryptography, information security and privacy. Bart Preneel has coordinated the Network of Excellence ECRYPT, has served as panel member and chair for the European Research Council and has served as vice-president and president of the IACR (International Association for Cryptologic Research). He is a member of the Permanent Stakeholders group of ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency) and of the Academia Europaea. He has been invited speaker at more than 100 conferences in 40 countries. In 2014 he received the RSA Award for Excellence in the Field of Mathematics.
In June 2013 Snowden has transferred a set of sensitive documents to journalists, resulting in a continuous stream of revelations on mass surveillance by governments. In this talk we present an overview of these revelations; we also discuss their impact on our understanding of mass surveillance practices and the security of ICT systems. In particular, we discuss the known ways in which sophisticated attackers can bypass or undermine cryptography. We conclude by analyzing how these revelations affect future research in information security and privacy.