Contact Information


IBM Research GmbH
Zurich Research Laboratory
Saumerstrasse 4
CH-8803 Ruschlikon, Switzerland

At IBM: +41 44 724 8692
At ETH: +41 44 632 5175

email: tshb@cryptocracy.net
PGP Key

Current geographic location through Dopplr.
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Education


2008 – 2011 (expected)

ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Ph. D. candidate


2004 – 2007

University of Massachusetts Amherst
M.S. in Computer Science
Thesis topic: Cloning resistant anonymous credentials


2003 – 2004

Columbia University
Continuing education in computer science. Research project: “taxi: a Domain Specific Language for Device Driver Authoring”


1996 – 2000

Yale University
B.S. In Computer Science


1990 – 1996

Riverdale Country School
Graduated Cum Laude, and later returned to teach.

Interests


Privacy, security, and identity management in both traditional and pervasive contexts. Biometry.

Awards

IEEE Security and Privacy Best Paper award for Pacemakers and Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators: Software Radio Attacks and Zero-Power Defenses

Peer-Reviewed Publications [bibtex]

Rethinking Accountable Privacy Supporting Services
Jan Camenisch, Thomas Gross,  Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin
ACM Digital Identity Management, October 2008

Pacemakers and Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators: Software Radio Attacks and Zero-Power Defenses

Daniel Halperin, Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin, Benjamin Ransford, Shane S. Clark, Benessa Defend, Will Morgan, Kevin Fu, Tadayoshi Kohno, and William H. Maisel M.D.

Winner: best paper award

IEEE Security and Privacy (Oakland), May 2008

Security and Privacy for Implantable Medical Devices
Daniel Halperin, Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin, Kevin Fu, Tadayoshi Kohno, William H. Maisel M.D.

IEEE Pervasive Computing, January 2008

Vulnerabilities in First-Generation RFID-enabled Credit Cards
Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin, Daniel V. Bailey, Kevin Fu, Ari Juels, and Tom O’Hare

Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2007
Scarborough, Trinidad/Tobago

Nonesuch: A Mix Network with Sender Unobservability Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin, Andrei Serjantov, and Benessa Defend

Workshop for Privacy in Electronic Society 2006
Alexandria, VA

Privacy for Public Transit
Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin, Hee-Jin Chae, Benessa Defend, and Kevin Fu

Privacy Enhancing Technologies 2006
Cambridge University, England

Panels and invited talks

Invited talk: Anonymous Credentials in Electronic ID Advanced Applications for Electric Identity Cards (ADAPID) 2008
Leuven, Belgium
Invited talk: Privacy Supporting Identity Systems - Theory Meets Practice The International Conference on Java Technology (Jazoon) 2008
Zurich, Switzerland
Invited talk: Privacy and Identity Management Secure Vehicular Communications: Results and Challenges Ahead
February 2008
EPFL, Lausanne Switzerland

Panel: Ethics in Privacy Research
Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin (Proposer and Moderator), Panelists: Caspar Bowden, George Danezis (co-proposer), Steven Murdoch, Andreas Pfitzmann, Gene Tsudik

Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium 2007
Ottawa, CA

Program Committee Memberships


Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium, HotPETs co-chair

2008, 2009


Workshop for Privacy in Electronic Society: Private Information Management session chair

2006, 2007

Other peer review

Journal of Computer Science 2008
ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (TISSEC) 2008
IEEE Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems (SRDS) 2008

IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (Oakland)

2006 - 2008


Financial Cryptography and Data Security

2008


IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing

2008


IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering

2007


Network and Distributed System Security Symposium

2006 - 2007


ACM Communications and Computer Security (CCS)

2007


Workshop on RFID Security (RFIDsec)

2007


International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security

2007


IFIP SEC

2007


IEEE Infocom

2006


Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies

2005

Other Committees and Service


2004 – 2006

Academic Standards and Curriculum Committee of the Graduate School (ASCC)


2004 – 2006

UMASS Graduate Council: the advisory and oversight committee of the graduate school


2004 – 2006

Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Student Information Systems (ACSIS)


2004 – 2006

Elected representative of the computer science department to the Graduate Student Senate


1999 – 2000

Yale University computer science department: elected member of the student advisory committee.


Selected Media Coverage

"A Heart Device Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks" in The New York Times March 12th 2008
"Heart-Device Hacking Risks Seen" in The Wall Street Journal, March 12th 2008
Guest on National Public Radio's Leonard Lopate show to discuss privacy for public transportation, 40 minute interview, March 9, 2007
"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?" on NBC's Today Show, October 26, 2006
"No-Swipe Credit Cards Could Make ID Theft Easier" on ABC's Good Morning America, October 24, 2006
"Researchers See Privacy Pitfalls in No-Swipe Credit Cards" by John Schwartz. In The New York Times October 23, 2006

Popular science and public service


2008 Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner's office: RFID and electronic drivers' licence related subjects.
2008 Consumer Reports: advice on and explaination of RFID related subjects.

Teaching and advising


Spring 2007 – Fall 2007

Honors diploma thesis advisor: Advisor to Timur Alperovich and Shane Clark for research in embedded device security and privacy.


Spring 2006

Research mentor: Mentored Russel Silva on topics in embedded device security and privacy. 


Spring 2005

Teaching Associate (Instructor) cs197c: The C++ Programming Language



Teaching Assistant cs445: Information Systems


Winter 2005

Teaching Associate (Instructor): The Unix Programming Environment


2000 – 2004

AB level Advanced Placement Computer Science
A two semester course of my own design covering most of the ACM CS1 & CS2 curriculum, preparing students for the College Board AP exam.



Introduction to Technology for Grade Nine / Ten
A one semester course covering technology literacy topics and simple programming. In the 2003-2004 school year, I was the curriculum coordinator, coordinating three teachers with 5 sections.


2000 – 2002

Introduction to Technology for Grade Seven

Professional Experience


2008 – 2011 (expected)

IBM Research Zurich
Pre-doctoral researcher for the Cryptography and Security group


Summer 2007

IBM Research Zurich
Intern for the Cryptography and Security group


2000 – 2004

Riverdale Country School Department of Computer Science and Technology
Responsibilities included teaching, system and school administration, curriculum development and planning, large scale technology infrastructure planning and implementation.



Further system administration experience and references available upon request.

Personal


2006-2007 Religious education leader for grade 8 at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, MA


Captain Emeritus of the UMASS Tae Kwon Do team

Memberships


International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR)


International Financial Cryptography Association (IFCA)


Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)


Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)


The Ivy-Northeast Collegiate Taekwondo League (ICTL)