He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965.
Diffie and Martin Hellman's paper New Directions in Cryptography was published in 1976. It introduced a radically new method of distributing cryptographic keys, which went far toward solving one of the fundamental problems of cryptography, key distribution. It has become known as Diffie-Hellman key exchange. The article also seems to have stimulated the almost immediate public development of a new class of encyphering algorithms, the asymmetric key algorithms.
He was Manager of Secure Systems Research for Northern Telecom, where he designed the key management architecture for the PDSO security system for X.25 networks.
In 1991 he joined Sun Microsystems' SunLabs-West research facility (in Mountain View, California) as a Distinguished Engineer, working primarily on public policy aspects of cyptography. As of January 2004 Diffie remains with Sun, serving as its Chief Security Officer, and as a Vice President and Sun Fellow.
In 1992 he was awarded a Doctorate in Technical Sciences (Honoris Causa) by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He is also a fellow of the Marconi Foundation and has received various awards from other organisations.
Diffie and Susan Landau's book Privacy on the Line was published in 1998 on the politics of wiretapping and encryption.
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