Speaker: Yacine Merdjemak, PhD
September 13, 2017
The growing number of cyber threats on a global scale requires more secure and robust information systems. For instance, communications, transportation, business, and defense systems face serious disruption if satellites are targeted. Quantum communications and quantum computing have drawn most attention in recent decades for their radical approach to securing and transmitting information. Quantum entangled photons for example, can provide what may be the most secure communication channel conceivable as hacking into the channel would be impossible. An attempted interception automatically destroys the quantum entanglement and is revealed to the intended recipient. Quantum computing, on the other hand, may very soon open doors to cracking encryption keys and abating other cybersecurity threats, and its development remains a primary topic of research in the technology community.
The recent launch of China’s world's first experimental quantum communications satellite and the development of the quantum computer by Canadian based D-Wave Systems, attest to the importance given to quantum enabling technology. The tremendous interest that is demonstrated by nations and world-class organizations such as Lockheed-Martin, NASA, and Google as to the possible application of quantum physics in communication and computing, suggests that these concepts could, perhaps in the foreseeable future, be applied in securing, processing, and transmitting data like never before. While research in implementing quantum concepts and mechanism is giving intriguing results, there is more work ahead. In this session, we will explain the mechanisms behind quantum enabling technologies and the technological challenges still being faced to transform these concepts into a practical technology.
Yacine Merdjemak, PhD
Yacine is a Sr Application Developer for American Access Casualty Company. He is a Software Engineer and Architect with a strong scientific background who has successfully led Information Technology projects for world class corporations. Yacine is also an adjunct faculty member at Saint-Xavier University teaching graduate level courses in Computer Science.