Matt Blaze
{{Short description|American researcher}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Matt Blaze
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| image = Matt Blaze DEF CON 20.jpg
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| caption = Matt Blaze at DEF CON 20 in 2012
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| citizenship = American
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| fields = Computer security
Distributed systems
| workplaces = Georgetown University
University of Pennsylvania
Bell Labs
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| alma_mater = Princeton University
Columbia University
Hunter College{{cite web|title=Penn Engineering - Research Directory Profile|url=https://www.seas.upenn.edu/directory/profile.php?ID=8|publisher=Princeton University|accessdate=14 July 2016}}
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| known_for = Cryptography
Trust management
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| website = {{URL|mattblaze.org|MattBlaze.org}}
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Matt Blaze is an American researcher who focuses on the areas of secure systems, cryptography, and trust management. He is currently the McDevitt Chair of Computer Science and Law at Georgetown University,{{cite web|url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/one-of-worlds-leading-cryptographers-to-join-georgetown-faculty/|title=One of World's Leading Computer and Network Security Experts Joins Georgetown Faculty|website=law.georgetown.edu|accessdate=1 March 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.meritalk.com/articles/matthew-blaze-moves-to-georgetown-university/|title=Matthew Blaze Moves to Georgetown University|website=Meritalk.com|accessdate=1 March 2019}} and is on the board of directors of the Tor Project.{{cite news|last1=Perlroth|first1=Nicole|title=Tor Project, a Digital Privacy Group, Reboots With New Board|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/technology/tor-project-a-digital-privacy-group-reboots-with-new-board.html|accessdate=13 July 2016|work=The New York Times|date=13 July 2016}}
Work
Blaze received his PhD in computer science from Princeton University.
In 1992, while working for AT&T, Blaze implemented a strong cryptographic package known as "CFS", the Cryptographic File System, for Unix, since ported to Linux.[http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6381 "Using CFS, the Cryptographic Filesystem"], Oct 15, 2002, Jerry Sweet, Linux Journal CFS uses Network File System as its transport mechanism, allowing users to encrypt selected directory hierarchies, but mount them unencrypted after providing the key. In November, 1993, he presented a paper on this project, "A Cryptographic File System for Unix", at the 1st ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security.[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=BA66297EC1C2FE1B378F4053195064EE?doi=10.1.1.45.7141&rep=rep1&type=pdf "A Cryptographic File System for Unix"], Matt Blaze, att.com Blaze also published a paper "Key Management in an Encrypting File System", in the Proceedings USENIX Summer 1994 Technical Conference.
In the early 1990s, at the height of the "crypto war", Blaze was a participant in the Cypherpunks mailing list{{cite web|last1=Rodger|first1=Will|title=Cypherpunks RIP|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11/30/cypherpunks_rip/|website=The Register|accessdate=14 July 2016|date=30 November 2001|quote=Past participants include noted cryptographers such as Matt Blaze ...}} and in 1994, he found a critical weakness in the wiretapping mechanisms of the Clipper chip.{{cite news|last1=Markoff|first1=John|authorlink1=John Markoff|title=At AT&T, No Joy on Clipper Flaw|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/03/business/at-at-t-no-joy-on-clipper-flaw.html|accessdate=13 July 2016|work=The New York Times|date=3 June 1994}}
His paper, Protocol Failure in the Escrowed Encryption Standard,{{cite journal|url=http://www.mattblaze.org/papers/eesproto.pdf |title=Protocol Failure in the Escrowed Encryption Standard |first=Matt |last=Blaze |date=August 20, 1994 |journal=Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security |pages=59–67}} pointed out that the Clipper's escrow system had a serious vulnerability: a brute-force attack could allow the Clipper chip to be used as an encryption device, while disabling the key escrow capability.[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/national/30tap.html Security Flaw Allows Wiretaps to Be Evaded, Study Finds]", John Schwartz and John Markoff, New York Times, November 30, 2005[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/10/business/international-technology-between-a-hacker-and-a-hard-place.html Between a Hacker and a Hard Place]", Peter H. Lewis, The New York Times, April 10, 1995 Later during this time, he was one of the authors of a seminal paper on calculating secure key lengths.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fortify.net/related/cryptographers.html|title=Minimal key lengths for symmetric ciphers to provide adequate commercial security|first1=Matt|last1=Blaze|authorlink1=Matt Blaze|first2=Whitefield|last2=Diffie|authorlink2=Whitfield Diffie|first3=Ronald L.|last3=Rivest|authorlink3=Ron Rivest|first4=Bruce|last4=Schneier|authorlink4=Bruce Schneier|first5=Tsutomu|last5=Shimomura|authorlink5=Tsutomu Shimomura|first6=Eric|last6=Thompson|first7=Michael|last7=Wiener|date=January 1996|publisher=Fortify|accessdate=14 October 2011}}
After leaving Bell, Blaze was an associate professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania{{cite web|url=https://www.seas.upenn.edu/directory/profile.php?ID=8|title=Penn Engineering Profile|website=Seas.upenn.edu|accessdate=1 March 2019}} from 2004 to 2018. Blaze has noted a long-term conflict with the university's locksmith over his master key & safecracking publications.{{cite tweet|number=1553256312783441922|user=mattblaze|title=So we got into this vicious (to him) or virtuous (to me) cycle, where every time I'd do any researching or give any…|date=30 July 2022}} He then joined the faculty at Georgetown University, on a joint appointment at Georgetown Law and the department of computer science.
