Security magazine is saddened to share the news that longtime (ISC)² volunteer Professor Howard Schmidt has passed away today. He was the executive director of SAFECode and former White House cybersecurity coordinator, and he spent 30 years contributing to the information security industry. He was recently awarded the 2016 (ISC)² Harold F. Tipton Lifetime Achievement Award.

According to a press release from (ISC)², “Professor Schmidt had a distinguished career in information security that spanned over 30 years. He served on numerous boards throughout his career, and held high-ranking positions when he was employed by eBay, Microsoft, the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and others. He was a professor of practice at the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC), at the Georgia Institute of Technology; professor of research at Idaho State University; adjunct distinguished fellow with Carnegie Mellon's CyLab; and a distinguished fellow with the Ponemon Institute.

“Professor Schmidt was involved with (ISC)² as a volunteer for over 20 years, serving on advisory boards, the board of directors and other committees. He was also a contract speaker for (ISC)² for several years. Professor Schmidt held the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP^®) and Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP^®) designations.”

Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.