2016 Alan Turing Award Winners -- Cryptographers

The Turing Award is generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science[3][4] and the "Nobel Prize of computing". The $1 million award is given to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community". It is stipulated that "The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field"

This year's $1 million A.M. Turing Award goes to a pair of cryptographers whose ideas helped make the Internet possible. Both men say giving governments control over encrypted communications puts everyone at risk. Whitfield Diffie, a former chief security officer of Sun Microsystems, and Martin Hellman, a professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Stanford University, introduced the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures back in 1976. The concepts now secure all kinds of data, from online communications and financial transactions to Internet-connected infrastructure like power plants.

Whitfield Diffie, a former chief security officer of Sun Microsystems, and Martin Hellman, a professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Stanford University, introduced the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures back in 1976. The concepts now secure all kinds of data, from online communications and financial transactions to Internet-connected infrastructure like power plants. Before their innovations, electronic communications mainly involved friends talking to friends, and governments tightly controlled encryption technology. The advent of public keys and digital certification enabled the private sector to make it possible for anyone to talk to anyone.

"What we did was reduce the need to know people before talking to them," Diffie told The Associated Press. The honor was announced Tuesday, the same day that FBI Director James Comey and Apple's top lawyer appealed to Congress for help as the government seeks to force the technology company to hack into a terrorist's iPhone.