Awards Recognize Exceptional Contributions in Mathematics, Public Policy and Security Practices
RSA CONFERENCE 2004 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA.— The RSA® Conference Awards are a tradition recognizing recipients’ ongoing contributions to the advancement of information security. The awards committee, comprised of members of the industry, academic community and public sector, honored the following: mathematics, Professor Silvio Micali, MIT; public policy, U.S. Senator Robert Bennett; and best security practices, Eric Guerrino, Bank of New York. Additionally, Jim Bidzos, retiring RSA Conference chairman, was presented with a special RSA Conference Award for Lifetime Achievement during opening ceremonies, recognizing him for his contributions to the information security industry and the RSA Conference.
“The RSA Conference Awards pay tribute to individuals and organizations that challenge and strive to advance the current standards in information security,” said Sandra Toms LaPedis, general manager of the RSA Conferences. “With the challenges security professionals faced this past year, it’s important to take a moment and recognize industry leaders and create an opportunity to share the latest developments and best practices of information security innovators.”
Field of Mathematics Award Winner: Professor Silvio Micali The RSA Conference Award for mathematics is designed to recognize innovation and ongoing contribution in the field of cryptography. Dr. Burton Kaliski of RSA Laboratories presented this award to Professor Silvio Micali.
Professor Micali has been devoted to the study and development of cryptography from the time of its establishment and has contributed greatly to the growth of the field. His research has led to the development of key topics including cryptographically strong pseudo random number generators, probabilistic encryption, zero knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, fair public-key escrow systems and chosen message attack secure digital signatures. Additionally, Professor Micali continues to contribute to this field through his teaching, guiding others to the advancement of cryptography. Many of the students he has advised have established influential research programs of their own.
Field of Public Policy Award Winner: U.S. Senator Robert Bennett, Republican
The RSA Conference Award for Public Policy is designed to recognize significant contributions and leadership in the national cryptography and electronic security policy discussion in the past calendar year. This award was presented to Senator Robert Bennett by Rick White, CEO of TechNet, a national network of senior executives of leading technology companies.
Senator Bennett is being recognized for his dedication to the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force and his contributions to cyber security and critical infrastructure protection issues in the Senate. Senator Bennett also played an important role in the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which included several key information security provisions. He remains a chief supporter of information security as a vital national policy issue and continues to be the primary contact in the Senate on cyber security and critical infrastructure protection.
Field of Security Practices Award Winner: Eric Guerrino SVP, CISSP, The Bank of New York
The RSA Conference Award for Security Practices recognizes outstanding contributions in commercial applications of cryptography - particularly those that provide clear value to the end user, or recognizes outstanding achievement in the practice of security within an organization. Michael Rasmussen, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and an analyst in Forrester's Security research group presented this award to Eric Guerrino and the Bank of New York.
While The Bank of New York has always been a leader in information security, the company has further developed its security standards through the driven efforts of Senior Vice President Eric Guerrino. Over the past year, The Bank of New York implemented a comprehensive program to improve the process of evaluating and mitigating risk associated with their information systems. In addition to his remarkable work at The Bank of New York, Guerrino has been a long time pioneer of information security in the financial services industry, whose contributions include serving as a director of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS/ISAC); a board member and co-chairman of the Financial Institutions Data Evaluation and Security, LLC (FIDES) which operated the BITS Financial Services Security Lab, and a member of the BITS Security & Risk Assessment Executive Committee. Mr. Guerrino also is a member of the DHS-sponsored "Security Across the Software Development Life Cycle" Task Force and is co-chair of its Patch Management Subgroup.
Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Jim Bidzos, former conference chair and VP of information security
The RSA Conference Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of information security honors the individual who has proven to be a visionary, pioneer, entrepreneur and industry leader. Art Coviello, RSA Security CEO, along with RSA founders, Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len Adleman had the privilege of presenting Jim Bidzos with his award.
Jim Bidzos’ information security career began in 1986 when his company created cryptology software and successfully turned his technology into a major part of the security industry. Upon joining RSA Data Security, Mr. Bidzos co-founded one of the world’s premier research organizations, RSA Laboratories, in 1989 and founded the RSA Conference in 1991. Throughout the 1990s, he continued to be an industry leader in the fight against government control of encryption with representatives from virtually all of the computer industry at his side. He also worked to develop Internet standards for encryption and digital signatures and then made it a personal goal to educate professionals on the importance of these standards. This award was appropriately presented to Mr. Bidzos on the eve of his retirement as chairman of the RSA Conference.
About the RSA Conference
Now in its 13th year, the RSA Conference brings together decision-makers and influencers from all major markets, including consumer, education, financial, government, computer networking, telecommunications, Wall Street and the media for one of the industry’s premier information security and cryptography events. Later in the year, RSA Conference 2004 continues in Japan and in Europe. For more information, visit www.rsaconference.com.
