Russ Housley
More info
- Role
- IETF Chair 2007–2013
- Known for
- PKIX profile of X.509, CMS, CCM
- Spec
- RFC 5652
The man whose name sits in the header of a surprising share of the internet's security standards.
If you have ever trusted a certificate, you have probably trusted Housley's prose. He was lead author of RFC 2459 (1999), the first internet profile of X.509, and worked on its successors through RFC 5280. He also wrote the Cryptographic Message Syntax (RFC 5652), the format underneath S/MIME and code signing, and in 2003 co-specified CCM mode with Doug Whiting and Niels Ferguson.
After years in the IETF's security leadership he chaired the organisation from 2007 to 2013. It isn't glamorous work, but it is how cryptography actually ends up deployed: someone has the stamina to finish the RFC.