View source for Robert Morris (cryptographer)

{{Short description|American cryptographer (1932-2011)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Robert Morris
| image             = <!--(filename only)-->
| image_size        =
| alt               =
| caption           =
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1932|07|25}}
| birth_place       = [[Boston]], Massachusetts, US
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2011|06|26|1932|07|25}}
| death_place       = [[Lebanon, New Hampshire]], US
| residence         =
| citizenship       =
| nationality       =
| fields            = [[Mathematics]], [[cryptography]]
| workplaces        = [[National Security Agency]], [[Bell Labs]]
| alma_mater        = [[Harvard University]]
| doctoral_advisor  =
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students  =
| known_for         = [[Multics]], [[Unix]]
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| influences        =
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| awards            =
| signature         = <!--(filename only)-->
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| footnotes         =
| spouse            = Anne Farlow Morris
| children          = [[Robert Tappan Morris]], Meredith Morris, Benjamin Morris
}}

'''Robert Morris''' (July 25, 1932 – June 26, 2011) was an American [[cryptographer]] and [[computer scientist]].<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news
| title = Robert Morris, Pioneer in Computer Security, Dies at 78
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/technology/30morris.html?_r=1&hpw
|last=Markoff
|first=John
|author-link=John Markoff
|date=29 June 2011
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|access-date=30 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference
|url=https://www.usenix.org/legacy/publications/library/proceedings/sec4/index.html
|title=4th UNIX Security Symposium
|year=1993
|publisher=[[USENIX]]
}}</ref> His name sometimes appears with a middle initial H that he adopted informally.
__TOC__

==Family and education==
Morris was born in [[Boston, Massachusetts]]. His parents were Walter W. Morris, a salesman, and Helen Kelly Morris, a homemaker.<ref name=NYTobit/> He received a [[bachelor's degree]] in [[mathematics]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1957 and a [[master's degree]] in [[applied mathematics]] from Harvard in 1958.

He married Anne Farlow, and they had three children together: [[Robert Tappan Morris]] (author of the 1988 [[Morris worm]]),<ref name=usvmorris505>{{cite court |litigants=United States v. Morris (1991) |vol=928 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=504 |pinpoint=505 |court=2d Cir. |date=1991 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=551386241451639668}}</ref> Meredith Morris, and Benjamin Morris.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131012054103/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-06-30/local/35266136_1_robert-morris-unix-computer-computer-knowledge Robert Morris obituary], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', June 30, 2011.</ref>

==Bell Labs==
From 1960 until 1986, Morris was a researcher at [[Bell Labs]] and worked on [[Multics]] and later [[Unix]].

Using the [[TMG (language)|TMG]] compiler-compiler, Morris, together with [[Douglas_McIlroy|Doug McIlroy]], developed the early implementation of the [[PL/I]] compiler called EPL for the Multics project.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.multicians.org/pl1-raf.html|title=The Multics PL/1 Compiler|author=R. A. Freiburghouse|website=Multicians.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |editor=Tom Van Vleck |editor-link=Tom Van Vleck |url=https://multicians.org/pl1.html#EPL |title=The Choice of PL/I |website=Multicians.org}}</ref> The pair also contributed a version of [[TYPSET and RUNOFF|runoff]] text-formatting program for Multics.<ref>{{Cite FTP |title=Multics Features |server=FTP server |url-status=dead |url=ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/pub/vos/multics/tvv/features.html}}</ref>

