Paul Mockapetris

Paul Mockapetris is a renowned computer scientist and technology leader best known for inventing the Domain Name System (DNS) in 1983, a fundamental component of the Internet's infrastructure.1 3 His contributions to the field of computer science and the development of the Internet have been widely recognized.

Career Highlights

Achievements::

Received the 2019 ACM Software System Award for developing the DNS1
Designed the DNS while working at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute3
Served as chairman of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)2

Current Roles::

Director at Farsight Security, Inc.4
Chief Scientist and Board Member at ThreatSTOP1 2
Board member at Nominum2

Previous Positions::

Held leadership roles at companies like @Home, Software.com, and Fiberlane2
Program manager at ARPA2
Chair of ICANN's Strategy Panel on Identifier Technology Innovation2
Director of ISI's High Performance Computing and Communications Division2

Education

Mockapetris earned his B.S. degrees in physics and electrical engineering from MIT and his Ph.D. in information and computer science (ICS) from the University of California, Irvine (UCI).1

Current Focus

In recent years, Mockapetris has been focusing on cybersecurity, particularly on improving network security using DNS. He is involved with companies that work on threat intelligence, using DNS to identify and block malicious domain names and IP addresses.1 His work aims to enhance both forensic capabilities after attacks and preventive measures against potential threats.