resource center
  See your link here
|
Computerworld -
Twenty years before the Internet would create a need for it, a public-key cryptographic standard was discovered and patented by Whitfield Diffie, along with another student and a professor at Stanford University.
Diffie-Hellman was released free to the technical community, ultimately becoming the ubiquitous standard it is today. In his 20 years of waiting for the market's need to catch up with the standard, Diffie coached another visionary who sought to commercialize a different form of encryption. That standard was RSA, discovered by three MIT researchers, and that visionary was Jim Bidzos, who kept RSA Data Security Inc. alive for the 12 years it took for the market's need to catch up with the algorithm.
Diffie's and Bidzos' patience paid off. Both algorithms are bundled in browser security and just about every network protocol in existence, says Dorothy Denning, a professor of computer science at Georgetown University who has written extensively about both standards.
In her many writings on information security, Denning has also often quoted a third cryptographer, Bruce Schneier, who hails from a background of cryptographic management for the military and whose seminal 1993 book, Applied Cryptography (John Wiley & Sons), has brought cryptographic concepts to the mainstream.
Whitfield Diffie
Whitfield Diffie, CSO at Sun Microsystems Inc.
Claim to fame: Co-discoverer of public key cryptography, now an Internet standard called Diffie-Hellman.
What he's doing now: Chief security officer at Sun Microsystems Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif.
In 1976, Diffie and his wife, Mary, were struggling college students who lived in a car. Amid his poverty as a Stanford student in the '70s, Diffie was working on complex mathematical algorithms to help protect freedom of speech and privacy in the coming digital age.
Things were a little better when Diffie discovered the solution to these problems in the form of public-key cryptography, which uses public and private digital keys to scramble and unscramble data.
But as Diffie waited the 20 years it would take for the Diffie-Hellman algorithm to be needed, he also fought to lift export-control laws that would hamper people's ability to use encryption, particularly overseas. Those export-control laws were abolished in the late '90s.
"Whit Diffie has been a very public figure for all the right causes. Internet freedom and privacy through cryptography are his personal vision. He's talked to very influential people. A lot of it is due to the sheer force of his personality," says fellow cryptographer Bruce Schneier.
Jim Bidzos
Age: 47
Claim to fame: Took a leadership position at RSA Security
Case Study: Live Nation and Citrix NetScaler
When Live Nation spun off from Clear Channel Communications it urgently needed to consolidate nearly 100 different Web sites.
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
Learn how to successfully deploy a WAN optimization solution that is specifically tuned for a mobile environment!
Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!
Faster, Cheaper and Easier to Maintain
Can you afford not to upgrade your servers to today's advanced, energy-efficient technologies?
Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.
The State of PCI DSS Compliance at Organizations Today
Download this resource today!
IDC Research Report: The Business Value of Consolidating on Energy-Efficient Servers
Download this Resource Now!
Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.
Sign up to receive updates on the latest Development resources
CIO
Computerworld
CSO
DEMO
GamePro
Games.net
IDC
IDG
IDG Connect
IDG Knowledge Hub
IDG TechNetwork
IDG Ventures
IDG.net
InfoWorld
ITwhitepapers
ITworld
JavaWorld
LinuxWorld
Macworld
Network World
PC World
The Industry Standard
Copyright © 1994 - 2009 Computerworld Inc. All
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium
without express written permission ofComputerworld Inc. is prohibited. Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group Inc. |
