Russ Housley

Photo of Russ Housley

Russ Housley

Russ Housley has worked in the computer and network security field since 1982, and he founded Vigil Security, LLC in September 2002. Russ served as the IETF Chair from March 2007 to March 2013. Russ served on the IAB from March 2007 to March 2017, and he served as IAB Chair from March 2013 to March 2015. Russ served as a member of the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG) from May 2013 to March 2017. Russ served as Security Area Director from March 2003 to March 2007. His security research and standards interests include security protocols, certificate management, cryptographic key distribution, and high assurance design and development practices. In November 2004, Russ was recognized by the IEEE 802.11 working group for his contributions to IEEE 802.11i-2004, which fixes the severe security shortcoming of the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). Russ received his B.S. in computer science from Virginia Tech in 1982, and he received his M.S. in computer science from George Mason University in 1992.

Roles

Role Group Email
Chair RFC Series Working Group (rswg) housley@vigilsec.com
Chair Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (stir) housley@vigilsec.com
Chair Community Coordination Group (ccg) housley@vigilsec.com
Chair Limited Additional Mechanisms for PKIX and SMIME (lamps) housley@vigilsec.com
Chair SIDR Operations (sidrops) housley@vigilsec.com
Chair PKI, Logs, And Tree Signatures (plants) housley@vigilsec.com
Lead IETF-IEEE (ietfieee) housley@vigilsec.com
Lead IETF-IANA (ietfiana) housley@vigilsec.com
Liaison Manager IEEE-SA (ieee-sa) housley@vigilsec.com
Liaison Member Nominating Committee 2026/2027 (nomcom2026) housley@vigilsec.com
Liaison Member Nominating Committee 2025/2026 (nomcom2025) housley@vigilsec.com
Member The Tools Team (tools) housley@vigilsec.com
Reviewer (See reviews) ART Area Review Team (artart) housley@vigilsec.com
Reviewer (See reviews) Internet of Things Directorate (iotdir) housley@vigilsec.com
Reviewer (See reviews) Security Area Directorate (secdir) housley@vigilsec.com
Reviewer (See reviews) General Area Review Team (Gen-ART) (genart) housley@vigilsec.com

External Resources

Name Value
GitHub Username russhousley

RFCs (127)

