Parker Influenced the Technology Industry Donn B.

¶ … Parker Influenced the Technology Industry

Donn B. Parker is a retired senior management consultant at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), who has specialized in Information security and computer crime research for 30 of his 47 years in the computer industry. He has written many books, papers, and reports based on interviews with over 200 computer criminals and audits of the security of various corporations.

Parker received the 1992 Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement from the Information Systems Security Association and the 1994 National Computer System Security Award from U.S. NIST/NCSC, The Aerospace Computer Security Associates 1994 Distinguished Lecturer award, and The MIS Training Institute Infosecurity News 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, The Information Security Magazine recently named him one of the five top Infosecurity Pioneers.

Donn Parker started working for SRI in 1969 as director of computer operations after working for 17 years at Control Data Corporation. His career at SRI led him into research and consulting on computer crime and information security -- a field in which many people view him as a founding father.

As a result of extensive research, Parker developed the premier information security consulting program that won him an international reputation as a computer security expert. The program was spun off when he retired in 1997.

In many ways, Donn Parker has influenced the technology industry. He set the stage for the discussion of computer crime in the 1970s. At least in criminology, more and more scholars now realize the seriousness of the crime. In the 1990s, Parker's work influenced many books, articles, and Internet sites on computer crime, increasing awareness and working to prevent further crime.

Parker led nearly 250 information security consulting projects at SRI, enabling businesses and government agencies to use computers and communications in a more secure fashion. His research on computer abuse, misuse, and ethics has led to an entirely new way of preventing computer crime.

Parker has interviewed more than 200 computer criminals and their victims, and has produced extensive reports and six books on computer crime and security. These publications have been translated into several languages and used as computer security manuals around the world.