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Moti Yung

Yung's work helped articulate how cryptographic techniques can be used offensively as well as defensively, a perspective important to malware and ransomware history.

Moti Yung is a computer scientist and cryptographer whose work spans cryptography, security, privacy, and distributed systems. He has held academic and industrial research roles, including affiliations with Columbia University and Google.

Cryptovirology

With Adam Young, Yung developed research describing how public-key cryptography can support malicious goals such as extortion while limiting the victim's ability to recover secrets. Their work is historically relevant to later ransomware discussions.

Defensive value

Studying such misuse is defensive research: it helps engineers recognize design choices and operational controls needed to resist cryptographically enabled attacks.

Timeline

  • 1988Completes a Ph.D. in computer science at Columbia University.
  • 1996Co-authors an early cryptovirology paper with Adam Young.
  • 2004Co-authors the book Malicious Cryptography.
  • 2022Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Moti Yung
Type
Person
Era
1980s-Present
Known for
Cryptovirology; Malicious Cryptography; Distributed cryptography; Security protocols
Tags
cryptography, cryptovirology, malware-research, academic-research
Created by Joas A Santos · Something wrong or want it removed? Open an issue.