In 2015, Blaze was part of a team of proponents that included Steven M. Bellovin, J. Alex Halderman, Nadia Heninger, and Andrea M. Matwyshyn who successfully proposed a security research exemption to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Section 1201 Rulemaking: Sixth Triennial Proceeding to Determine Exemptions to the Prohibition on Circumvention|url=https://cdn.loc.gov/copyright/1201/2015/registers-recommendation.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}
In July 2016, the complete board of the Tor Project resigned and announced a new board, including Matt Blaze.[https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/13/12176262/tor-project-new-board-members-announced "Tor Project installs new board of directors after Jacob Appelbaum controversy"], Colin Lecher, July 13, 2016, The Verge[https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-project-elects-new-board%C2%A0-directors "The Tor Project Elects New Board of Directors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806172413/https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-project-elects-new-board%C2%A0-directors |date=2017-08-06 }}, July 13th, 2016, Tor.org
In 2018, crypto Visa card company Monaco paid Blaze an undisclosed amount for the rights to the domain Crypto.com.{{cite news|last=Russell|first=Jon|title=Crypto Visa card company Monaco just spent millions to buy Crypto.com|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/05/crypto-com-mco/|work=TechCrunch|date=8 July 2018}} Blaze had registered the domain in 1993 and sellers have estimated that the value of the domain was US$5–10 million.{{Cite web|last=Robertson|first=Adi|date=2018-07-06|title=Crypto.com, the multimillion-dollar cryptography domain whose owner refused to sell, has been sold|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/6/17540818/crypto-com-domain-matt-blaze-monaco-mco-cryptology-sale|access-date=November 19, 2021|website=The Verge}}
Education
- Ph.D., Computer Science, January 1993. Princeton University. (Dissertation: Caching in Large-Scale Distributed File Systems)
- M.A., Computer Science, June 1989. Princeton University
- M.S., Computer Science, May 1988. Columbia University
- B.S., January 1986. City University of New York (Hunter College)
Publications
- Ioannidis, John; Blaze, Matt. [http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/ioannidis93architecture.html The Architecture and Implementation of Network-Layer Security Under Unix], in Proc. of the 4th USENIX Security Symp., pages 29–39, Santa Clara, California, US, October 1993.
- Bellovin, Steven M.; Blaze, Matt; Landau, Susan; Pell, Stephanie K. [http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/assets/articlePDFs/v30/30HarvJLTech1.pdf It's Too Complicated: How the Internet Upends Katz, Smith, and Electronic Surveillance Law], in Harvard Journal of Law and Technology Volume 30.1, pages 1–101. February 2017.
- Bellovin, Steven M.; Blaze, Matt; Landau, Susan; Owsley, Brian L. Seeking the Source: Criminal Defendants’ Constitutional Right to Source Code in Ohio State Technology Law Journal Volume 17.1, pages 1–73. December 2020.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Modern cryptographers
Category:American computer security academics
Category:Researchers in distributed computing
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Hunter College alumni
Category:Columbia University alumni