Alex Kent

Alex Kent is a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); his work is primarily focused on applied cyber security research, including distributed intrusion detection systems, dynamic trust models, authentication systems, and ethology-inspired cyber defense models. Alex was previously the program manager responsible for LANL’s non-DOE cyber security work and the director of LANL’s Advanced Computing Solutions (ACS) organization, centered on solving current and forward-looking cyber security problems with a cross-disciplinary and applied R&D emphasis. Prior to ACS, as deputy division leader over LANL’s computing, telecommunications, and networking organization, Alex was responsible for overseeing the Laboratory’s site-wide classified and unclassified IT environments, services, and security, including LANL’s computer incident response capability. Alex has led and developed a number of high-impact, successful LANL cyber security projects, including an integrated physical-cyber security protection system, a USB-port protection system, a heterogeneous network host quarantine system, and a scalable two-factor authentication system. Alex has been a member of the technical staff at LANL since 1997, working in areas relating to cyber security and IT management. He is also an adjunct staff researcher with the Institute for Defense Analysis at the Center for Computing Sciences. Alex has been presented with three Distinguished Performance Awards for his various technical contributions and has also received a patent for work in network authentication.

Education: BS Computer Science, New Mexico Tech; MS Computer Science, New Mexico Tech; Masters of Business Administration (MBA), University of New Mexico; Ph.D. candidate, New Mexico Tech.