LSEC - Leaders in Security

Can creators of encryption mechanisms also break the codes ?

On the evening of February 25th, LSEC hosted a special roundtable discussion in the sidelines of the
world leading FSE and NIST-conferences taking place in Leuven from February 22nd until February 28th.

Under the theme “Codebreakers and Enigma’s”, some of the world leading experts in the domain of
ICT and more particularly information security have had a roundtable discussion hosted by LSEC and presided by
Prof. Dr. Bart Preneel, followed by a reception.

With this event, LSEC wanted to bring the typically very closed world of cryptography to a broader public.

The following participants were present :
- Bruce Schneier
- Adi Shamir
- John Manferdelli
- Ron Rivest
- Vincent Rijjmen
- Bart Preneel

About Bruce Schneier :
For the first time at an event in Belgium, Bruce is a key figure in the information security.
Co-founder of BT Counterpane, one of the leading Information Security companies worldwide, he is today BT’s
Chief Technology Security Officer. Bruce is a regular speaker at a variety of security related events and a renowned
author of standard works such as “Beyond Fear” and “Schneier on Security”. Always ready for a controversial point of view,
a loaded discussion and a perspective differing from the standard practices, it is guarenteed that a roundtable discussion will be interesting.

About John Manferdelli
John has served in many functions, most recently as a distinguished engineer at Microsoft Corp. He was part of the development of the next-generation secure computing base technologies and the rights management capabilities currently integrated into Windows. He is currently the general manager of incubation for Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie.

About Adi Shamir
We’re very happy to have Adi visiting Belgium again. He was with us at our Security Forum late 2007, just over a year ago, presenting his latest thoughts on the development of crypto both on small low power systems and large computer systems. Adi Shamir was one of the inventors of the RSA algorithm (along with Ron Rivest and Len Adleman), one of the inventors of the Feige-Fiat-Shamir Identification Scheme (along with Uriel Feige and Amos Fiat), one of the inventors of differential cryptanalysis and has made numerous contributions to the fields of cryptography and computer science. Adi is regarded as one of the most important contributors to today’s Information Security technologies.

About Ron Rivest
Professor of Computer Science at MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Ron Rivest is one of the inventors of the RSA algorithm (along with Adi Shamir and Len Adleman). He is the inventor of the symmetric key encryption algorithms RC2, RC4, RC5, and co-inventor of RC6. The “RC” stands for “Rivest Cipher”, or alternatively, “Ron’s Code”.

During the roundtable discussion some of the following subjects should be addressed :
- A short insight into the future of information security : how is the world changing ?
- The most important achievement in the world of cryptography
- The importance of cryptography today and tomorrow
- What needs to change to make security more human ?
- The challenges for today’s security specialists. The challenges for today’s cryptographers.
- What would be your message today to some of the leaders of the world. 

Practical Details

- Leuven, City Hall, February 25th from 17h - 20h
- Participation free, but registration required. Only limited amount of seat available to better subscribe today.

This event has been fully booked! You can no longer register online to participate to this event;
You can still send an email to codebreakers2009 @ lsec.be, and apply to participate. A confirmation email will be needed in order to ensure your seat at the event.

Looking forward seeing you at the Codebreakers and Enigma’s Special Event, February 25th.

About FSE :
FSE concentrates on fast and secure primitives for symmetric cryptography, including the design and analysis of block ciphers, stream ciphers, encryption schemes, analysis and evaluation tools, hash functions, and MAC algorithms. (Leuven, February 22nd to February 25th)

About NIST :
NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) has opened a public competition to develop a new cryptographic hash algorithm, named SHA-3, to augment the hash algorithms currently specified in FIPS 180-3, Secure Hash Standard. NIST received 64 entries for the competition, and is currently reviewing the entries. NIST plans to host the First SHA-3 Candidate Conference at K.U. Leuven, Belgium in Feb. 2009 to allow submitters of the first round candidates to present their algorithms, and for NIST to discuss the way forward with the competition.