Donn B. Parker

Born October 9, 1929, San Jose, Calif.; SRI International promoter of security measures against computer crime and renowned expert on computer abuses and intrusions.

Education: BA, mathematics, University of California at Berkeley, 1952; MA, mathematics, University of California at Berkeley, 1954.

Professional Experience: programmer, manager of programming, computer operations, General Dynamics Corp., 1954-1962; manager, computer services and computer research, Control Data Corporation, 1962-1969; senior management consultant, director of computer resources, SRI International, 1969-present.

Honors and Awards: Individual Achievement Award, Information Systems Security Association, 1991-1992.

Donn B. Parker is a senior information systems management consultant and researcher on information and computer security and crime, as well as an international lecturer on these topics. He has published Computer Security Management (Reston 1983), Crime by Computer (Scribner's 1976), Ethical Conflicts in Computer Science and Technology (AFIPS Press 1978 and 1988), Criminal Justice Resource Manual on Computer Crime, Computer Security Techniques (US Government Printing Office, 1980 and 1989), and Fighting Computer Crime (Scribner's 1983). Numerous papers, articles, and reports by Parker have been published in leading journals, trade and news magazines, encyclopedias, edited books, newspapers, and conference proceedings. He consults for leading business organizations, the US Congress and state legislatures, and government agencies on information security. He is the creator of the International Information Integrity Institute (I-4) at SRI International, providing ongoing services to 60 of the largest corporations in the world, those most advanced in the protection of their information assets.

Research on computer abuse has been funded in part by the US National Science Foundation for nine years, for six years by the US Department of justice, and more recently by the US Department of Defense. Research includes the collection of hundreds of reported cases of computer abuse and crime and field investigation of these incidents to identify vulnerabilities, criminal methods, and security problems. Parker believes that the increasing use of computers and networks, and advances in security, are generally making businesses and their customers far safer from the frequency of losses than ever before, while loss per case is rising dramatically. However, there are many sophisticated criminal methods, such as using Trojan horses and logic bombs, superzapping, leaking data, and using computer viruses and worms, for which effective preventive controls are still lacking. Security must be treated as a "people" problem as well as a technological problem, to preserve utility and availability, integrity and authenticity, and confidentiality of information through avoidance, deterrence, prevention, detection, mitigation, transference, sanctions, recovery, and correction of accidental and intentional loss.

He has been active in the Association for Computing Machinery and American Federation of Information Processing Societies as a national officer and chairman of the committee on professional standards and practices. He has BA and MA degrees in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley (1952 and 1954). He has over 40 years experience in the computer field in computer programming, computer systems management, and research, including 22 years at SRI in information security. Recent lecturing, at the rate of 30 presentations per year, covers the subjects of computer abuse, crime, and information security, and their impacts on business, government, and society. He is listed in Who's Who in the West and other such publications, was the subject of two articles in People Magazine, has appeared on national and international television including 60 Minutes, NOVA, and 20/20, and is frequently quoted in news and business media.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Significant Publications

Parker, Donn B., Crime by Computer, Scribner's, New York, 1976.

Parker, Donn B., Ethical Conflicts in Computer Science and Technology, AMPS Press, 1978.

Parker, Donn B., Criminal Justice Resource Manual on Computer Crime, US Department of Justice, 1980, reprinted 1989.

Parker, Donn B., Fighting Computer Crime, Scribner's, New York, 1983.

Parker, Donn B., Computer Security Management, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ., 1983.

Parker, Donn B., "Applied Research Notes and Baseline Recommendations Reports," SRI/I-4, 1987-1990.

Parker, Donn B., "New Baseline Methodology in Reviewing Security," Information Age, 1989.

Parker, Donn B., "Computer Misuse Techniques," National Computer Security Conference, 1989.

Parker, Donn B., "17 Information Security Myths Debunked," IFIP International Conference, Helsinki (1990) and ISSA National Conference (1990), North-Holland, Amsterdam.

Parker, Donn B., "Ethical Conflicts in Computer Science and Technology," AFIPS Press, Arlington, Va., 1979.

UPDATES

Portrait added (MRW, 2013)

Donn Parker died October 9, 2021. (THVV, 2023)