RSA Conference Awards

Established in 1998, the RSA Conference Awards are presented to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of individuals and organizations in the field of cryptography, public policy and information security. Congratulations to the Winners of the RSA Conference 2011 Awards!

Charles W. Rackoff
University of Toronto
Charles Rackoff was born and raised in New York City. He attended MIT as both an undergraduate and graduate student, receiving a PhD in Computer Science in 1974. After spending a year as a post-doc at INRIA in France, he joined the University of Toronto Computer Science Dept. in 1974. His research interests are in computational complexity. For some time now he has been specializing in Cryptography, Security, and Security protocols. He was a co-originator of the important concepts of "interactive proofs" and "zero-knowledge proofs", for which he co-won the 1993 Godel Prize.

Excellence in the Field of Security Practices

The RSA Conference Award for Excellence in the Field of Security Practices recognizes outstanding achievement in the practice of security within an organization.

C. Ryan Brewer
Chief Information Security Officer and Director, Office of the CISO Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Over the past two years, C. Ryan Brewer has completely transformed the information security program and culture at CMS through his leadership and vision. As a direct result of Brewer's leadership, the information security program at CMS is now risk-based and provides a high level of business value and enablement. He successfully guided the information security program at CMS through this transformation while saving CMS millions of dollars and has made significant contributions to improve the security posture and business processes at CMS.

Excellence in the Field of Public Policy

The RSA Conference Award for Public Policy is designed to recognize significant contribution and leadership in the field of cyber security public policy.

William J. Lynn, III
Deputy Secretary of Defense
William J. Lynn III is the 30th Deputy Secretary of Defense. Lynn's career has included extensive public service at various levels within government. Lynn served as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) from 1997 until 2001 and for four years prior to that he was the Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation (PA&E) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

RSA Conference Lifetime Achievement Award

Ronald Rivest
Professor Ronald Rivest is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a member of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a member of the lab's Theory of Computation Group and a founder of its Cryptography and Information Security Group. He is also a founder of RSA Data Security, now named RSA, The Security Division of EMC, and of Peppercoin. Professor Rivest has research interests in cryptography, computer and network security, electronic voting, and algorithms.

Adi Shamir
Adi Shamir's main area of research is cryptography — making and breaking codes. It is motivated by the explosive growth of computer networks and wireless communication. Without cryptographic protection, confidential information can be exposed to eavesdroppers, modified by hackers, or forged by criminals. In the last few years, Shamir has developed (along with his students and colleagues) new practical cryptographic paradigms such as broadcast encryption, ring signatures and T-functions; new cryptanalytic attacks against block ciphers, stream ciphers, and number theoretic schemes; and new protective techniques against side channel attacks such as power analysis.

Leonard Adleman
Henry Salvatori Chair in Computer Science and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Biological Sciences. Professor Leonard Adleman's research interests include algorithms, computational complexity, computer viruses, cryptography, DNA computing, immunology, molecular biology, number theory and quantum computing.

Past RSA Conference Award Winners

RSA Conference 2010 Awards

• Dr. David Chaum for Field of Mathematics.
• Malcolm Harkins, CISO and General Manager of Enterprise Capabilities, Controls, and Compliance, Intel Corporation for Security Practices.
• The CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency for Public Policy.
  • Commission Director: James Andrew Lewis, Director and Senior Fellow, Technology and Public Policy Program, Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Commission Co-Chairs: Representative James R. Langevin, Chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Representative Michael T. McCaul, Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cyber Security and Science and Technology, Scott Charney, Corporate Vice President for Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft Corporation, and Harry D. Raduege, Jr., Chairman, The Deloitte Center for Cyber Innovation, Deloitte & Touche LLP.
• Whitfield Diffie, Lifetime Achievement award for his pioneering work in public-key cryptography.

RSA Conference 2009 Awards

• Neal Koblitz, Professor, University of Washington, and Victor S. Miller, IDA Center for Communications Research, Princeton, for Field of Mathematics
• Keith Mularski, Supervisory Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation, for Public Policy
• Robert Lentz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense, for Security Practices
• Taher Elgamal, Lifetime Achievement award for his pioneering work in cryptography, digital signatures and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

RSA Conference 2008 Awards

• Arjen Lenstra, Professor, Laboratory for Cryptologic Algorithms, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, for Field of Mathematics
• Congressman Jim Langevin, Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District for Public Policy
• Philip Venables, Managing Director and Chief Information Risk Officer, Goldman Sachs & Co., USA for Security Practices
• Thomas E. Noonan, retired general manager of IBM Internet Security Systems, and former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Internet Security Systems (ISS). Lifetime Achievement award for pioneering intrusion detection technologies and his substantial contributions to the growth of the information security industry.

RSA Conference 2007 Awards

• Jacques Stern, Professeur d'informatique, Directeur du Departement d'Informatique, Ecole Normale Superieure, for Field of Mathematics
• Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman, U.S. Federal Trade Commission, for Public Policy
• State Senator Joe Simitian, California State Senate, for Public Policy
• Jeffrey Bardin, CISSP, CISM, CHS, and NSA IAM, for Security Practices

RSA Conference 2006 Awards

• Oded Goldreich, Professor of Computer Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, for Field of Mathematics
• Ari Schwartz, Deputy Director, Center for Democracy & Technology, for Public Policy
• Jack Jones, ISSP, CISM, CISA, Chief Information Security Officer, CBCInnovis, for Security Practices

RSA Conference 2005 Awards

• Dan Boneh, Associate Professor, Stanford University, for Field of Mathematics
• Orson Swindle, Federal Trade Commission, for Public Policy
• Michael Assante, American Electric Power, for Best Security Practices

RSA Conference 2004 Awards

• Professor Silvio Micali, M.I.T., for Field of Mathematics
• U.S. Senator Robert Bennett, for Public Policy
• Eric Guerrino, Bank of New York, for Best Security Practices
• Jim Bidzos, retiring RSA Conference chairman: special RSA Conference Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing him for his contributions to the information security industry and the RSA Conference

RSA Conference 2003 Awards

• Dr. Mihir Bellare and Dr. Phillip Rogaway, noted cryptographers and researchers, for Field of Mathematics
• U.S. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, for Public Policy
• Herman Miller Inc., for Best Security Practices
• Microsoft Corporation, for Industry Innovation

RSA Conference 2002 Awards

• Dr. Don Coppersmith, noted cryptographer and IBM researcher, for Field of Mathematics
• U.S. Congressman Tom Davis, for Public Policy
• Symantec Corp., for Industry

RSA Conference 2001 Awards

• Dr. Scott Vanstone, noted cryptographer and founder of Certicom Corporation, for Field of Mathematics
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Encryption Standard Committee, for Public Policy
• Gemplus, for Industry

RSA Conference 2000 Awards

• Ralph Merkle, noted mathematician and cryptographer, for Field of Mathematics
• Ed Gillespie and Jack Quinn, Executive Director and Co-Chairman of Americans for Computer Privacy, for Public Policy
• Check Point Software Technologies, for Industry

RSA Conference 1999 Awards

• John M. Pollard, noted mathematician, for Field of Mathematics
• John Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, for Public Policy
• Compaq Computer's Atalla Division, for Industry

RSA Conference 1998 Awards

• Shafrira Goldwasser, M.I.T. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, for Field of Mathematics
• Congressman Bob Goodlatte, for Public Policy
• Netscape Communications, for Industry