Military Intelligence
Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic
On the occasion of 60th anniversary of the Science for Peace and Security programme (SPS), the SPS Science Partnership Prizes 2018 were awarded to the three best successfully completed projects in the last 10 years in the three different categories. Winners will receive awards on 29 November 2018 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The SPS programme itself supports practical cooperation between NATO member states and partner countries in the field of scientific research, technological innovation, and knowledge exchange.
100 projects were selected to compete in the following categories (NATO priorities):
Each category had 4 selected finalists. The winners were chosen by the group of 3 experts in particular category.
Team coordinated by Prof. RNDr. Otakar GROŠEK, PhD., member of the Military Intelligence and the director of the Institute of Computer Science and Mathematics of the University of Technology in Bratislava, won in the category Cyber Defence with project „Secure implementation of Post-Quantum Cryptography“ .
The aim of the project was to describe and define cryptographic measures (systems design, new algorithms, and security methods) with regard to oncoming quantum computers that will cause the standard methods, procedures, and solutions would become insufficient from the security point of view both for military purposes and general public as well.
Availability of the quantum computers affects general citizens in their daily activities such as work with internet banking and E-government services, privacy protection and on-line internet shopping, where the “secure” network communication is used. Moreover, the principles of functioning of smart cards and electronic signature will have to undergo fundamental changes. The arrival of quantum computers strongly affects not only the ordinary citizen but also the state and its obligations towards public in the field of security. The results of the work of Professor GROŠEK´s team brought significant contribution in terms of response to these problems.
The international team of Professor GROŠEK consisted of experts from Israel - Eran Tromer, Daniel Genkin and Ezra Shaked, France – Viktor Fischer, Pierre-Louis Cayrel, Tania Richmond and from USA - Rainer Steinwandt. The Slovak Republic was represented by Milan Vojvoda, Eugen Antal, Tomáš Fabšič, Pavol Marák, Ondrej Gallo, Matúš Jókay, Pavol Zajac and Viliam Hromada. The team achieved significant theoretical and practical results that aroused worldwide interest. The results were published as 46 professional scientific articles in the most prestigious scientific magazines as Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series Proc., Quantum Information Processing, IEEE journals and ACM journals. Beside above mentioned success, the results of the team were referred also in 22 conferences as Crypto, CHES, SAC, ACNS, ACM, PQC, and others. The Military Intelligence (MoD SR) was informed in detail about the results of the project. Other subjects informed are the National Security Authority of the Slovak Republic, ST Microelectronics (FRA) and First Data Corporation (USA).
The award reflects the success of the project and its contribution to scientific research in the field of cyber defence. The result of the project from the NATO point of view proves that the solution of tasks in the field of cyber defence is a common goal and the effort in the framework of close cooperation of scientists from NATO countries. At the same time, for the Slovak Republic, and last but not least also for the Military Intelligence, it is the confirmation of the quality of the professional background, which it disposes with and its results reliable in the context of research, development and implementation into practice.