The Qatar Foundation annual conference, organised by Qatar Foundation Research and Development will address cyber security as a large-scale research challenge, through discussions and debates.
The conference will take place on November 24 and 25 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).
Cyber security is an increasingly important issue with cyber crime costing the global economy billions of dollars annually. The conference will bring together researchers and experts to discuss the growing dependence on computing and networking technologies by the world’s economies, and the unprecedented security concerns and risk this has to a nation’s cyber infrastructure.
Dr Farnam Jahanian, assistant director for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the US National Science Foundation (NSF), will deliver the keynote cyber security lecture on the second day of the conference.
Dr Jahanian is co-founder of Arbour Networks, an Internet security services company whose technology protects 70% of Internet backbone transit traffic.
Christopher Rouland, an independent expert known for his work in discovering security vulnerabilities, will take part in a panel discussion on ‘Cyber Security - Emerging Threats.’
Dr Richard J Lipton, professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, will moderate a debate that will address ‘Rights, Responsibility and Cost to Privacy, Security and Anonymity: Individuals, Enterprises and Governments.’
Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a principal constituent of QF R&D, will lead the cyber security discussions at the conference and will have local experts, such as Chief Scientist Dr Richard De Millo, present findings and moderate panel discussions.
According to Dr De Millo, Qatar is subject to specific risks that need to be considered. “Qatar is among the most connected countries in the world. Its various sectors, including banking, energy and media, are heavily networked due to its extensive global partners and networks. Although this presents great opportunity, it also holds great risk with a pandemic of increased attacks on global computer networks, exactly the kinds Qatar could be subject to,” he said.
The conference will unite the local and international information technology experts, facilitating a crossover of their defence efforts against cyber attacks.
“The dialogues that will take place at the annual research conference between Qatar’s experts and their international counterparts will enable information sharing where we will learn from each other in real time,” added Dr De Millo.
Other research challenges faced by Qatar will also be addressed including water and energy security, advancements in diabetes and cancer research, preservation of Arabic culture, art, language and heritage, as well as ensuring sustainable food supply.
Other QF R&D constituents including Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), Qatar Energy and Environment Research Institute (QEERI), Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) and Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) will be among the entities to address how best to tackle such challenges.
