Peiter Zatko
Peiter C. Zatko, better known as Mudge, is an American network security expert, open source programmer, writer, and hacker. He was the most prominent member of the high-profile hacker think tank the L0pht as well as the computer and culture hacking cooperative the Cult of the Dead Cow.
Peiter "Mudge" Zatko | |
|---|---|
Mudge during his tenure at DARPA | |
| Born | December 1, 1970 Alabama, U.S. |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Berklee College of Music |
| Known for | L0pht, L0phtcrack, DARPA Cyber Fast Track, testimony to the Senate, Cult of the Dead Cow |
| Awards | Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award, Order of Thor |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer Science Public administration Hacker |
| Institutions | Google, Motorola, DARPA, L0pht, Twitter |
While involved with the L0pht, Mudge contributed to disclosure and education on information and security vulnerabilities. In addition to pioneering buffer overflow work, the security advisories he released contained early examples of flaws in the following areas: code injection, race condition, side-channel attack, exploitation of embedded systems, and cryptanalysis of commercial systems. He was the original author of the password cracking software L0phtCrack.
In 2010, Mudge accepted a position as a program manager at DARPA where he oversaw cyber security research. In 2013, Mudge went to work for Google in their Advanced Technology & Projects division. In 2020, he was hired as head of security at Twitter. He currently works at the security consulting firm Rapid7 that develops Metasploit.