Paul Kocher
The Side-Channel Pioneer
Timing attacks, differential power analysis, and Spectre
Rating
94Impact score
Domains
Side channelsHardware securityTLS
Scouting report
Published the timing-attack paper in 1996 and differential power analysis in 1999, establishing that a correct implementation of a correct algorithm can still leak its key through how long it takes or how much current it draws. Co-authored the SSL 3.0 specification, founded Cryptography Research, and in 2018 was one of the co-discoverers of Spectre.
Curator’s note
Twice made the whole industry re-audit hardware it had already shipped.
Portrait
Painted from a photograph of Paul Kocher by https://www.oocities.org, licensed CC0.
Sources
- 01Paul Kocher en.wikipedia.org
- 02Spectre (security vulnerability) en.wikipedia.org
- 03Differential Power Analysis (1999) paulkocher.com