Cryptography and Security at ROUGOL on Monday, 19th June

This post has been double-encoded with ROT13, for your added security1.

Cryptography and Security is the topic for the next meeting of the RISC OS User Group of London, with a presentation by Doctor Nat Queen of Birmingham University.

Computer security is a topic that should be important to everyone these days, with so much of our lives stored on not only our own machines, but also those belonging to third party companies – from our energy supplies to our tax records; it’s all computerised, and the data is in some way accessible online. When you access any of that data, you are – or should be – doing so using a secure connection, using end-to-end encryption, designed to stop anybody else from eavesdropping on what’s being transmitted up and down the line.

How does that work? Well, that’s where Nat will begin, with a general background on how modern encryption works, covering both symmetric-key and public-key encryption, and the difference between them. From this, he will then look at the security software available for RISC OS, including some software of his own.

Finally, if there is any interest, the evening may include a look at how PGP – “pretty good privacy”, which is based on public-key encryption – can be used with email software to either encrypt messages, or to sign them so as to provide a form of authentication as to who sent them, and whether or not they have been tampered with.

The meeting will take place from 7:45pm on Monday, 19th June, 2017, at:

The Blue-Eyed Maid (upstairs, in the restaurant),
173 Borough High Street,
London,
SE1 1HR.

There is no admittance fee – though the venue serves a range of hot and cold food, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, so there is always the opportunity to spend some money.

Located between (and a five minute walk through well-lit streets, covered by CCTV, from) Borough and London Bridge tube stations, the Blue-Eyed Maid is easily accessible by public transport, and there is also ample cycle parking nearby, which also benefits from CCTV.

For anyone heading to the meeting by car, the Congestion Charge ends at 6:00pm, but you need to consider parking – avoid double red lines at all times, and it’s best not to park on single red or yellow lines until after 7:00pm. Another thing to consider is that the meeting takes place in central London, so if you aren’t familiar with parking or driving in the area you should give yourself ample time, and make sure you have maps and plenty of patience!

For assistance reaching the venue, or any other information, ROUGOL can be contacted by email, on Twitter, or by telephone on 07970 211 629.

!ReadMe

  1. If you need help decoding it, copy the entire post and paste into this form, then click “ROT13 it!” twice.

Related posts