Morris's contributions to [[Research Unix|early versions of Unix]] include the math library, the [[dc programming language]], the program [[crypt (Unix)|<code>crypt</code>]], and the password encryption scheme used for user authentication.<ref name="reader">{{cite tech report |first1=M. D. |last1=McIlroy |authorlink1=Doug McIlroy |year=1987 |url=http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~doug/reader.pdf |title=A Research Unix reader: annotated excerpts from the Programmer's Manual, 1971–1986 |series=CSTR |number=139 |institution=Bell Labs}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150205025156/http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/crypt.html Dabbling in the Cryptographic World--A Story], [[Dennis Ritchie]], May 5, 2000, Bell Labs.  Archived.</ref>  The encryption scheme (invented by [[Roger Needham]]), was based on using a [[trapdoor function]] (now called a [[key derivation function]]) to compute hashes of user [[password]]s which were stored in the file <code>[[/etc/passwd]]</code>; analogous techniques, relying on different functions, are still in use today.<ref>[https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/passwd.ps ''Password Security: A Case History'' by Robert Morris and Ken Thompson (1978)]</ref>

==National Security Agency==
In 1986, Morris began work at the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA).<ref name=NYTobit/>  He served as chief scientist of the NSA's [[National Computer Security Center]], where he was involved in the production of the [[Rainbow Series]] of computer security standards, and retired from the NSA in 1994.<ref>[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=1089783  The data encryption standard&mdash;Retrospective and prospects], R. Morris, ''IEEE Communications'' '''16''', #6 (November 1978), pp. 11&ndash;14.</ref><ref>[http://www.ieee-security.org/Cipher/PastIssues/1995/issue9509/issue9509.txt IEEE ''Electronic CIPHER'' 9 (1995-09-18)]</ref><ref>[http://www.auug.org.au/events/1998/auug98/ AUUG 98 Conference Information and Registration Form], accessed on line November 29, 2007.</ref> He once told a reporter that, while at the NSA, he helped the FBI decode encrypted evidence.<ref name=NYTobit/>

There is a description of Morris in [[Clifford Stoll]]'s book ''[[The Cuckoo's Egg]]''.
Many readers of Stoll's book remember Morris for giving Stoll a challenging mathematical [[puzzle]] (originally due to [[John H. Conway]]) in the course of their discussions on [[computer security]]: ''What is the next number in the sequence 1 11 21 1211 111221?'' (known as the [[look-and-say sequence]]). Stoll was unaware of the answer to this puzzle at the time and remained unaware when writing ''The Cuckoo's Egg'' and thus did not reveal the answer in his book.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~stoll/number_sequence.html |title=FAQ about Morris Number Sequence |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970606112402/http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~stoll/number_sequence.html |archive-date=June 6, 1997}}</ref>

Robert Morris died in [[Lebanon, New Hampshire]].

==Quotes==
{{Copy to Wikiquote|section=yes}}
* Rule 1 of cryptanalysis: check for plaintext.<ref name="Crypto95">{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/g/sci.crypt/c/8aFmhI8PaRw/m/bwyHfMA2vGMJ|title=Notes on Crypto '95: Non-cryptographic Ways of Losing Information invited talk by R. Morris|last=Gillogly|first=Jim|date=2 September 1995|website=Google Groups|accessdate=2 August 2023}}</ref>
* Never underestimate the attention, risk, money, and time that an opponent will put into reading traffic.<ref name="Crypto95" />
* It is easy to run a secure computer system. You merely have to disconnect all dial-up connections and permit only direct-wired terminals, put the machine and its terminals in a shielded room, and post a guard at the door.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Grampp|first1=F. T.|last2=Morris|first2=R. H.|year=1984|title=The UNIX System: UNIX Operating System Security|journal=AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal|volume=63 |issue=8 |pages=1649–1672 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1984.tb00058.x|s2cid=26877484 }}</ref>

==Selected publications==
* (with Fred T. Grampp) UNIX Operating System Security, ''AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal'', '''63''', part 2, #8 (October 1984), pp.&nbsp;1649&ndash;1672.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [[Dennis Ritchie]]: [https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/crypt.html "Dabbling in the Cryptographic World"] tells the story of cryptographic research he performed with Morris and why that research was never published.

{{Multics}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Robert H.}}
[[Category:Modern cryptographers]]
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists at Bell Labs]]
[[Category:American computer security academics]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:National Security Agency cryptographers]]
[[Category:People from Boston]]
[[Category:Multics people]]
[[Category:Unix people]]