Aim and Scope of Symposium

Date:  Wednesday 21 September 2016, 1-5pm

Venue: Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh

This conference aims to discuss some of the major issues involved in encryption, including with the usage of high performance computing to crack cryptography, and in law enforcement and industry challenges. It includes:

• Quantum Computers, Prof Alan Woodward. In this talk we will take a rapid look at how conventional computing has developed in it’s power and the limitations that we are rapidly approaching. One answer to the limitations of silicon based conventional computing is the development of quantum computers. We will introduce the basic quantum physical principles behind quantum computers, and talk about some of the candidate technologies that are competing for the crown.  We will give a gentle introduction to a specific quantum algorithm (Shor’s algorithm) and explain why it has some profound implications for the current, most popular encryption schemes that we all rely upon daily.
• Cracking RSA and Next Generation Cryptography, Prof Bill Buchanan. This will include a practical demonstration on how high performance computers and quantum computers can be setup to crack methods such as for RSA, and provides a demonstration of new quantum robust methods. There will be full demonstrations and a simplified overview of the new cryptography methods which would be relevant to protect cryptography from cracking within high performance environments, including to be resistant against cracking from quantum computers.
• Practical side-channel attacks on embedded device cryptography, Doug Carson, Dr Owen Lo, and Charley Celice. This presentation outlines the methods of monitoring devices for their electrical power drain and radio emissions, in order to determine both the classifications of the encryption method and the encryption key. It will provide practical demonstration of cracking cryptography from monitoring things like the electrical power drain, the radio wave emission, and from monitoring input/output ports, such as from the audio port.
• Quantum Cloud Computing, Prof Elham Kashefi. In this presentatio Prof Kashefi will present an introduction to key issues in quantum computing that would affect cyber security markets and key applications underway as part of UK national quantum technology program. She will explore issues such as ‘blind’ computation, hybrid classical/quantum computing, quantum simulation and the verification of quantum computers