RSA Conference Awards

Winners will be announced during the keynote sessions at RSA® Conference 2012 in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday, February 28, 2012.

Established in 1998, the RSA Conference Awards are presented to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of individuals in the field of cryptography, public policy and information security. Review previous award winners.

We acknowledge excellence in three categories:

Excellence in Mathematics

Award Recommendation:
Prof. Eli Biham, Isreal
Dr. Mitsuru Matsui, Japan

Groundbreaking work on the cryptanalysis of symmetric-key ciphers
The committee proposes to confer the award on two scientists, Prof. Eli Biham (Israel) and Dr. Mitsuru Matsui (Japan), for their groundbreaking work on the cryptanalysis of symmetric-key ciphers. Biham co-discovered the technique of differential cryptanalysis with Adi Shamir in the late 1980s, while Matsui introduced the technique of linear cryptanalysis in 1993.

Committee Chair: Ari Juels

Excellence in Public Policy

Award Recommendation:
Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chair of the House Republican Task Force on Cybersecurity

Congressman Mac Thornberry
A fifth generation Texan, Mac Thornberry has strong ties to the people he serves in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mac is a lifelong resident of the 13th District of Texas. His family has been ranching in the area since 1881 - a family business in which Mac remains actively involved.
Mac has established himself as a leader in national security, an area in which he continues to be given new responsibilities and opportunities to help advance the security of our nation.  He serves as the Vice Chairman of the Armed Services Committee where he also leads the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats.  He also continues to serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
In early 2011, Mac was tapped by the Speaker of the House and Majority Leader to spearhead a Cybersecurity Task Force to guide House legislative action on this growing national security and economic threat. Well-respected by Members on both sides of the aisle for his insight and leadership, they asked Mac to chair a group of lawmakers representing nine major committees of jurisdiction. The charge was to make recommendations in a number of areas including updating existing laws, protecting critical infrastructure, and sharing cybersecurity information. On October 5, 2011, the Task Force released its recommendations, which have received a favorable response from Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate, as well as the White House, private businesses, and other outside organizations.  

Mac is also widely respected as an innovator and strategic thinker.  He was one of the first in Congress to recognize the need to confront the threat of terrorism. Six months before the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, Mac introduced a bill to create a new Department of Homeland Security, which formed the basis of legislation signed into law by President Bush 20 months later. He has also played a major role in shaping national policy on transformation of the military and strategic nuclear issues. In addition, he is at the forefront of efforts in Congress to protect the country from threats ranging from terrorist attacks to nuclear proliferation.

Committee Chair: Shannon Kellogg

Excellence in Security Practices

Finalist
1. Phil Agcaoili, CISO, Cox Communications, Inc. and Cyber Security Committee Co-Chair of the FCC CSRIC

Phil Agcaoili
Phil Agcaoili has been a change agent and transformation leader in the Technology and Information Security industries for over 20 years and is the Chief Information Security Officer at Cox Communications. He has helped shape the direction of cyber security for US Telecoms through his appointment as the committee co-chair of the FCC CSRIC, and is helping to shape cyber security as a founding member of the NCTA Cyber Security Work Group. He is also guiding the direction of cloud computing as a founding member of the Cloud Security Alliance and as a co-inventor and co-author of the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM),GRC Stack, and STAR (Cloud Security Registry), and provides privacy and trust guidance as a Ponemon Institute Distinguished Fellow. Mr.Agcaoili has led security teams and has represented GE, VeriSign, Alcatel, Scientific-Atlanta, Cisco, Dell, and Cox Communications in their respective Corporate Security, Privacy, Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Councils and Committees, co-founded several companies and sold them during the Dot.Com era, secured many of the largest global companies, safely connected them at the start of the Internet era, and safeguarded the privacy for hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. He is an entrepreneur and investor, serves on the boards of several companies, and many of his protegés lead other global security teams or started their own companies.

Committee Comments:

• “Phil has taken action to try and provide standards on Cloud Security when no one else would or could.  For that alone I would give him the award.  He also has done outstanding work bringing the telecom industry security folk together in a very practical way through the CSRIC.”
• “Phil has made measurable contributions on very important security working groups. The CSA specifically has the potential to dramatically affect information security risk profile for many organizations. Some of the outputs from that group have already influenced security in many organizations.”
• “Phil’s work in the Cloud Security Alliance is really outstanding. The definition of the CCM and GRC stack will (in my opinion) be very important for the future success of cloud computing, especially for adoption by entries customers. One of the key impediments in Cloud adoption is the lack of trust. Especially the CCM is a very good instrument which will increase trust in cloud solutions – if vendors use it in the way it was invented. Phil’s achievement as security practitioner is seeing the need for standardized controls in cloud computing and then making it happen quite fast.”
• “Phil has a long history of leading edge security practices and is a well-known supporter and developer of security standards and practices.  He participates in several round tables and is very generous in sharing his expertise with others.”  
• “Phil’s nomination is quite well written and provides great detail to substantiate his accomplishments in the cloud space.  The accomplishments re cloud computing are quite timely and demonstrate service not only to Phil and his company, but to the larger security community as well.”

Committee Chair: Laura Robinson

Lifetime Achievement Award

Marty Hellman, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

Martin E. Hellman, Professor Emeritus at Stanford, is best known for his invention, with Diffie and Merkle, of public key cryptography. In addition to many other uses, this technology forms the basis for secure transactions on the Internet. He has also been a long-time contributor to the computer privacy debate, starting with the issue of DES key size in 1975 and culminating with service (1994-96) on the National Research Council's Committee to Study National Cryptographic Policy, whose main recommendations have since been implemented. Prior to joining Stanford’s faculty in 1971, Hellman was at IBM’s Watson Research Center and served as an Assistant Professor of EE at MIT. Hellman 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.

“This year’s RSA Conference Awards winners have shown what it takes to be true leaders and role models in mathematics, public policy and security,” said Sandra Toms LaPedis, Area Vice President and General Manager of RSA Conference. “As pioneers in their field that have contributed lasting value to their organizations, these recipients have helped drive the information security agenda. We are thankful to this year’s winners and hope many follow in their footsteps.”

If you have any questions about the RSA Conference 2012 Awards program, please email rsaconferenceawards@rsaconference.com.