Clifford Cocks
Cocks’s work illustrates an essential distinction in security history: a result can be independently discovered under classification without shaping the public research community until it is disclosed.
Clifford Cocks is a British mathematician and cryptographer. After research in number theory at Oxford, he joined the UK government cryptographic service in 1973.
Public-key work under classification
Responding to the challenge posed by James Ellis’s non-secret-encryption idea, Cocks developed a practical public-key encryption method in 1973. The work remained classified and was disclosed only in 1997; it therefore did not influence RSA’s independent public development.
Later recognition
The Royal Society credits Cocks with a 1973 practical public-key method and a 1998 identity-based-encryption discovery. He is included here for that carefully documented technical history rather than for a claim of sole priority.
Timeline
- 1950-12-28Born in Prestbury, Cheshire.
- 1972Graduates from King’s College, Cambridge, and researches number theory at Oxford.
- 1973Joins the UK government cryptographic service and develops a practical public-key method.
- 1997GCHQ publicly discloses the earlier work.
- 1998Develops an identity-based-encryption construction.
- 2015Elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
Clifford Cocks
- Type
- Person
- Era
- 1970s-Present
- Born
- 1950
- Known for
- Early public-key encryption at GCHQ; RSA-related construction; Identity-based encryption
- Tags
- cryptography, public-key-cryptography, rsa, gchq
Created by Joas A Santos · Something wrong or want it removed? Open an issue.