Paul Kocher is an entrepreneur and researcher focused on cryptography and data security and is currently exploring independent research topics. Areas of interest include trade-offs between complexity/performance and security, as well as how computer systems could be architected to reduce the likelihood and severity of exploitable security vulnerabilities. One of the results of this work discovering a class of vulnerabilities (which I named Spectre) arising from the use of speculative execution in microprocessors.
Paul was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009 for contributions to cryptography and Internet security. He's a member of the Forum on Cyber Resilience, which is a National Academies roundtable. He's also a member of the Cybersecurity Hall of Fame and is a frequent speaker on security topics.