# Professor, University of Cambridge (1935 to 2003)

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/experts/roger-needham/
Last updated: 2026-09-20
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Bio

Roger Needham (1935 to 2003) led the Cambridge Computer Laboratory and founded Microsoft Research Cambridge. With Michael Schroeder he published "Using Encryption for Authentication in Large Networks of Computers" in 1978, and he is credited with the practice of storing passwords as one-way hashes rather than in recoverable form.

Profile built from public academic and institutional records.

## Where their work shows up

Two ideas from one career sit under most of modern identity. Hashing passwords instead of storing them is why a database breach is a serious incident rather than an immediate total compromise, and why the argument today is about which hash and how it is salted rather than whether to hash at all. The authentication protocol became [Kerberos](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/kerberos/). See [credential stuffing](https://startwithidentity.com/techniques/credential-stuffing/) and [infostealer credential harvesting](https://startwithidentity.com/techniques/infostealer-credential-harvesting/) for what happens when the stored form is weak or bypassed.