News Release
Contact:
Jennifer Reeves
M/C/C for Revere Security
972-480-8383 x 224
Jennifer_Reeves@mccom.com
Revere Security Appoints Co-Inventor of Public-Key Cryptography Whitfield Diffie as Chief Cryptographer
• Diffie to provide thought leadership in securing pervasive computing
DALLAS. (Feb. 3, 2010) —Revere Security (www.reveresecurity.com),
the leading cryptographic data security solution company for small, power-constrained chips and devices, has brought on industry pioneer Whitfield Diffie as the company's chief cryptographer.
Diffie is best known for the invention of public-key cryptography, which he developed along with Martin Hellman, Ralph Merkle and others in the mid-1970s. The public-key discovery revolutionized cryptography and today stands as the underlying technology for secure Internet commerce. Public-key cryptography makes digitally signed transactions, signatures and confidential communications between buyers and sellers on the Internet possible. When the lock appears closed in the browser window, public-key cryptography is in action.
As chief cryptographer at Revere Security, Diffie will be instrumental in setting out the company’s vision and the technology roadmap to achieve that vision.
“Whitfield Diffie is a legend in the world of information security; and it’s a pleasure and an honor to welcome him to our management team,” said Rick Stephenson, president and CEO of Revere Security. “We are just now bringing Whit onboard officially, but he has been serving as an advisor over the past year.”
Diffie brings the benefit of 35 years of experience in the world of security and privacy. Anyone who has read his papers or heard him speak on the technology and policy aspects of both security and intelligence realizes the unique breadth of his knowledge — an understanding of where we have come from, what’s happening now and where we are going.
Although Diffie’s fascination with cryptography has roots in his childhood, his passion dates back to August 1972. When Larry Roberts – who was running the ARPAnet, the embryo of the Internet – was unable to get the National Security Agency’s (NSA) help with security, he turned to his principal investigators, including Diffie’s boss, Professor John McCarthy, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. McCarthy in turn discussed the problem with his staff, and Diffie took it up with a vengeance. The following spring, Diffie left McCarthy’s lab to pursue cryptography full-time, a decision that put him on the road for most of the next two years. Returning to Stanford in the fall of 1974, Diffie formed an alliance with Martin Hellman of Stanford’s Electrical Engineering Department. In the spring of 1975, Diffie discovered public-key cryptography, which he and Hellman reduced to practice. The Diffie-Hellman protocol, the first usable implementation of public-key cryptography, was presented at the National Computer Conference in June 1976.
After leaving Stanford, Diffie took a position as manager of Secure Systems Research for Northern Telecom and more recently served as chief security officer at Sun Microsystems.
The Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, in a second-generation elliptic curve form, has been adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense as a core component of NSA’s “Suite B” cryptographic algorithms, an unprecedented public standard for the protection of all levels of classified information.
Revere Security’s unique cipher delivers multiple benefits in the myriad environments where resources are constrained: radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless sensor networks, mesh networks, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile computing, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and identification cards such as the Enhanced Driver's License (EDL).
As Diffie views it: “Revere Security has something very rare in the world of cryptographic invention: a system aimed directly at an important problem not addressed by existing technology. By decreasing power consumption and overall resource requirements, Revere Security’s Hummingbird cryptosystem will play an indispensible role in a world of pervasive computing.”
A PDF version of this news is available for download at www.reveresecurity.com/public-key-encryption.pdf.
About Revere Security
Revere Security is a privately owned company specializing in cryptographic data security solutions for small, power-constrained chips and devices. Revere Security’s solutions rely on a remarkably simple, efficient and powerful algorithm developed by Revere Security Co-founder Eric Smith. The unique algorithm has been tested, analyzed and proven successful through rigorous study by former cryptanalysts from the National Security Agency. Revere Security safeguards solutions in embedded systems, RF communications, sensor technologies, mobile computing and more. The company is headquartered in Dallas. For more information on Revere Security, visit www.reveresecurity.com.
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