Ross J. Anderson

Who Is Ross J. Anderson?

Ross J. Anderson is a British scientist who works with computers. He is known for his work in security engineering. He helps keep data safe and helps people understand how to protect information.

He writes books and articles about security. He also gives advice to companies that need help with safety. Many people look to him for clear and careful advice. His work is respected around the world.

People call him Ross Anderson as well. He is friendly and likes to share his knowledge. He enjoys teaching and learning new ideas about security.

Early Life and Background

Ross J. Anderson was born on September 15 1956.

Career and Claim to Fame

Ross J. Anderson works as a researcher and author in security engineering. He also works as a consultant for industry. He studies how to protect computers and networks from attacks.

He is a professor of security engineering at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge. He is part of the university security group. You can find more about him on his website at https en wikipedia org wiki Ross J Anderson.

Birthday, Age and Zodiac

Ross J Anderson celebrates his birthday on September 15 1956. He is currently seventy years old.

His zodiac sign is Virgo. Virgos are known for being practical and careful. They like to pay attention to detail and they are reliable friends.

Fun Facts and Legacy

Ross J Anderson is a British computer scientist who was born on September 15 1956. He is now seventy years old and a Virgo who loves detail and reliability. He works in security engineering as a researcher, author and consultant. He teaches at the University of Cambridge as a professor of security engineering. He shares his ideas on his website at https en wikipedia org wiki Ross J Anderson. His friendly style and clear advice make him a respected figure in the world of security.

Ross J. Anderson - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Ross J. Anderson

Ross John Anderson (15 September 1956 – 28 March 2024) was a British researcher, author, and industry consultant in security engineering. He was Professor of Security Engineering at the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge where he was part of the University's security group.

This profile of Ross J. Anderson covers Education and Training, Career and Rise to Fame, Awards and Honours, Personal Life and Security Engineering.

Education and Training of Ross J. Anderson

Anderson was educated at the High School of Glasgow. After leaving school he attended Glasgow University and studied Natural Philosophy. He did not complete his studies there and moved to Cambridge. In 1978, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and natural science from the University of Cambridge where he was an undergraduate student of Trinity College, Cambridge, and later received a qualification in computer engineering. Anderson worked in the avionics and banking industry before moving back to the University of Cambridge in 1992, to work on his doctorate under the supervision of Roger Needham and start his career as an academic researcher. He received his PhD in 1995.

Career and Rise to Fame of Ross J. Anderson

Anderson was appointed a lecturer at Cambridge in 1995. In addition to teaching at the University of Cambridge, he also taught at the University of Edinburgh.

Anderson's research interests were in security, cryptology, dependability and technology policy. In cryptography, he designed with Eli Biham the BEAR, LION and Tiger cryptographic primitives, and co-wrote with Biham and Lars Knudsen the block cipher Serpent, one of the finalists in the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) competition. He also discovered weaknesses in the FISH cipher and designed the stream cipher Pike.

Anderson always campaigned for computer security to be studied in a wider social context. Many of his writings emphasised the human, social, and political dimension of security. On online voting, for example, he wrote "When you move from voting in person to voting at home (whether by post, by phone or over the Internet) it vastly expands the scope for vote buying and coercion", making the point that it's not just a question of whether the encryption can be cracked.

In 1998, Anderson founded the Foundation for Information Policy Research, a think tank and lobbying group on information-technology policy.

Anderson was also a founder of the UK-Crypto mailing list and the economics of security research field.

Anderson was well known among Cambridge academics as an outspoken defender of academic freedoms, intellectual property and other matters of university politics. He was engaged in the "Campaign for Cambridge Freedoms" and had been an elected member of Cambridge University Council since 2002. In January 2004, the student newspaper Varsity declared Anderson to be Cambridge University's "most powerful person".

In 2002, he became an outspoken critic of trusted computing proposals, in particular Microsoft's Palladium operating system vision. But Anderson's FAQ document attempting to explain trusted computing and its implications has been characterised by IBM TC researcher David R. Safford as "full of technical errors" and of "presenting speculation as fact."

For years Anderson argued that by their nature large databases will never be free of abuse by breaches of security. He said that if a large system is designed for ease of access it becomes insecure; if made watertight it becomes impossible to use. This is sometimes known as Anderson's Rule.

Anderson was the author of several editions of Security Engineering, which was initially published by Wiley in 2001. He was the founder and editor of Computer and Communications Security Reviews.

After Edward Snowden's vast global surveillance disclosures in June 2013, Anderson suggested one way to begin stamping out the British state's unaccountable involvement in this NSA spying scandal was to entirely end the domestic secret services: "Were I a legislator, I would simply abolish MI5". Anderson noted the only way this kind of systemic data collection was made possible was through the business models of private industry. The value of information-driven Web companies such as Facebook and Google is built around their ability to gather vast tracts of data. It was something the intelligence agencies would have struggled to do alone.

Anderson was a critic of smart meters, writing that there are various privacy and energy security concerns.

Awards and Honours

Anderson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2009. His nomination reads:

Anderson was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2009. He was a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge and awarded the BCS Lovelace Medal in 2015. Anderson was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2023.

Personal Life

Anderson met his wife, Shireen, while he was working in Johannesburg and they were married in Cambridge in 1992. Shireen Anderson is the coordinator of the Christina Kelly Association, of Churchill College, Cambridge. They have one daughter, Bavani, and four grandchildren.

Anderson died unexpectedly at home with his family in Cambridge on 28 March 2024, at the age of 67.

Security Engineering

By agreement with the publisher, the third edition of Ross Anderson's book Security Engineering was made available for download at the Cambridge University archive in November 2024.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_J._Anderson), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.