Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin, Resume

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Contact
Information

530 E86th St #3C
NYC, NY 10028, USA

+1 (914) 744-7934

tshb@acm.org

http://cryptocracy.net

 

Objective

To work in computer security in an environment where security is considered mission critical, innovation is valued, and an exciting team of colleagues exists.

 

Skills

Computer security research and development, including 6 years of innovative attacks and defenses; Security administration; System and network administration in heterogeneous UNIX, Windows, and MacOS environments; Data forensics; Clandestine communication.  I have taught and professionally used C, C++, Java, Perl, and I have used but not taught machine assembly language on several platforms and many other programming languages.  I communicate well, am experienced in media relations, and my work has been published in many academic venues.  I perform peer review for several publishers.

 

Technologies

Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, Cisco IOS, Active Directory and LDAP, Matlab, C, C++, Java, Perl, Implantable Medical Devices, Wireless Systems, RFID

 

Experience

ETH Zurich (The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Zurich, Switzerland
2008 – 2010
Research Assistant

 

Computer security research leading to two top tier publications (please see my Curriculum Vitae for details on academic achievements).  Developed prototype attacks and defenses on RFID and medical devices.  My ETH research was coordinated with my employment by IBM such that during periods of overlapping employment I performed 40% academic research at ETH and 60% research and development at IBM.

 

 

IBM Research Zurich, Zurich Research Laboratory

Zurich, Switzerland

2008 – 2009

Researcher

 

Responsibilities included refactoring and maintaining the IBM Identity Mixer federated identity management system; security innovation leading to 3 patent applications (pending); security audit of product source code leading to a major version release; development of prototype security systems; public and media relations including representing IBM’s security viewpoints to members of several different European governments.  Computer security research leading to three publications.

 

 

IBM Research Zurich, Zurich Research Laboratory

Zurich, Switzerland

Summer 2007 – Winter 2007

Research Intern

 

Refactoring and planning of IBM Identity Mixer; built and demonstrated Identity Mixer prototype on mobile computing platform (cell phone).

 

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Amherst, MA, USA

2004 – Spring 2007

Research Assistant

 

Research leading to several publications including winning one of the highest awards for research in computer security.  Assisted with development of new graduate level advanced security curriculum.  Development of prototypes demonstrating novel security attacks and defenses.  Reverse engineering and binary patching of RFID devices. Reverse engineering of implantable medical devices.  Media relations including appearances on several major networks and close work with New York Times correspondent. 

 

Riverdale Country School

Bronx, NY, USA

2000 – 2004

System and Network Administrator, Teacher

 

Responsible for information security and system administration of a heterogeneous network of Windows, Macintosh, and Cisco clients and servers including planning, deployment, and maintenance of firewall, routers, file and application servers, backup clients and servers, anti-malware, and internet connectivity.  Led several major infrastructure changes including migration from Windows NT to Windows 2000 servers, migration of administrative infrastructure to Windows Active Directory, transition from legacy to Cisco firewall and edge security.  Led forensic investigation of user behavior including identifying several policy violations as well as exoneration of innocent employees.  Teaching responsibilities included Advance Placement computer science.

 

Panix

New York, NY, USA

Summer 1997

Intern System Administrator

 

NetBSD and other UNIX system and network administration.   Planned, wrote, and deployed administrative tools for network health and fault monitoring.

 

RedTop, LLC

New York, NY, USA

Summer 1996

Intern System Administrator

 

Planning and deployment of experimental pre-release Windows NT network.

 

Education

ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Zurich, Switzerland

2008 – 2010

Ph. D. Studies; ABD

 

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Amherst, MA, USA

2004 – 2007
M.S. in Computer Science

Thesis topic: Cloning resistant anonymous credentials

 

Columbia University

New York City, NY, USA

2003 – 2004
Continuing education in computer science

 

Yale University

New Haven, CT, USA

1996 – 2000
B.S. In Computer Science

 

Awards

IEEE Security and Privacy Best Paper Award

2008

 

Selected Media Coverage

“A Heart Device Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks”
The New York Times, March 12 2008

 

“Heart-Device Hacking Risks Seen”

The Wall Street Journal, March 12 2008

 

“Security researcher shows just how easy it is to steal personal data from RFID-bearing credit cards”

Live interview on Fox news, December 2006

 

“'Smart' cards are quick, but are they safe?”

NBC's Today Show, October 26, 2006

 

“Researchers See Privacy Pitfalls in No-Swipe Credit Cards

The New York Times, October 23, 2006

 

Memberships

International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR)
International Financial Cryptography Association (IFCA)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

 

Languages

Superior English (800/800 GRE Verbal and 6/6 Writing), Basic German

 

Hobbies

Rock Climbing, Music, Captain Emeritus of the UMASS Tae Kwon Do team, 10 year volunteer EMT in the South Bronx.

 

Curriculum Vitae

Please see my curriculum vitae http://cryptocracy.net/cv.html for committee work, peer review, and further academic details.