Gibson Research Corporation
Steve Gibson | |
|---|---|
| File:SteveG.jpg Gibson in 2007 | |
| Born | March 26, 1955 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | "Steve Tiberius Gibson" |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation(s) | Software engineer and security analyst |
| Known for | Security Now! podcast on TWiT.tv |
| Website | www |
Steven M. Gibson (born March 26, 1955) is a prominent American software engineer, IT security expert, and advocate in the cybersecurity field. During the early 1980s, he pioneered light pen technology for platforms such as Apple and Atari. In 1985, he founded Gibson Research Corporation, which gained recognition for its SpinRite software. Additionally, Gibson is well-known as the host of the Security Now podcast.
Early life
Gibson's engagement with computing began in his teenage years, securing a position at the Stanford University artificial intelligence laboratory by age 15. He pursued higher education in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.
Career
In 1980, Gibson started working at California Pacific Computer Company as a programmer specializing in copy protection techniques. The following year, he launched Gibson Laboratories in Laguna Hills to create a light pen compatible with Apple II, Atari, and other systems; however, this venture ceased operations by 1983.
In 1985, he founded Gibson Research Corporation (GRC), focusing on software development. From 1986 through 1993, Gibson contributed the "Tech Talk" column to InfoWorld magazine.
By 1999, he had developed OptOut, among the earliest tools designed to remove adware. In 2001, Gibson warned that Microsoft’s inclusion of raw socket capabilities in Windows XP could facilitate extensive denial of service (DoS) attacks. That same year, GRC’s website endured prolonged DoS attacks lasting two weeks; Gibson documented his investigative process to identify the perpetrator. Microsoft subsequently restricted raw socket features in Windows XP Service Pack 2 released three years later.
In 2005, Gibson teamed up with Leo Laporte to launch the weekly Security Now podcast on TWiT.tv, with all episodes archived on GRC’s website. By November 2024, this podcast had surpassed 1,000 episodes.
In 2006, Gibson proposed that the Windows Metafile vulnerability might have been intentionally introduced as a backdoor; however, both Microsoft and security analyst Mark Russinovich attributed the flaw to programming errors.
In 2013, he unveiled SQRL, an authentication protocol designed to enhance security by simplifying login procedures and safeguarding transaction data from unauthorized access.
GRC Software Offerings
Gibson Research Corporation has produced a variety of tools, many of which are distributed as freeware.
- DNS Benchmark, a free utility that evaluates the speed and reliability of domain name servers used by internet service providers.
- Securable, a no-cost program that checks 64-bit support and the status of Data Execution Prevention on computers running versions of Windows prior to Windows 7.
- ShieldsUP, a well-established, browser-based firewall testing service available at no charge.
- SpinRite, a commercial hard drive diagnostic and data recovery tool introduced in 1988, with its 6.0 edition released in 2004, retailing at (as of 2021). SpinRite has cemented Gibson's reputation as an authority on hard disk failures.
- Spoofarino, a freeware released in 2006 allowing users to verify if their ISP blocks the transmission of forged network packets.
- Never10, a free utility that enables or disables Microsoft's Get Windows 10 application and halts automatic operating system upgrades on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, also removing any downloaded upgrade data.
- InControl, a tool designed to prevent automatic updates to Windows 10 and Windows 11.
- InSpectre, a utility that assesses exposure to the Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities.
- InitDisk, a reliable USB formatting tool created for SpinRite (version 6.1) that prepares USB drives to be bootable devices.
- ReadSpeed, an exacting benchmark for PC mass storage devices that measures performance consistency with high accuracy.
- ValiDrive, verifies whether USB flash drives or other removable media genuinely offer the storage capacity they claim.
- Ultra-High Entropy PRNG, a vital pseudorandom number generator employed in computing processes requiring high-quality randomness.
- SQRL Login Technology (Simple Quick Reliable Login), an open-source, free authentication system designed to cryptographically verify user identities across networks, aiming to replace traditional login methods with enhanced security and ease of use.
Works
External links
- 1955 births
- Living people
- American computer programmers
- Computer security specialists
- Businesspeople from Dayton, Ohio
- People from Orange County, California
- UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni
- TWiT.tv people
- Chief executives in the technology industry
- American chief executives
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- Businesspeople from California
- Defunct software companies of the United States