RightsCon Toronto 2018

Session Emcee: Naman Aggarwal

Hacks Will Keep Happening, It's Time to Get Smart: The Necessity of Encrypted Communications and Challenging the Surrounding Stigma (Wickr)

Speakers: Joel Wallenstrom

Hacker attacks happen every 39 seconds. No one is immune: the most trivial communications were weaponized to influence the 2016 elections; the majority of internet users had their data exposed with no remedy. Yet, no matter how high profile and impactful the breach is, nothing changes in how safe our information is. What’s more, encrypted communications remain stigmatized despite the urgency to protect critical data, particularly when used in business settings. Ironically, negative optics of having strong privacy hygiene is making privacy accessible only to those willing to risk bad publicity, while the rest of us end up with poor security.

This talk will zero in on how everyone – from political campaigns to activists to governments – can navigate today’s technology so focused on collecting and monetizing user trust to take back control and ownership of our personal and business data. Joel Wallenstrom, Wickr CEO and founder of iSEC Partners, one of the top security research teams, will discuss why there are very few alternatives to data-driven business models and what is missing to jumpstart the boom in privacy tech.

4 years in a war with Russia: How is Ukraine doing with digital rights and cyber security (Digital Security Lab Ukraine)

Speakers: Iryna Chulivska & Mykola Kostynyan

This lightning talk will be about the situation in Ukraine and what influence 4 years in war with Russia had on it. The main points: Current situation on journalists' rights and internet freedom in Ukraine; Situation with freedom of speech on occupied territories: annexed Crimea peninsula and part of the East Ukraine with ongoing military actions; New laws and attempts to restrict internet under "because of the war's needs" souse.

The Ins and Outs of Differential Privacy (Access Now)

Speakers: Drew Mitnick

This lightning talk will explore the topic of differential privacy and some of the difficulties of implementation in a practical setting. It will then pose the question: how important is the term differential privacy, and should there be standards to guide its use?

The Quantum Threat to Privacy (Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI) and IQC, University of Waterloo)

Speakers: Michele Mosca

Quantum computation offers many positive applications for society, however they will also break the currently deployed public-key cryptography that underpins the security of our information and communication systems.

I currently estimate there is a 1 in 6 chance that quantum computers will break current systems in under a decade. If we don’t migrate our systems to ones designed to be safe against quantum attacks, the cyber security that we rely on to protect our personal privacy - and the technologies and processes that are involved in so many aspects of our daily lives - will be jeopardised as government operations, communication networks and other critical infrastructure systems become vulnerable to hostile actions.

The challenge is that the necessary suite of mature and tested quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms is not yet available.

Nor are the necessary security- and privacy-enhancing technologies and tools that will be based on those algorithms.

Nor are the cybersecurity experts with quantum-safe skills, who will be called upon to use those tools to diagnose each system separately, and determine what needs to be done to ensure that it is quantum-resistant.

Given these challenges, we must get moving if we are to have a fighting chance of being prepared. Researchers around the world are actively working to identify the algorithms on which the technologies and tools will be based. It is fair to say that the necessary education and training infrastructure exists in the industrialised world at least - though political and administrative decisions must be made for resources to be deployed or redeployed to addressing the quantum threat.

And this is where you in the room come in, along with your friends and colleagues. We all must make sure that the politicians, government officials, corporate directors and technology vendors know that the public wants the job done in time, which means starting now!

SaveOurPrivacy: A Citizen led effort for a Data Protection and Privacy Bill for India (Internet Freedom Foundation)

Speakers: Apar Gupta

In this session, the speakers shall discuss the background, challenges as well as need for the a comprehensive privacy bill for the largest democracy in the world. The speaker shall also discuss the principles the efforts of public interest organisations and the digital rights efforts with respect to securing a privacy and data protection framework. Lastly, the speaker shall also bring forth the existing efforts for a privacy bill and the outreach done for the citizen draft to have a individual centric law in India.