Oral History Interview with Dr. Stephen Thomas Kent

Abstract

This oral history interview is sponsored by and a part of NSF 2202484 “Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy,” at the Charles Babbage Institute. The interview begins with Steve Kent recounting his time in high school, and telling of how he became interested in computer science and attended Loyola University and then MIT later as a graduate student. He related the influence of Jerome (Jerry) Saltzer and Mike Schroeder on his master thesis and his career. He also discussed the experience with Dave Clark as his mentor. He shared his experiences working at a number of prominent organizations such as RAND, BBN, MITRE, partnership with Trusted Information Systems, and later his work serving on the Internet Architecture Board, GTE Internet Working Security Practices Center, and BBN Communications. Kent discussed his involvement in various projects, including Black-Crypto-Red, a crypto module at FIPS 140-1 level 3, Privacy Enhanced Mail, and his work at the IEEE Security and Privacy Symposium. Moreover, he also offered context to various research projects, from his doctoral dissertation to the report on Flip Jack algorithm, reports in 2000 from the Committee for Authentication Technologies, the Privacy Implications for Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council and his Securing Border Gateway Protocol article. He provides his perspective on the Orange Book, security economics, certification authorities, the Clipper Chip issue, and the impact of AI on security.