-- Moxie Marlinspike --
(photo: Michael Friberg)
The person behind your what's app encryption. Moxie Marlinspike (not his real name) is a computer security researcher. His research has focused primarily on techniques for intercepting communication, as well as methods for strengthening communication infrastructure against interception. He is a member of the Institute for Disruptive Studies, former head of the security team at Twitter, founder of Open Whisper Systems, and a fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation. He runs a cloud-based WPA cracking service, manages the GoogleSharing targeted anonymity service, and is the author of the Convergence SSL authentication system.
There's a great article about him on WIRED: https://www.wired.com/2016/07/meet-moxie-marlinspike-anarchist-bringing-encryption-us/