This year SVOD will host a speech by a very special guest – “The Father of Computer Cryptography” Bailey Whitfield ‘Whit’ Diffie. Whit is a truly impactful leader who developed the fundamental ideas of the public-key cryptography that now underline the security of internet commerce.

Whit Diffie’s paper “New Directions in Cryptography” was published in 1976 and not only revolutionized cryptography, but also impacted the whole cryptographic community. Solving the key distribution problem first time in the history, Whit and his colleague Martin Helman laid a solid foundation for the system of secure transactions over the internet. This is a technology that now allows us to have a secure connection with our banks, securely chat with friends over social networks, and much more.

In February 2016, Diffie won a prestigious ACM Turing Award, named after the British mathematician well-known as a key contributor to the Allied cryptoanalysis of the German Enigma cipher during World War II. The award is often referred toas the “Nobel Prize of Computing.”

Whit Diffie has a long and distinguished career as a leading force for innovative thought, including roles as Vice President and Chief Security Officer with Sun Microsystems. Whit currently serves as an Advisor at Almaz Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in early stage companies from emerging tech regions.

At SVOD Whit will be interviewed by Geoffrey Baehr, General Partner at Almaz Capital and Whit’s former colleague at Sun Microsystems. Whit will share his story and vision of the computer technology future.