Whitfield Diffie, a globally-recognized expert on cryptography and security technology, joined Sun in 1991 and now serves as Sun's Chief Security Officer. Diffie was one of the driving forces in the policy struggle that has led to legal recognition for the importance of advanced security technologies for modern society. Diffie is also recognized as the inventor of the Public Key Encryption concept that underlies secure electronic commerce and is respected in security and intelligence circles worldwide as an authority on information technology security issues. Whitfield was honored as a Sun Fellow in march 2003 for his superior technical achievements and his advocacy for strong security industry-wide.