Class of 2013 inductees for National Cyber Security Hall of Fame chosen

The National Cyber Security Hall of Fame recently selected five individuals from a pool of over 250 nominees to be inducted to the National Cyber Security Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2013. The five inductees included Willis H. Ware, James Anderson, Eugene Spafford, David Bell, and James Bidzos.

As part of the ranking and reviewing process, nominations were made by established cybersecurity organizations and ranked by the Hall’s board of advisors based on criteria in five categories: Technology, Policy, Public Awareness, Education, and Business. The induction ceremony, which will be held at a gala banquet in Baltimore, will be held on October 9 to usher the five inductees into the National Cyber Security Hall of Fame.

While all five of the inductees are considered cybersecurity pioneers, each have their own claims to fame and have made different contributions to the field.

Ware, who has a Ph.D. from Princeton University, is considered a pioneer in the field of computer technology. As the Chair of a Defense Department committee, he was the first to approach the subject of information system security as not just a technical matter, but also a policy issue.

Widely known for analyzing the “Morris Worm,” one of the first computer worms, Spafford is an established leader in computing and information security. Though he has spent time serving as a reputable security and intelligence consultant, he was also the co-inventor of the first free intrusion detection system, Tripwire.

Those have heard of the “Bell-La Padula model” may be familiar with Bell, who was one of its co-authors. The Bell-La Padula model went on to become the sole security model referenced in the Trusted Computer Systems Evaluation Criteria.

Bidzos is the former CEO of RSA Data Security, working there for 13 years from 1986 to 1999 and helping establish it as one of the country’s leading cryptography companies and creating the RSA Conference in 1991. He now leads VeriSign, known for its naming services and network intelligence and availability services, which he founded 1995.

Anderson, meanwhile, is the only member of the Class of 2013 that will be inducted posthumously. Aside from having conceived the ideas of contaminated media, the reference monitor, and the “2-card loader” issue — a kind of trap door that allows the alteration of a deployed OS by inserting arbitrary code — he is also essentially created the field of intrusion detection.