Bruce Schneier

Bruce Schneier (born January 15 1963) is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security ^*.

Education

Originally from New York, Schneier currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Schneier has a Master's in computer science degree from American University and a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University of Rochester. Before Counterpane, he worked at the United States Department of Defense and then Bell Labs.

Writing on cryptography

Schneier's Applied Cryptography is a popular and widely regarded reference work for cryptography. Schneier has designed or co-designed several cryptographic algorithms, including the Blowfish, Twofish and MacGuffin block ciphers, and the Yarrow and Fortuna cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generators. Solitaire is a cryptographic algorithm developed by Schneier for use by people without access to a computer, called Pontifex in Neal Stephenson's novel Cryptonomicon.

However, Schneier now denounces his early success as a naive, mathematical, and ivory tower view of what is inherently a people problem. In Applied Cryptography, he implies that correctly implemented algorithms and technology promise safety and secrecy, and that following security protocol ensures security, regardless of the behavior of others. Schneier now argues that the incontrovertible mathematical guarantees miss the point. As he describes in Secrets and Lies, a business which uses RSA encryption to protect its data without considering how the cryptographic keys are handled by employees on "complex, unstable, buggy" computers has failed to properly protect the information. An actual security solution that includes technology, must also take into account the vagaries of hardware, software, networks, people, economics, and business. Schneier is now referring people trying to implement actually secure systems to his new book with Niels Ferguson, Practical Cryptography.

Schneier writes a freely available monthly Internet newsletter on computer and other security issues, Crypto-Gram, as well as a security blog ^* . He is frequently quoted in the press on computer and other security issues, pointing out flaws in security and cryptographic implementations ranging from biometrics to the post-September 11 airline security measures.

Miscellaneous

Bruce Schneier is mentioned in the blockbuster book The Da Vinci Code. Page 199 of the American hardcover edition states:

"Da Vinci had been a cryptography pioneer, Sophie knew, although he was seldom given credit. Sophie's university instructors, while presenting computer encryption methods for securing data, praised modern cryptologists like Zimmermann and Schneier but failed to mention that it was Leonardo who had invented one of the first rudimentary forms of public key encryption centuries ago."

Publications

Schneier, Bruce. Applied Cryptography, 2e ISBN 0471117099
Schneier, Bruce. Secrets and Lies ISBN 0471253111
Ferguson, Niels; Schneier, Bruce. Practical Cryptography ISBN 0471223573
Schneier, Bruce. Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World ISBN 0387026207

External links

RSS Feed

Schneier on Security