Topic: Cryptography

Martin E. Hellman

artin E. Hellman is best known for his invention, with Diffie and Merkle, of public key cryptography, the technology that, among other uses, enables secure Internet transactions. It is used to transfer literally trillions of dollars every day. He has been a long-time contributor to the computer privacy debate, and was a key participant in the "first crypto war" of the late 1970s and early 80s that established the right of academic cryptographic researchers to publish their papers, free of government interference.

His work has been recognized by a number of honors and awards, including election to the National Academy of Engineering and the million-dollar ACM Turing Award, often called "the Nobel Prize of Computer Science."

Hellman has a deep interest in the ethics of technological development and his current focus is on Rethinking National Security. That approach has been endorsed by a number of prominent individuals including former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Stanford's President Emeritus John Hennessy.

He and his wife Dorothie wrote a book, A New Map for Relationships: Creating True Love at Home & Peace on the Planet, that is now on sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry recommended that it "should be read by married couples seeking peace at home, as well as by diplomats seeking peace in the world." It shows how the changes needed to build a strong, functional marriage or other relationship are the same ones needed to build a more peaceful, sustainable world.

During the 1980's, Prof. Hellman helped develop a meaningful dialog between the Soviet and American scientific communities on how human thinking had to evolve for survival in the nuclear age. This effort culminated in his co-editing a book with Prof. Anatoly Gromyko of Moscow. Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking was published simultaneously in Russian and English in 1987 during the rapid change in Soviet-American relations.

During the 1980s and 1990s he worked to overcome ethnic tension within the university, work for which he received three awards from minority student organizations.

Born in New York, NY in October 1945, he received his B.E. from New York University in 1966, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1967 and 1969, all in Electrical Engineering.

Prof. Hellman was at IBM's Watson Research Center from 1968-69 and an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT from 1969-71. Returning to Stanford in 1971, he served on the regular faculty until becoming Professor Emeritus in 1996. He has authored over seventy technical papers, twelve US patents and a number of foreign equivalents.

Hellman has been involved with a number of high-tech startups, serving variously as a founder, advisor, and investor. In his spare time, he enjoys people, soaring, speed skating, and hiking, although the latter three are infrequent in recent years.

James Lyne

James Lyne is global head of security research at the security firm Sophos.
He is a self-professed 'massive geek' and has technical expertise spanning a variety of the security domains from forensics to offensive security.
James has worked with many organisations on security strategy, handled a number of severe incidents and is a frequent industry advisor.
He is a certified instructor at the SANS institute and often a headline presenter at industry conferences. James is a big believer that one of the biggest problems of security is making it accessible and interesting to those outside the security industry.
As a result, he takes every opportunity to educate on security threats and best practice always featuring live demonstrations and showing how the cyber criminals operate in the real world. James has given multiple TED talks, including at the main TED event. He's also appeared on a long list of national TV programs to educate the public including CNN, NBC, BBC News and Bill Maher.
As a spokesperson for the industry, he is passionate about talent development, regularly participating in initiatives to identify and develop new talent for the industry.

Eugene Kaspersky

Eugene Kaspersky’s love for mathematics determined his “technical” future. One of his hobbies during high school was to solve problems published in mathematical journals.

During his last few years in high school, he attended extracurricular classes in physics and mathematics at a dedicated program organized by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Eugene spent his last two years of high school taking physics and mathematics courses in a specialized program for gifted students organized by and affiliated with Moscow State University. In 1987, Eugene graduated from the Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science, where he studied mathematics, cryptography and computer technology, majoring in mathematical engineering. After graduating, Eugene worked at a multi-disciplinary research institute. It was there that Eugene first began studying computer viruses after detecting the Cascade virus on his computer in October 1989. Eugene analyzed the virus and developed a disinfection utility for it – the first such utility he developed. He started collecting malicious programs and disinfection modules for them.

This exotic collection later formed the foundation of the famous antivirus database in Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Today, this database includes more than 4 million records and is one of the most complete antivirus databases in the world. In 1991, Eugene joined the KAMI Information Technologies Center, where he and a group of colleagues developed the AVP antivirus project, which became the prototype for Kaspersky Anti-Virus. International recognition of the project arrived in 1994, when the virtually unknown AVP won a contest conducted by Hamburg University’s test lab, demonstrating a higher virus detection rate than the most popular antivirus programs at the time.

In 1997, Eugene and his colleagues decided to establish an independent company, becoming the founders of Kaspersky Lab. From that moment, he has headed the company's antivirus research.

In 2007, Eugene was named CEO of Kaspersky Lab.

Eugene was voted the World’s Most Powerful Security Exec by SYS-CON Media in 2011, awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Plymouth University in 2012, and named one of Foreign Policy Magazine’s 2012 Top Global Thinkers for his contribution to IT security awareness on a global scale.