Daniel Kaminsky ’02, 42, a security researcher known for his discovery of a fundamental flaw in the fabric of the internet, died on April 23, 2021, at his home in San Francisco.

In 2008, Daniel was widely hailed as a digital Paul Revere after he found a serious flaw in the internet’s basic plumbing that could allow skilled coders to take over websites, siphon off bank credentials, or even shut down the internet. Daniel alerted the Department of Homeland Security, executives at Microsoft and Cisco, and other internet security experts to the problem and helped spearhead a patch.

When Daniel was 11, a network administrator for the Western United States cut off his family’s internet connection for three days. Daniel had been examining military websites, “monkeying around in territories where he shouldn’t be monkeying around,” the administrator warned in an angry call to Daniel’s mother.

Daniel’s generosity extended to his many side projects. When a friend struggled with color blindness, he developed the DanKam, a mobile app that uses a phone’s camera to decipher colors otherwise indecipherable to the colorblind. When his grandmother experienced hearing loss, he refocused his efforts on hearing-aid technology.

Security was always Daniel’s lifework, most recently as the chief scientist at White Ops, a security company he helped found; recently renamed HUMAN.