Stories by Alan Woodward

Alan Woodward is a Professor at the Department of Computing, University of Surrey, where he specialises in cyber security, computer forensics, cryptography and steganography. Alan began with a degree in physics but did his postgraduate research in signal processing at a time when computing power began to enable some radical changes to what was possible. He began his career working for the UK government, was involved in delivering some of the most challenging IT developments of the past 20 years for a variety of organisations and has for the past 10 years since when he has also been Chief Technology Officer a company called Charteris which he helped to build from a start up and float on the London Stock Exchange. As well as writing extensively in the UK on technology as well as presenting on current affairs issues relating to technology for the likes of BBC TV and radio, Alan remains actively involved in the daily battles that occur in cyberspace. Follow Alan Woodward on Twitter @profwoodward

The Sciences

Is It Quantum Computing or Not?

This week I had a fascinating discussion on BBC Radio 4 with Dr Geordie Rose, the CTO of DWave, triggered by the news that NASA and Google are investing in DWave’s “quantum computer”.

May 17, 2013 — Alan Woodward

Environment

Unexpected Risks of Intelligent Infrastructure

In 1999 a technology manager called Kevin Ashton coined the phrase “The Internet of Things”. It was to convey the fact that not everything connected to the Internet generates data via humans tapping on keyboards...

April 24, 2013 — Alan Woodward

The Sciences

Quantum Cryptography At The End Of Your Road

In April of this year I wrote about how quantum cryptography (more properly called Quantum Key Distribution or QKD) was leaving the laboratory bench and is balanced on the cusp of entering into real-world use...

November 20, 2012 — Alan Woodward

The Sciences

Cloud Storage

Technology is awash with buzzwords, and one of the most used recently is “cloud computing”. It can be thought of as three layers, each built upon the layer below: Software as a Service (SaaS) –providers install and operate applications for users to access over the internet, ranging from simple office processing to complex customer relationship management systems; Platform as a Service (PaaS) – where providers offer use of a server with, for example, a database system already installed, onto which a user installs and runs their own applications; Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – where providers offer access to what appears to be computer hardware, such as disk storage or servers...

May 9, 2012 — Alan Woodward

The Sciences

Privacy through Uncertainty: Quantum Encryption

I was recently asked to comment for a BBC article whether quantum computing was “just around the corner”. Did I see quantum computers being here in 5 years?

April 27, 2012 — Alan Woodward

The Sciences

How Safe Is Your Mobile?

We are at an interesting tipping point in terms of Internet access. We have just passed the point where there are more mobile devices on the planet than humans, and we will shortly pass the point where the Internet is routinely accessed via mobile devices more often than by laptops and desktops...

April 6, 2012 — Alan Woodward

The Sciences

Who's Responsible for Meeting the Cyber Threat?

Recently an old colleague, Dr Andrew Rogoyski, came to lecture to our MSc students on how government deals with cyber security. Dr Rogoyski has studied the interactions between government and industry and his talk led to a key question for which there was a surprising range of views...

March 30, 2012 — Alan Woodward