Keynote Speaker

Abstract: This talk explores the evolving landscape of privacy technologies and the policy debates that surround them. We will examine technical approaches for protecting privacy, including methods to hide communication content, techniques to protect metadata (including identities and locations), and methods to ensure privacy-preserving data processing with verifiable guarantees. Case studies such as proximity tracing, digital payments, and cryptocurrencies will illustrate both the potential and the challenges of these technologies in practice. The talk will also address tensions with government demands for exceptional access, from historical examples such as the Clipper chip and Dual EC DRBG to more recent disputes over access to content on confiscated devices and client-side scanning. We will conclude by outlining key open research challenges at the intersection of privacy, security, and policy.

Short biography: Prof. Bart Preneel, a full professor at KU Leuven, leads the COSIC research group. His expertise lies in applied cryptography, cybersecurity, and privacy. Prof. Preneel has delivered over 150 invited talks across 50 countries and received the RSA Award for Excellence in Mathematics (2014), the ESORICS Outstanding Research Award (2017) and was elected Belgian ICT Personality of the Year (2025). He served as president of IACR (International Association for Cryptologic Research) and is also a fellow of the IACR. In 2024 he was elected member of the Royal Academy of Art and Sciences Belgium and he received the title of honorary professor at Shandong University. He frequently consults for industry and government about cybersecurity and privacy technologies and he has testified multiple times for the Belgian and European Parliaments. Prof. Preneel founded the mobile authentication startup nextAuth and holds roles in Approach Belgium, Tioga Capital Partners, and Nym Technologies. Actively engaged in cybersecurity policy, he has contributed to ENISA as an Advisory Group member from 2012 to 2025.