Interview with Matthias Valvekens, Research Engineer at iText Group NV, about PDF Days Online 2021

PDF Association: At the PDF Days Online 2021, you will be hosting a presentation titled “Cryptography in PDF: future perspectives” – what’s that about?

Matthias Valvekens: It’s about improving the way cryptography is applied in PDF (both w.r.t. encryption and w.r.t. digital signing). Some of those efforts are already underway, but there’s more that we can do.

PDF Association: Who is your presentation aimed at?

Matthias Valvekens: People with a strong interest in future-proofing PDF’s cryptographic feature set.

PDF Association: What will the people who attend your presentation be able to take away from it?

Matthias Valvekens: I hope to be able to show people a glimpse of what’s possible, and to convince them that we have to be constantly looking out for new developments in the security and cryptography engineering space.

PDF Association: The PDF Days Europe has become the leading PDF event. What makes the PDF Days so unique in your mind?

Matthias Valvekens: I couldn’t tell you, since this’ll be my first time attending the PDF Days. But I’m looking forward to meeting some of the people that I’ve been collaborating with in the PDFa’s technical working groups.

PDF Association: Thank you! We look forward to seeing you at the PDF Days Online 2021.