The Road Ahead for Cyber Security – Challenges and Opportunities

Public interest, awareness, and concern about information security are on the rise as more incidents, vulnerabilities, and threats emerge. On Thursday, July 24, join experts at the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) in New York for a discussion on how to enable better cyber security in the future.

NEW YORK (July 18, 2014) – Today, the importance of and need for cyber security is widely recognized as IT security permeates most aspects of our everyday lives. While many challenges and questions about data security exist, the current state of affairs also presents exciting opportunities. Looking forward, how can we as a society coordinate transnational efforts and leverage increased public awareness? Additionally, what is the role of research, education, and training for ensuring a secure tomorrow? On Thursday, July 24, join distinguished IT specialists for a discussion on these and other pertinent questions.

Dr. Johannes Buchmann, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at the Technische Universität (TU) Darmstadt, will discuss how the German cyber security and privacy debate is characterized by contradiction. On the one hand, the continuous revelations of activities by the NSA and U.S. Secret Service contribute to a mounting sense of insecurity within the public arena. On the other hand, Germany still remains very active in the use and development of information technologies. From this context, Dr. Buchmann will then describe how two of his projects aim to resolve this contradiction. The interdisciplinary "Internet Privacy Project" of the German Academy of Science and Engineering, acatech, seeks to find long-term solutions for secure cryptography; his second project with the German Research Foundation’s new collaborative research center “CROSSING” aims to foster trust in new and next-generation computing environments. This project will bring scientists from physics, cryptography, system security, formal methods, and software engineering together to develop, implement, and integrate efficient cryptography-based security solutions.

Dr. Buchmann received his Ph.D. from the University of Cologne in 1982 and was a postdoc from 1985 to 1986 at The Ohio State University on a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. From 2001 to 2007, he served as Vice President of Research at TU Darmstadt. Dr. Buchmann is also a Leibniz Prize and Tsungming Tu Award recipient.

He will be joined by Dr. Susanne Wetzel, Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stevens Institute of Technology, who will moderate the discussion. Dr. Wetzel is the co-designer and program director of the B.S. in Cyber Security degree program at Stevens, where she first joined the faculty in 2002. She received her diploma in computer science from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, and her Ph.D. in computer science from Saarland University, Germany, in 1998. She subsequently worked at DaimlerChrysler Research in Stuttgart, Germany, Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, USA, and RSA Laboratories in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Wetzel’s research interests are in cryptography and algorithmic number theory.

This cyber security event will take place on Thursday, July 24, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the German Center for Research and Innovation (871 United Nations Plaza, First Avenue, btw. 48th & 49th Streets). To RSVP by July 21, visit: http://form.jotformpro.com/form/41813818078965

Unable to attend? Follow @gcri_ny and the hashtag #CyberSecurity for live tweets.

This event is sponsored by the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) New York.

The German Center for Research and Innovation provides information and support for the realization of cooperative and collaborative projects between North America and Germany. With the goal of enhancing communication on the critical challenges of the 21st century, GCRI hosts a wide range of events from lectures and exhibitions to workshops and science dinners. Opened in February 2010, GCRI was created as a cornerstone of the German government’s initiative to internationalize science and research and is one of five centers worldwide.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Audet
Communications Officer
871 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
(212) 339 8680, ext. 302

This release was published on openPR.