Oral History Interview with Dr. Paul van Oorschot

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 is with computer security and cryptography pioneer Paul van Oorschot. He begins by recounting his time in high school, and how he obtained both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Waterloo, where he played on the basketball team. He tells of Wes Graham' influence and how working within the University of Waterloo's Computer Systems Group led him to develop interests in computer science which grew out of his longtime interest in mathematics. He began working at Bell-Northern Research (BNR) and discusses his research there. He transitioned into academe and a Professorship in Computer Science in 2002 with the Canada Research Chairs Program at Carleton University. He discusses public key infrastructure in industry and research in this area during the 1990s, and also how he and his students got into graphical password schemes. He shares briefly about his 20 patents, mostly in certificates and certificate management. He relates what the “crypto wars” were like from a political economy context in Canada. He moves on to offer context to the textbooks he has written. He relates his philosophy in teaching undergraduate and graduate students. And he also touches upon cryptocurrency from technical and societal perspective. Finally, he reflects on the implications of artificial intelligence, as well as on solving problems of interest to society and professional incentives.