In your opinion, which company or person has had the biggest impact on the information security industry within the last 10 years, and why?
Trying to determine a single person or company in the past decade who had the biggest impact on information security is sure to hurt your brain in a similar manner to, “why does mankind exist?” That said, I’ll take the approach that a person certainly stands out for their contributions as not just “one of us” but also a person who helped change the rules for how we approach information security research.
Peiter Zatko, perhaps better known as “Mudge”, is a stellar representation of all that can go right in this community we all exist as a part of. Not only was he a member of the L0pht and the Cult of the Dead Cow (CDC), but also a former employee of DARPA and current employee of Google.
I think Mudge stands out to me most for two main points:
1) He is to many of us an icon both of what being a hacker should be like and of a good way to go about things.
2) He showed us that we could “grow up” and still be part of the community, do important work, and wear a suit yet maintain who we are.
The work he did to create the Cyber Fast Track (CFT) during his time with DARPA is a testament to his long-time commitment to those he considers friends and colleagues. That he was able to hackers money from the government to do research in a manner not riddled with red tape is by itself a bit of a miracle.
Having been able to see Mudge speak last year at DEFCON, I was deeply convinced of his focus and love for information security and his dedication to keeping the infosec spirit alive – long hair or not.
That said I’m sure his humility would outweigh any agreement with this short post, but that’s just another sign he deserves a little extra recognition. The people we consider “rock stars” in this industry rarely are, (except for their propensity to enjoy fame) but I think Mudge may pull it off in all of the right ways.
Mark Stanislav | Duo Security | @markstanislav
To find out more about our panel members visit the biographies page.
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.