RFC Date Title Cited by
RFC 10031 Aug 2026 Media Access Control (MAC) Addresses in X.509 Certificates
RFC 1457 May 1993 Security Label Framework for the Internet 2 RFCs
RFC 2459 Jan 1999 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile 38 RFCs
RFC 2528 Mar 1999 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Representation of Key Exchange Algorithm (KEA) Keys in Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificates 3 RFCs
RFC 2585 May 1999 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Operational Protocols: FTP and HTTP 26 RFCs
RFC 2630 Jun 1999 Cryptographic Message Syntax 41 RFCs
RFC 2773 Feb 2000 Encryption using KEA and SKIPJACK 2 RFCs
RFC 2943 Sep 2000 TELNET Authentication Using DSA
RFC 2951 Sep 2000 TELNET Authentication Using KEA and SKIPJACK 1 RFC
RFC 3217 Dec 2001 Triple-DES and RC2 Key Wrapping 5 RFCs
RFC 3279 May 2002 Algorithms and Identifiers for the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile 55 RFCs
RFC 3280 May 2002 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile 102 RFCs
RFC 3281 May 2002 An Internet Attribute Certificate Profile for Authorization 23 RFCs
RFC 3369 Sep 2002 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) 13 RFCs
RFC 3370 Sep 2002 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Algorithms 44 RFCs
RFC 3378 Sep 2002 EtherIP: Tunneling Ethernet Frames in IP Datagrams
RFC 3379 Sep 2002 Delegated Path Validation and Delegated Path Discovery Protocol Requirements 2 RFCs
RFC 3394 Oct 2002 Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Key Wrap Algorithm 36 RFCs
RFC 3537 May 2003 Wrapping a Hashed Message Authentication Code (HMAC) key with a Triple-Data Encryption Standard (DES) Key or an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Key 3 RFCs
RFC 3560 Jul 2003 Use of the RSAES-OAEP Key Transport Algorithm in Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) 13 RFCs
RFC 3610 Sep 2003 Counter with CBC-MAC (CCM) 20 RFCs
RFC 3686 Jan 2004 Using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Counter Mode With IPsec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) 24 RFCs
RFC 3709 Feb 2004 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure: Logotypes in X.509 Certificates 3 RFCs
RFC 3770 May 2004 Certificate Extensions and Attributes Supporting Authentication in Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) 1 RFC
RFC 3852 Jul 2004 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) 68 RFCs
RFC 3874 Sep 2004 A 224-bit One-way Hash Function: SHA-224 7 RFCs
RFC 4049 Apr 2005 BinaryTime: An Alternate Format for Representing Date and Time in ASN.1 3 RFCs
RFC 4055 Jun 2005 Additional Algorithms and Identifiers for RSA Cryptography for use in the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile 40 RFCs
RFC 4073 May 2005 Protecting Multiple Contents with the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) 8 RFCs
RFC 4107 Jun 2005 Guidelines for Cryptographic Key Management 33 RFCs
RFC 4108 Aug 2005 Using Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) to Protect Firmware Packages 17 RFCs
RFC 4309 Dec 2005 Using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) CCM Mode with IPsec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) 16 RFCs
RFC 4325 Dec 2005 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Authority Information Access Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Extension 1 RFC
RFC 4334 Feb 2006 Certificate Extensions and Attributes Supporting Authentication in Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) 6 RFCs
RFC 4630 Aug 2006 Update to DirectoryString Processing in the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile 3 RFCs
RFC 4705 Oct 2006 GigaBeam High-Speed Radio Link Encryption 1 RFC
RFC 4853 Apr 2007 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Multiple Signer Clarification 2 RFCs
RFC 4962 Jul 2007 Guidance for Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) Key Management 19 RFCs
RFC 5008 Sep 2007 Suite B in Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) 2 RFCs
RFC 5055 Dec 2007 Server-Based Certificate Validation Protocol (SCVP) 12 RFCs
RFC 5083 Nov 2007 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Authenticated-Enveloped-Data Content Type 30 RFCs
RFC 5084 Nov 2007 Using AES-CCM and AES-GCM Authenticated Encryption in the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) 17 RFCs
RFC 5280 May 2008 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile 356 RFCs
RFC 5430 Mar 2009 Suite B Profile for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 3 RFCs
RFC 5480 Mar 2009 Elliptic Curve Cryptography Subject Public Key Information 42 RFCs
RFC 5485 Mar 2009 Digital Signatures on Internet-Draft Documents 6 RFCs
RFC 5649 Sep 2009 Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Key Wrap with Padding Algorithm 15 RFCs
RFC 5652 Sep 2009 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) 139 RFCs
RFC 5742 Dec 2009 IESG Procedures for Handling of Independent and IRTF Stream Submissions 11 RFCs
RFC 5755 Jan 2010 An Internet Attribute Certificate Profile for Authorization 15 RFCs
RFC 5756 Jan 2010 Updates for RSAES-OAEP and RSASSA-PSS Algorithm Parameters 5 RFCs
RFC 5781 Feb 2010 The rsync URI Scheme 14 RFCs
RFC 5877 May 2010 The application/pkix-attr-cert Media Type for Attribute Certificates 1 RFC
RFC 5878 May 2010 Transport Layer Security (TLS) Authorization Extensions 5 RFCs
RFC 5914 Jun 2010 Trust Anchor Format 12 RFCs
RFC 5934 Aug 2010 Trust Anchor Management Protocol (TAMP) 9 RFCs
RFC 5940 Aug 2010 Additional Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Revocation Information Choices 1 RFC
RFC 6010 Sep 2010 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Content Constraints Extension 9 RFCs
RFC 6019 Sep 2010 BinaryTime: An Alternate Format for Representing Date and Time in ASN.1 9 RFCs
RFC 6031 Dec 2010 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Symmetric Key Package Content Type 11 RFCs
RFC 6032 Dec 2010 Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Encrypted Key Package Content Type 8 RFCs
RFC 6170 May 2011 Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure -- Certificate Image 2 RFCs
RFC 6318 Jun 2011 Suite B in Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) 2 RFCs
RFC 6360 Aug 2011 Conclusion of FYI RFC Sub-Series 2 RFCs
RFC 6410 Oct 2011 Reducing the Standards Track to Two Maturity Levels 9 RFCs
RFC 6460 Jan 2012 Suite B Profile for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 5 RFCs
RFC 6852 Jan 2013 Affirmation of the Modern Paradigm for Standards