Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/20580
RSA Conference 2011 Anniversary Spotlight Shines on Alice and Bob for BY STEPHANIE JORDAN T ake a quick quiz: What does RSA stand for? Who do Alice and Bob represent? If you are like me, you might have attended many RSA conferences and given little thought to the name itself. As one of many faithful RSA conference attendees, I’m looking forward to the event, being held February 14-18 in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. This year marks the conference’s 20th anniversary. I can just imagine the event planners brainstorming theme ideas, wanting something that could convey the 20 years and yet still befit the im- pressive and creative security themes of the past, like last year’s The Rosetta Stone and people like Edgar Allen Poe or Alan Turing or the contributions of ancient mathematicians. I have to con- fess that I learn something about these historical people and times when- ever the event rolls out its registration campaigns. This brings us back to the quiz. RSA represents the initials of three then MIT gentlemen, Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman, who in 1978 released the RSA algorithm, the first known to be suitable for signing, as well as encryp- tion. It is widely held that this inven- tion is one of the first great advances 18 MESSAGING NEWS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010