Winn Schwartau

Winn Schwartau (born July 1, 1952 in New York City) is an expert on security, privacy, infowar, cyber-terrorism and related topics.
He is known for his appearances at Defcon as the host of the popular game Hacker Jeopardy, and for his provocative and original ideas and has written more than a dozen works on security topics. In 2002, he was honored as a “Power Thinker” and one of the 50 most powerful people in networking by Network World. In 2008, he was voted one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Security Industry by Security Magazine.

Written work

His first non-fiction book, Information Warfare: Chaos on the Electronic Superhighway (1994, 1996, 1997) introduces the concepts of cyberterrorism to the public. Another of his books, "Cybershock" (2000, 2001), is a non-technical look at the DEF CON conference, hackers in general, Phreaking and the importance of computer security. He wrote Time Based Security, outlining how to use time as a security metric. Pearl Harbor Dot Com is a novel about a terrorist cyberattack on the United States.

In 2001, Winn was labeled one of the Network World major "Power Thinkers" by Network World. In 2007, SC Magazine labeled him one of the Top 5 Security Thinkers.

He has been called the "civilian architect of information warfare" and has been identified as one of the 25 most influential people in the security industry.

Schwartau is the author of Internet and Computer Ethics for Kids (and Parents and Teachers Without a Clue) (2001/2002). Dr. Fred Cohen, from all.net, described this book as “The best security book ever written”.

Entrepreneurial career

Schwartau is the Chairman of the Board of Mobile Active Defense, specializing in security and compliance for smartphones and tablets, and president and founder of The Security Awareness Company (formerly known as Interpact, Inc.), which develops security awareness programs for private and public organisations.

He also founded InfowarCon (1994) and Trusted Learning (2003), and co-founded SCIPP International (2007)