PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Paul C. van Oorschot

Also known as Paul Van Oorschot, Paul C. Van Oorschot

Paul C. van Oorschot is a cryptographer and computer security researcher, best known as a co-author of the Handbook of Applied Cryptography, a reference for engineers and applied researchers. After a Waterloo PhD in 1988, he worked at Bell-Northern Research until 1996, co-authored the Handbook in 1996 with Alfred Menezes and Scott Vanstone, and held positions at Entrust from 1997 to 2001, including Chief Scientist. In 2002 he moved into academia as a professor and Canada Research Chair at Carleton University, a chair he held until 2023, and from 2008 to 2013 he was Scientific Director of the NSERC ISSNet research network. Fellowships followed from the Royal Society of Canada in 2011, the ACM in 2016 and the IEEE in 2019, and in 2023 he received the ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Contributions Award. Now a professor of computer science at Carleton, he is writing the Textbook of Applied Cryptography with Alfred Menezes and Bart Preneel.

Born
1962
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1984–1988

    Studies and PhD at Waterloo

    He finishes his undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo in 1984 with a 93.9% grade average and the K.D. Fryer Gold Medal. He completes a PhD in computer science at Waterloo in 1988.

  2. 1988–1996

    Security research at Bell-Northern Research

    From 1988 to 1996, he works at Bell-Northern Research (BNR) in Ottawa on cryptographic research and consulting, product development and security standards. A BNR security group of about five in 1993 seeds Entrust, which spins out in January 1997.

  3. 1996

    Handbook of Applied Cryptography

    He co-authors the Handbook of Applied Cryptography in 1996 with Alfred Menezes and Scott Vanstone. The book is a reference for engineers and applied researchers and is free online.

  4. 1997–2001

    Chief Scientist at Entrust

    From 1997 to 2001, he holds several positions at Entrust, including Chief Scientist, Vice President and Chief Security Architect.

  5. 2002–2023

    Professor and chair at Carleton

    He moves into academia in 2002 as a tenured professor and Canada Research Chair at Carleton University, a chair he holds until 2023, and is founding Director of the Carleton Computer Security Lab. From 2008 to 2013, he is Scientific Director and Principal Investigator of NSERC ISSNet, a research network on computer and Internet security with 14 professors at 8 Canadian universities.

  6. 2011–2019

    Royal Society, ACM and IEEE fellowships

    He is inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2011, named an ACM Fellow in 2016 for contributions to applied cryptography, authentication and computer security, and becomes an IEEE Fellow in 2019.

  7. 2023

    SIGSAC Outstanding Contributions Award

    In 2023, ACM SIGSAC gives him its Outstanding Contributions Award for scientific contributions in applied cryptography and authentication, and for co-authoring the Handbook of Applied Cryptography.

  8. As of October 2026

    Carleton professor writing a textbook

    He is a Professor of Computer Science at Carleton University in Ottawa and the author of Computer Security and the Internet: Tools and Jewels from Malware to Bitcoin (2nd edition, 2021). With Alfred Menezes and Bart Preneel, he is writing the Textbook of Applied Cryptography, which has 12 of its 15 chapters available.

Career

  1. Since 2002Carleton UniversityProfessor, Canada Research Chair
  2. 2008–2013NSERC ISSNetScientific Director and Principal Investigator
  3. 1997–2001EntrustChief Scientist, Vice President, Chief Security Architect
  4. 1988–1996Bell-Northern Research

Education

  1. 1988University of WaterlooPhD
  2. 1984University of Waterloo

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Carleton University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Carleton University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Carleton University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Waterloo. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Paul Van Oorschot: Personal Page people.scs.carleton.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Handbook of Applied Cryptography: Paul van Oorschot cacr.uwaterloo.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Paul van Oorschot - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. ACM SIGSAC Awards sigsac.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Textbook of Applied Cryptography sites.google.com. Checked 22 October 2026.