Ryan Lackey

Who is Ryan Lackey?

Ryan Donald Lackey is an entrepreneur and computer security professional. He was a co-founder of HavenCo, the world's first data haven. He also speaks at numerous conferences and trade shows, including DEF CON, RSA Data Security Conference, on various topics in the computer security field, and has appeared on the cover of Wired Magazine, in numerous television, radio, and print articles on HavenCo and Sealand. Lackey operated BlueIraq, a VSAT communications and IT company serving the DoD and domestic markets in Iraq and Afghanistan during the US conflicts.

Lackey was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania and has also lived throughout the US and Europe, Anguilla, Sealand, Dubai, and Iraq. As a teenager, he was briefly involved with the Globewide Network Academy. Lackey attended MIT and majored in Course 18, one of the most difficult courses at the institute. While a student at MIT Lackey became interested in electronic cash and distributed systems, originally for massively multiplayer online gaming. This interest led to attending several conferences, participating on mailing lists such as "cypherpunks" and "dbs", and eventually implementing patented Chaumian digital cash in an underground library, HINDE, with Ian Goldberg, named after Hinde ten Berge, a Dutch cypherpunk also present at FC98. In part, he contributed to the cypherpunks movement as one of the longest Anonymous remailer operators.