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Cyber Insecurity

Saturday, May 30, 2015
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

From banking to the battlefield, we guard our secrets with digitally encrypted messages. Today’s encryption systems are based on factoring algorithms—calculations too difficult for classical computers to crack. But a quantum computer would be exponentially faster, leaving even the most secure information vulnerable. Quantum cryptography pioneer Artur Ekert shared the latest efforts to develop unbreakable codes. The program also explored how private industry and the government are fighting cyber crime with experts from the FBI and IBM.

The World Science Festival’s annual salon series offers in-depth conversations with leading scientists, extending the discussion of the Festival’s premier public programs to graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and well-informed members of the general public.

This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

Photograph: Jon Smith

Moderator

Rick KarrPublic Broadcast Journalist

Rick Karr’s been reporting for NPR’s news magazines for more than 20 years and for various PBS shows for more than a decade. Much of his work examines the intersection of technology, culture, and law.

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Participants

Artur EkertQuantum Physicist

Artur Ekert is a Professor of Quantum Physics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, and a Lee Kong Chian Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore. He’s also the director for the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT).

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Koos LodewijkxIBM's Chief Technical Officer for IT Risk

Koos Lodewijkx is the chief technical officer for IT risk in the office of the IBM CISO. His responsibilities include the multiyear technical strategy for Cybersecurity for the IBM Corporation, technical architecture, IT risk assessment, and various IT risk policies and standards.

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Radu SionCyber Security Expert

Radu Sion is a professor at Stony Brook University (on leave), the director of the National Security Institute, and the CEO of Private Machines Inc. Sion’s research is in cyber security and large-scale computing. He has published 85-plus peer-reviewed works in top venues and has organized 65-plus conferences.

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