Introducing Ryan Hooper

The OpenSSL Foundation welcomes Ryan Hooper as an Associate OpenSSL Foundation Engineer. Coming from Cisco Systems, Ryan will be working part-time with the OpenSSL Foundation as part of Cisco’s premier sponsorship.

Ryan has been a dedicated Software Engineer at Cisco for over 17 years, specializing in security certifications for Cisco products. His expertise spans multiple programming languages and workflows, enabling him to adapt quickly and effectively across various product teams to help achieve critical certifications.

His key areas of focus include:

• Security Certifications: Ryan has played a pivotal role in helping Cisco products utilize OpenSSL and FIPS Object Module to obtain Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) certifications. He also developed and tested code in Cisco products to help obtain Department of Defense Approved Product List (DoDIN APL), and Common Criteria certifications.
   
• Protocol Development: He began his career working on IKEv2 and IPsec protocols to support Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), including common configuration elements for IKEv1 and IKEv2 and enhancing IPsec to handle ICMP errors related to Security Associations.
   
• Security Enhancements: Ryan was a user of OpenSSL and used it to update Cisco products to support ECDSA certificates and Mutual TLS Authentication. Ryan also implemented SAML and LDAP authentication, along with other security hardening measures to meet certification requirements.
   
• Linux Kernel FIPS Module: Ryan developed a Linux Kernel FIPS Object Module that operates at the kernel level, supporting multiple Linux kernel versions. This module enables products to maintain FIPS-approved cryptographic algorithms across all Linux application layers.

Ryan’s contributions have been instrumental in Cisco’s ability to meet stringent security standards required by government and defense sectors, ensuring Cisco products are compliant and secure for critical environments.

By having a seat on both Cisco’s and OpenSSL Foundation’s engineering teams, Ryan will act as a bridge between the two organizations, sharing insights from each side. He will bring Cisco’s enterprise perspective and operational experience to the Foundation while simultaneously helping Cisco have a better view into the Foundation’s work on the OpenSSL Library.

Join us in welcoming Ryan to the team! He can be reached at ryanh@openssl.org.

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