In the period between 11 and 12 October, the Romanian market saw a unique event and, at the same time, a premiere taking place: the Romanian Cryptology Days, under the motto “Cryptology – from Academic Research to Government Necessity”, organised under the aegis of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE). With this event, the SIE, as the authority in cryptology, sought to help enhance the Romanian specialists’ expertise in fields such as protection of classified (secret) information; methods and means of securing information channels; and, of course, preventing and countering cyber attacks.

Here are some of the major topics discussed on the two conference days: analysis, design and assessment of encryption algorithms; secure implementation of encryption algorithms; policies and strategies in the field of cryptography and IT security; security protocols, cloud security; plus other deeply scientific topics of interest, and technologies and systems proper.

There were numerous national and international participants in the conference. Some of those who took the floor represented prestigious universities from Romania and abroad, some worked with government organisations, and some were experts and representatives of the EU Secretariat.

We do not have enough columns in our journal to present the participants in details, but we have the pleasure to present an interview by Professor Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu, the Director of the SIE; a brief interview by one of the world’s finest specialists in cryptography and data security, Professor Vincent Rijmen (who was a keynote speaker at this conference); an interview by Professor Victor Patriciu, a famous person in the field; and an interview by Dr. Ferucio Laurenţiu Ţiplea, from the “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iassy.

For further information about the sessions, the guests, and the topics, visit the website www.sie.ro.

The wide international participation is undoubtedly proof of two things: that, on the one hand, the topic is crucial for both governments and the general public all over the world at present, so it is of utmost interest; and that, on the other hand, the event itself is an acknowledgment of the scientific prestige of Romanian specialists among other such elite professionals.

We welcome this exceptional event from all points of view and we hope this very first conference will be followed by other similar events that will bring together very well trained and experienced specialists to discuss a topic of greatest interest in today’s world.

Interviewer: The initiative to organise this conference on such a technical issue is remarkable. Where did the idea of holding it come to be? Were you planning periodic such conferences when you invited some of the world’s famous specialists to participate as speakers?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: The Foreign Intelligence Service is the promoter of forming a well organised and functional national cryptology community. The conference entitled “Cryptology – from Academic Research to Government Necessity” is part of the SIE’s endeavours to develop a national cryptology culture, starting from the pattern of European government bodies’ co-operation with the academia.

The Foreign Intelligence Service wanted this event to lay the foundation of a platform of dialogue between the government bodies, the academia and the private sector whose competences and interests lie in the field of cryptology. Representatives of national and international information security government bodies, outstanding professors, and specialists from the private sector accepted our invitation, and we are happy about it. The special guests to this conference are remarkable cryptologists, professors from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Technical University of Graz – and I avail myself of this opportunity to thank them once again for their presence at the SIE’s conference –; they are active members of different networks of excellence and they also run PhD cryptology studies that we hope will be attended by as many Romanian researchers as possible in the upcoming years.

We surely want to be able to organize further such events that we hope will bring together equally exceptional specialists. Besides, in our view, this conference is a first step, a push for creating a cryptology center of excellence as well as a national network of excellence consisting of entities willing to work in this attractive field focused on the latest technologies.

Interviewer: The conference participants work with private IT firms, research institutes, government organisations, and state-run companies. What do you think is the common denominator in approaching cryptography in all these sectors? To what extent can bridges be built through technology? Is a public-private partnership viable in this sense?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: The core topic of the first international conference “Romanian Cryptology Days 2011” was “Cryptology – from Academic Research to Government Necessity”. The common denominator of the participants – who work, as you very well mentioned, in different sectors – is the need for information security.

The European Union strategies, including the Digital Agenda for Europe, underline the need for public-private partnerships in assimilating the latest technologies. In our view, the public-private partnership can be extended to an academia-government-private partnership, a real “co-operation triangle”, given the profound interdependences existing between the three sectors.

The academia world, through higher education institutions and research institutes conducting both fundamental and applied research, is dedicated to knowledge. The government environment is, in its turn, part of research and innovation through government research institutes and departments and it also helps to adjust the legislative framework to the requirements imposed by the latest technologies, such as cloud computing. The private sector supports research and innovation through its research departments and by developing joint projects with the academia. Besides, the public and the private sectors are the beneficiaries of human resources trained by the academia so they should give universities some feedback on how adjusted their curricula are to the latest technological concepts, such as cloud computing, grid computing, and programming languages.

We would like the participants in “Romanian Cryptology Days 2011” to become main members of this enlarged academia-public-private partnership, and we hope they will form a strong national community in the field of cryptology and information security.

Interviewer: With the latest technologies (virtualisation, cloud computing) and given the global crisis that has imposed expenditure cuts – including for IT&C infrastructures in both the private and the public sector –, what do you think is the role of cryptography, of data security, and especially the role of the SIE specialists in implementing these solutions?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: The latest virtualisation technologies and especially cloud computing technologies have a number of advantages because they imply less bureaucracy and lower costs for certain things. They also imply problems, for instance problems related to adjusting the legislative framework to the respective services, and especially data security problems. Although public cloud technologies are easily available and imply low costs, the EU recommends not using them for critical applications or in transferring classified or sensitive information.

All over the world, there are concerns about defining and regulating the framework about the protection of information processed in government cloud systems.

The SIE specialists are engaged in a series of European initiatives, constantly studying the latest concepts and technologies. For instance, the speakers at this first conference made presentations on cloud security, one of the newest concepts in the field.

If government cloud solutions are implemented, it will be our specialists who will provide expertise for the cryptographic field of data security.

Interviewer: How do you conduct (if ever) IT co-operation with other state-run organisations, including with Parliament when it comes to laws and regulations on data security, electronic archiving, etc.?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: We co-operate with institutions that are part of the National Defence System and with other ministries and government agencies in the field of protection of classified information, protection of critical infrastructures, cyber security, and cyber intelligence, by virtue of the role empowered by the state authorities. The co-operation is conducted on several platforms, including in the format of IT emergency response teams – like the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). Our co-work also implies elaborating documents with strategic relevance, such as the National Defence Strategy or the National Strategy for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures.

Interviewer: What is your message at the end of this conference? What would you say including to young specialists at the beginning of their careers?

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu: Wishing to create a national cryptology community, the Foreign Intelligence Service organised this first cryptology conference in order to create the conditions for a meaningful dialogue and good co-operation between all the players, between all the entities willing to be involved, to create the conditions for a dialogue that should materialise in a long-lasting partnership.

Our message to all those who have a calling for this field is in fact a message that applies to any young person at the beginning of their careers: best performance can be achieved through hard work, sustained effort, and co-work. We hope cryptology and the Romanian school of cryptology will attract as many young people as possible, and we hope that after many years we will see these people working on Romanian projects for the academia, the government, or the private sector.