Stephen (Steve) T. Kent

Designer and developer of user authentication and access control systems as well as other network security systems, Kent has served as Vice President and Chief Scientist for Information Security at BBN Technologies. His R&D activities included the design and development of user authentication and access control systems, network layer encryption and access control systems, secure transport layer protocols, secure e-mail technology, multi-level secure (X.500) directory systems, public-key certification authority systems, and key recovery (key escrow) systems. His most recent work focused on public-key certification infrastructures, security for Internet routing, very high speed IP encryption, and high assurance cryptographic modules.

Kent served as a member of the Internet Architecture Board (1983–1994) and chaired the Privacy and Security Research Group of the Internet Research Task Force (1985–1998), both now under the auspices of the Internet Society. He chaired the Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) from 1990–1995 and co-chaired the Public Key Infrastructure Working Group. Kent is the primary author of the "core" IPsec standards: RFCs 2401, 2402 & 2406.

He has served as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Computer Security (1995–), a Consulting Editor for Security for John Wiley, served on the Board of the Security Research Alliance, and served on the Board of Directors of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (1982–1989). Kent chaired the committee on Authentication Technologies and Their Privacy Implications for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Research Council (2001–2003). He has been a member of the CSTB-NRC Information Systems Trustworthiness Committee (1996–98), which produced the "Trust in Cyberspace" report.

Other NRC service included the committee on Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities (1993–94), the Technical Assessment panel for the NIST Computer Systems Laboratory (1990–1992 & 2000–2005), and the Secure Systems Study Committee (1988–1990). The U.S. Secretary of Commerce appointed him as Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee to Develop a FIPS for Federal Key Management Infrastructure (1996–98). The author of two book chapters and numerous technical papers on network security, Kent has served as a referee, panelist, and Session Chair for a number of conferences.

From 1977 he lectured on the topic of network security on behalf of government agencies, universities, and private companies throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and the Far East. He received his B.S. degree in Mathematics, summa cum laude, from Loyola University of New Orleans, and his S.M., E.E., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kent is a Fellow of the ACM and a member of the Internet Society and Sigma Xi. He also appears in Who's Who in the Northeast and Who's Who of Emerging Leaders.