Mikko Hyppönen

Mikko Hyppönen
Hyppönen in 2006
Born	Mikko Hermanni Hyppönen (1969-10-13) 13 October 1969 (age 55)[1] Finland
Nationality	Finnish
Other names	Mikko Hypponen
Occupation(s)	Chief Research Officer for WithSecure Principal Research Advisor for F-Secure
Awards	CISO MAG Cybersecurity Person of the Year 2020[2] #61 Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2011[3] Virus Bulletin Award for Best educator in the anti-malware industry 2010[4][5] #43 on the 50 Most Important People on the Web 2007 list by PC World[6]
Website	mikko.com

Mikko Hyppönen (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈmikːo ˈhypːønen]; born 13 October 1969) is a Finnish computer security expert, speaker and author.[7] He is known for the Hyppönen Law on IoT security, which states that whenever an appliance is described as being "smart", it is vulnerable.[8] He works as the Chief Research Officer at WithSecure (former F-Secure for Business) and as the Principal Research Advisor at F-Secure.

Career

Mikko Hyppönen has worked at F-Secure in Finland since 1991.[5]

Hyppönen has assisted law enforcement in the United States, Europe and Asia since the 1990s on cybercrime cases and advises governments on cyber crime.[9] His team took down the Sobig.F botnet.[10]

In 2004, Hyppönen cooperated with Vanity Fair on a feature, The Code Warrior, which examined his role in defeating the Blaster and Sobig Computer worms.[11]

Hyppönen has given keynotes and presentations at a number of conferences around the world, including Black Hat, DEF CON, DLD,[12] RSA, and V2 Security.[13] In addition to data security events, Hyppönen has delivered talks at general-interest events, such as TED, TEDx, DLD, SXSW, Slush and Google Zeitgeist. He's also spoken at various military events, including AFCEA events and the NATO CCD COE's ICCC. Hyppönen is a reserve officer in the Finnish Army.[14]

Hyppönen is a member of the advisory board of IMPACT (International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats) since 2007 together with Yevgeny Kaspersky, Hamadoun Touré, Fred Piper and John Thompson.[15]

Hyppönen is a columnist for BetaNews and Wired.[16] He has also written on his research for CNN, The New York Times[17] and Scientific American.[18]

In 2011, he was ranked 61st in Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers report.[19]

Computer security history

In 2011, Hyppönen tracked down and visited the authors of the first PC virus in history, Brain. Hyppönen produced a documentary of the event. The documentary was published on YouTube.[20][21][22]

Hyppönen has also been documenting the rise of mobile phone malware since the first smartphone viruses were found.[23]

The blog "News from the Lab", started by Hyppönen in 2004 was the first blog from any antivirus company.

Hyppönen has been credited by Twitter for improving Twitter's security.[24]

Hyppönen has been the Curator for the Malware Museum at The Internet Archive since 2016.[25]

He published his first book in October 2021,[26] and its English translation, If It's Smart, It's Vulnerable, was published in June 2022.[27]

See also

• Antivirus software
• CARO
• EICAR
• IMPACT

References

1. "Onnittelemme" [Congratulations] (pdf). Helsingin Reservin Sanomat (in Finnish). No. 3. 2019. p. 22. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
2. "CISO MAG Cybersecurity Person of the Year (2020)". CISO MAG. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
3. "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers".
4. Helen Martin (November 2010). "Conference report, Vancouver expedition" (PDF). pp. 6–7. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
5. "short bio".
6. "50 Most Important People on the Web". March 5, 2007. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
7. "Books by Mikko Hyppönen".
8. "Hypponen's Law: If It's Smart, It's Vulnerable". WaterISAC. 2018-11-13.
9. "Mikko Hypponen background at TEDxRotterdam".
10. "TED profile".
11. Shnayerson, Michael (January 2004). "The Code Warrior". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
12. "Mikko Hypponen: Behind Enemy Lines (Hack In The Box Security Conference 2012)". YouTube.
13. "Speaker Details: V2 Security".
14. "The Finnish Defence Forces Annual Report 2010" (PDF).
15. "List of the members of the advisory board of IMPACT". Archived from the original on 2015-03-29. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
16. "Wired Columns by Mikko Hypponen". 2012-06-01.
17. Mikko Hyppönnen (2012-06-05). "A Pandora's Box We Will Regret Opening". The New York Times.
18. "Articles by Mikko Hyppönen". Scientific American.
19. Foreign Policy. The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers. December 2011.
20. "YouTube – Brain: Searching for the first PC virus in Pakistan". YouTube.
21. "USA Today – Documentary examines the inception of PC viruses 25 years ago". 2011-03-08.
22. "Fighting viruses, defending the net". TED. 19 July 2011.
23. "Scientific American – Malware Goes Mobile" (PDF).
24. "Twitter Security – The following people have helped us keep Twitter safe for everyone. We very much appreciate their efforts". Archived from the original on 2014-07-10.
25. "The Malware Museum".
26. "Kirja - WSOY". www.wsoy.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2022-09-21.
27. "If It's Smart, It's Vulnerable". Wiley. Retrieved 2022-09-23.

External links

• Official website
• Mikko Hyppönen on Twitter
• Mikko Hyppönen at TED
  • "Fighting viruses, defending the net" (TEDGlobal 2011)
  • "Three types of online attack" (TEDxBrussels 2011)
  • "Safe internet will lead the future" (TEDxRotterdam, October 2011) on YouTube
  • "How the NSA betrayed the world's trust — time to act" (TEDxBrussels 2013)
• Cybercrime Unicorns lecture at University College London, April 2022
• Hyppönen and Nyman (2017), The Internet of (Vulnerable) Things: On Hyppönen's Law, Security Engineering, and IoT Legislation. Technology Innovation Management Review, 7(4) 5–11.
• References on Embassy cables leaked by WikiLeaks
• Mikko Hypponen: Behind Enemy Lines (Hack In The Box Security Conference 2012) on YouTube
• Mikko Hypponen: Clipping of CYBERWARFARE, CRIME AND SECURITY (DLD Conference 2013) on YouTube
• Jake Edge: Living with the surveillance state a summary of Hyppönen's talk at LinuxCon Europe 2013. LWN.net
• 10. April 2017, TTÜ Haridustehnoloogiakeskus, Public lecture by Mikko Hyppönen at Mektory, youtube.com