Two cryptographers who "lay the foundation for today’s online
security industry" have won the 2016 Turing Award.
The award, which recognises major and important
contributions to computing, was given to Whitfield Diffie and Martin E. Hellman
for their "critical contributions" to modern cryptography.
Diffie, who is former chief security officer for Sun
Microsystems, and Hellman, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at
Stanford University, developed the technology to communicate privately over a
secure channel. That process is now used by millions of people every day when
they use online banking, shop online or send emails. It is also seen by privacy
advocates as being under attack by governments who
want to unpick its secrets in the name of security.
Alexander
Wolf, president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), said that
Diffie and Hellman had done "groundbreaking" work.
By Emily Reynolds
With many thanks to Wired UK
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