Vigil Security, LLC provides computer and networking security consulting.

Russ Housley formed Vigil Security, LLC in September 2002 with the goal of helping customers design and implement diligently watchful security solutions.

 

Russ Housley is co-author of two books published by John Wiley & Sons:

·        Planning for PKI: Best Practices Guide for Deploying Public Key Infrastructure

·        Implementing Email and Security Tokens: Current Standards, Tools, and Practices

 

Russ Housley has worked in the computer and network security field since 1982.  Before starting Vigil Security, Russ worked at the Air Force Data Services Center (AFDSC), Xerox Special Information Systems (XSIS), SPYRUS, and RSA Laboratories.  His security research and standards interests include security protocols, certificate management, cryptographic key distribution, and high assurance design and development practices.  He has been active in many security standards organizations; his recent focus has been on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

In March 2007, Russ accepted the position of IETF Chair, making him the chair of the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), a voting member of the Internet Activities Board (IAB), a voting member of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC), and a Trustee for the IETF Trust.

From March 2003 to March 2007, Russ served in the position of IETF Security Area Director, making him a member of the IESG.  Prior to accepting the Area Director position, he chaired the IETF Secure MIME (S/MIME) Working Group, and he has contributed to several cornerstone Internet PKI standards (including RFC 5280).  In November 2004, Russ was recognized by the IEEE 802.11 working group for his contributions to IEEE 802.11i-2004, which fixes the severe security shortcoming of the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP).  Russ provided major contributions to several security protocols, including the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS), SDNS Security Protocol 4 (SP4), SDNS Message Security Protocol (MSP), IEEE 802.10b Secure Data Exchange (SDE) Protocol, and IEEE 802.10c Key Management Protocol.

Russ received his B.S. in computer science from Virginia Tech in 1982, and he received his M.S. in computer science from George Mason University in 1992.

Click here to learn more about Russ' technical contributions to the IETF.

Click here to learn more about Russ' technical contributions to IEEE 802.

To contact Russ Housley, send email to housley@vigilsec.com.