Stephen Thomas Kent (born January 25, 1951) is an American computer scientist, noted for his contributions to
network security.
Kent was born in
New Orleans,
Louisiana. In 1969 he graduated from
Ridgewood Preparatory School in
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. With a population of 143,507 in 2020, Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish and was (a ...
, and in 1973 from
Loyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name o ...
with a B.S. degree in mathematics. From 1973 to 1974 he attended
Tulane University as graduate student in mathematics, then moved to the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a graduate student in
computer science from 1974 to 1980. He received his master's degree from MIT in 1976, and his PhD in 1980.
While a graduate student, Kent spent two summers at
BBN Technologies, which he joined full-time in 1980 after receiving his doctorate degree. He ultimately became BBN's Chief Scientist for Security Technologies. Kent is best known for his role in developing Internet standards. He served as a member of the Internet Architecture Board (1983-1994), and chaired the Privacy and Security Research Group of the
Internet Research Task Force (1985-1998) and the
Privacy Enhanced Mail
Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) is a de facto file format for storing and sending cryptographic keys, certificates, and other data, based on a set of 1993 IETF standards defining "privacy-enhanced mail." While the original standards were never broadl ...
(PEM) working group of the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) from 1990 to 1995, during which time he also co-chaired the