Dan Geer

Dan Geer is a computer security analyst and risk management specialist. He is recognized for raising awareness of critical computer and network security issues before the risks were widely understood, and for ground-breaking work on the economics of security.

Geer is currently the chief information security officer for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in technology to support the Central Intelligence Agency.^[1]

In 2003, Geer's 24-page report entitled "CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly" was released by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). The paper argued that Microsoft's dominance of desktop computer operating systems is a threat to national security. Geer was fired (from consultancy @Stake) the day the report was made public.^[2] Geer has cited subsequent changes in the Vista operating system (notably a location-randomization feature) as evidence that Microsoft "accepted the paper."^[3]

Geer received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, where he was a member of the Theta Deuteron charge of Theta Delta Chi fraternity. He also received a Ph.D. in biostatistics from Harvard, and has worked for:

• Health Sciences Computing Facility, Harvard School of Public Health
• Project Athena, MIT
• Digital Equipment Corporation
• Geer Zolot & Associates
• OpenVision Technologies
• Open Market
• Certco
• @stake (acquired by Symantec in November 2004)
• Verdasys

He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2011, Geer received USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award ^[4].

References

1. ^ Dan Geer leaves Verdasys for In-Q-Tel, by Ryan Naraine, ZDNet, May 28, 2008. Accessed 2008-07-09.
2. ^ "Critique of Microsoft eyed in firing: Ex-tech officer claims report cost his job", by Jay Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, September 27, 2003. Reprint. Accessed 2008-07-09.
3. ^ Dan Geer Helping CIA, CSOonline.com, August 4, 2008.
4. ^ [USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award "Flame Award"]. USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award. 

External links

• All Geered Up: An Interview With Dan Geer By Richard Thieme
• Letter to Massachusetts Senator Marc Pacheco on OpenDocument Standards by Dan Geer
• Oh Dan Geer, where art thou? by Ellen Messmer
• Security of Information When Economics Matters by Dan Geer (PDF format)
• The Shrinking Perimeter: Making the Case for Data-Level Risk Management by Dan Geer (PDF format)
• Dan Geer's Convergence Time based security and the convergence of both digital and physical security (PDF format)
• Dan Geer's April 23, 2007 Testimony to Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology (PDF Format)

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