Dan Geer

Dan Geer is a computer security analyst and risk management specialist. He is recognized for raising awareness of critical computer and network security issues before the risks were widely understood, and for ground-breaking work on the economics of security.

Daniel Earl Geer Jr.
CitizenshipUSA
Alma materHarvard University (SC.D. Biostatistics)
MIT (SB EECS)
Known forProject Athena
Open Market
CertCo
Scientific career
FieldsComputer Scientist
InstitutionsMIT
CertCo
SystemExperts
In-Q-Tel

Geer is currently the chief information security officer for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in technology to support the Central Intelligence Agency.[1]

In 2003, Geer's 24-page report entitled "CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly" was released by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). The paper argued that Microsoft's dominance of desktop computer operating systems is a threat to national security. Geer was fired (from consultancy @Stake) the day the report was made public.[2] Geer has cited subsequent changes in the Vista operating system (notably a location-randomization feature) as evidence that Microsoft "accepted the paper."[3]

Geer received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, where he was a member of the Theta Deuteron charge of Theta Delta Chi fraternity. He also received a Sc.D. in biostatistics from Harvard, and has worked for:[4]

In 2011, Geer received the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award.[5]

Attributions
  • Geer's Law: Any security technology whose effectiveness can't be empirically determined is indistinguishable from blind luck.

References
  1. Dan Geer leaves Verdasys for In-Q-Tel, by Ryan Naraine, ZDNet, May 28, 2008. Accessed 2008-07-09.
  2. "Critique of Microsoft eyed in firing: Ex-tech officer claims report cost his job", by Jay Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, September 27, 2003. Reprint. Accessed 2008-07-09.
  3. Dan Geer Helping CIA, CSOonline.com, August 4, 2008.
  4. "Daniel Earl Geer, Jr., Sc.D." veracode.com. 2013. Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  5. "Flame Award : USENIX". usenix.org. 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
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