Quarterly newsletter: COVID-19 and Cryptography

Dear Key Insights readers,

We’re living through difficult times. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, chances are you’ve had to change your lifestyle due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I want to assure our readers that we’re here for you, and still creating dynamic content on cybersecurity, key management, and cryptography from our industry experts.

In fact, the Unbound Tech team is offering a series of live talks and webinars during this time on a variety of cryptography and key management issues.

Below are links to our upcoming and on-demand live talks; we’d love to hear your feedback.

Stay safe and stay sane,

Editor-in-Chief, Tova Dvorin

COVID-19 related content

The Zoom Encryption Debate — Prof. Yehuda Lindell explains Zoom’s encryption and cybersecurity issues for the non-technical.

Live talk: Privacy & tracking to mitigate pandemics: politics and technological solutions — Profs. Matt Green and Prof. Yehuda Lindell discuss location tracking in the context of COVID-19 and the privacy threats involved, including:

• Whether or not widespread tracking of individuals to stem the spread of the virus is legitimate
• What the dangers are of such tracking
• What technological (cryptographic) solutions could be developed in order to achieve the desired effect without compromising on privacy.

Live talks you may be interested in

“Perspectives & gaps between theory, practice & industry research in cryptography” — In this discussion, Prof. Kenneth Paterson and Prof. Yehuda Lindell will talk about the different perspectives of cryptographers and cryptography research in academia and industry, and between theoreticians, applied researchers and practitioners.

Series — Prof. Yehuda Lindell and Prof. Matthew D. Green

“Great crypto mess-ups and getting crypto right” — In this discussion, Matt and Yehuda will give some examples of really bad cryptographic mess-up that they’ve personally seen. In addition, they will discuss why it is so hard to get crypto right, and what can be done to improve the situation.

“Password security: The old and the new” — Passwords and password security is old news. However, passwords are still widely in use and will be widely in use for many years to come. In this discussion, Matt and Yehuda will talk about bad password practices still being used and will present their opinions on password quality, password managers and more. In addition, they will discuss what more advanced cryptographic alternatives exist and can be used.

“The latest on MPC in research and in practice” — In this fireside chat, Matt and Yehuda will discuss the latest in secure multiparty computation (MPC), its level of practicality, and where it is (and is not) being used in practice.

Webinars you may be interested in

Webinar: Cloud Migration Challenges and Mitigations — Everyone wants to move to the cloud — but few realize the extent of the challenges in enabling a secure and smooth migration. In this webinar, Cryptosense’s CEO, Graham Steel, and Unbound Tech’s VP R&D, Guy Pe’er, discuss:

• Common challenges of cloud migration — specifically, for IaaS.
• How to determine which data and processes are sensitive in the existing app — which keys are in use and how they’re stored
• What types of extra protection needs to be added prior to migration: encryption, key management, and protection.
• How to securely migrate to the cloud — from key identification to encryption verification, overseeing development, and ensuring compliance.