UNIVERSITY MOHAMMED V – AGDAL final exam Master: IDDL

Faculty of Science Time: 2 hours Module: English

The encryption codes that safeguard internet data today

won’t be secure forever.

Future quantum computers may have the processing power and algorithms to
crack them.
Nathan Hamlin, instructor and director of the WSU Math Learning Center, is
helping to prepare for this eventuality.
He is the author of a new paper in the Open Journal Discrete Mathematics that
explains how a code he wrote for a doctoral thesis, the Generalized Knapsack
code, could thwart hackers armed with next generation quantum computers.
The paper clarifies misunderstandings about the complex field of public key
cryptography and provides a common basis of understanding for the technical
experts who will eventually be tasked with designing new internet security
systems for the quantum computing age.
“Designing security systems to protect data involves experts from many
different fields who all work with numbers differently”, Hamlin said. “You are
going to have pure and applied mathematicians, computer programmers and
engineers all involved in the process at some point .for it to work in real life, all
of these people need to have a common language to communicate so that they
can make important decisions about how to safeguard online transactions and
personal communications in the future.”
Preparing for the future
Quantum computers operate on the subatomic level and theoretically provide
processing power that is millions, if not billions of time faster than silicon-based
computers. A hacker armed with a next generation quantum computer could in
theory decrypt any internet communication that was sent today, Hamlin said.
In order to create an online security system better prepared for future
demands , Hamlin and retired mathematics professor William Webb created
the Generalized Knapsack code in 2015 by retrofitting a previous version of the
code with alternative number representation that go beyond the standard
binary and base 10 sequences today’s computer use to operate.
UNIVERSITY MOHAMMED V – AGDAL final exam Master: IDDL
Faculty of Science Time: 2 hours Module: English

In his paper, Hamlin breaks down how the generalized Knapsack code works in
terms that computer scientists, engineers and other experts outside the field of
pure mathematics can understand. He explains that by disguising data with
number string more complex than the 0s and 1s conventional computers use to
operate, the generalized knapsack offers a viable security method for
defending against computing hacks.
’’The Generalized Knapsack code expands upon the binary representations
today’s computers use to operate by using a variety of representations other
than 0s and 1, ‘’Hamlin said. ‘’This lets it block a greater array of cyber-attacks,
including those using basis reduction, one of the decoding methods used to
break the original knapsack code.’’
Hamlin said his hope is that his paper, Number in mathematical Cryptography,
clears up misunderstandings he has run into professionally so that the
generalized Knapsack code can be developed for future use.
‘’Quantum computing will change how we handle data and we, as a society, are
going to have to make some important decision about how to prepare for it,
‘’Hamlin said. ‘’ a code like this can be implemented on conventional hardware
and yet it would also be secure from a hacker with a quantum computer. I think
it is time for us to consider this code very seriously for adapting commerce and
perhaps communication in light of the possibility of quantum computing.’’

Story Sources:
Materials provided by Washington State University. Note: content
may be edited for style length.
UNIVERSITY MOHAMMED V – AGDAL final exam Master: IDDL
Faculty of Science Time: 2 hours Module: English

A. Read the article above and answer the following question ( 8 points)
In the light of this article and your specialty as a future expert in the field of
computing, do you think the era of fully fledged quantum computer threatens to
destroy internet security as we know it today? Are there any encryption technologies
developed by experts to protect micro devices from hacker attacks conducted by
quantum computers?
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UNIVERSITY MOHAMMED V – AGDAL final exam Master: IDDL
Faculty of Science Time: 2 hours Module: English

B. Write four compound sentences, using each of these conjunctive

adverbs once : nevertheless- moreover – therefore – for instance
(4points)
a) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
b) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
c) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
d) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

C. Add a logical independent clause to each of these dependent clauses.

Punctuate them correctly (3 points)
1. When I Left my country……………………………………………………………………….
2. ……………………………………..who taught this course last year.
3. Because I had to look for a part time job…………………………………………

D. Choose the one answer that best completes the sentences (3 points )
1. Only when it rains……………………………………
a) does the river overflow
b) overflow the river
c) the river does overflow
2. The meeting was postponed…………………………………
a) although no reason was given
b) no reason given
c) why no reason was given
3. It is a fact ………………………………………..
a) That all we have to eat
b) That we all have eat
c) All we have to eat

E. The course of this semester includes a list of various subjects. State

them all in French and then translate them into English. ( 2 PTS )

Good luck