Ron Ross is a Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. His focus areas include information security, systems security engineering, and risk management. Dr. Ross leads the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) Implementation Project, which includes the development of security standards and guidelines for the federal government, contractors, and the United States critical infrastructure. His current publications include Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 199 (security categorization), FIPS 200 (security requirements), and NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-39 (enterprise risk management), SP 800-53 (security and privacy controls), SP 800-53A (security assessment), SP 800-37 (Risk Management Framework), SP 800-30 (risk assessment), SP 800-160 Vol.1 (systems security engineering), and SP 800-171 (security requirements for nonfederal systems and organizations), SP 800-160 Vol. 2 (cyber resiliency), and SP 800-171A (security assessments for nonfederal organizations). Dr. Ross also leads the Joint Task Force, an interagency partnership with the Department of Defense, Office of the Director National Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence Community, and the Committee on National Security Systems, with responsibility for the development of the Unified Information Security Framework for the federal government and its contractors.
Dr. Ross previously served as the Director of the National Information Assurance Partnership, a joint activity of NIST and the National Security Agency. In addition to his responsibilities at NIST, Dr. Ross supports the U.S. State Department in the international outreach program for information security and critical infrastructure protection. He has also lectured at many universities and colleges across the country including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dartmouth College, Stanford University, the George Washington University, and the Naval Postgraduate School. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Dr. Ross served in many leadership and technical positions during his twenty-year career in the United States Army. While assigned to the National Security Agency, Dr. Ross received the Scientific Achievement Award for his work on an national security project and was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal. Dr. Ross is a four-time recipient of the Federal 100 award for his leadership and technical contributions to critical information security projects affecting the federal government and is a recipient of the Presidential Rank Award. He has also received the Department of Commerce Gold and Silver Medal Awards and has been inducted into the National Cyber Security Hall of Fame. Dr. Ross has been inducted into the Information Systems Security Association Hall of Fame and given its highest honor of Distinguished Fellow. He has also been selected as an (ISC)2 Fellow.
Dr. Ross has received numerous private sector awards including the Partnership for Public Service Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal for Homeland Security and Law Enforcement, Applied Computer Security Associates Distinguished Practitioner Award, Government Computer News Government Executive of the Year Award, Vanguard Chairman’s Award, Government Technology Research Alliance Award, InformationWeek’s Government CIO 50 Award, Billington Cybersecurity Leadership Award, ISACA National Capital Area Conyers Award, ISACA Joseph J. Wasserman Award, Symantec Cyber 7 Award, SC Magazine’s Cyber Security Luminaries, (ISC)2 Inaugural Lynn F. McNulty Tribute Award, 1105 Media Gov30 Award, and three-time Top 10 Influencers in Government IT Security.
During his military career, Dr. Ross served as a White House aide and a senior technical advisor to the Department of the Army. He is a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College and holds Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School specializing in artificial intelligence and robotics.
