First Annual Top Journalist of 2010 Awards Announced

BETHESDA, Md., March 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Ten distinguished cyber security reporters received the 2010 Top Journalist Award at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. The winners, in order of most votes received, included Brian Krebs, formerly of washingtonpost.com, Robert McMillan of International Data Group, Kevin Poulsen of Wired, Tim Wilson of Dark Reading, Kim Zetter of Wired, Byron Acohido of USA Today, Keith Epstein of the Huffington Post, Dan Goodin of The Register, Siobhan Gorman of the Wall Street Journal and Robert Lemos.

A 75-journalist panel voted to determine the winners from among 25-finalists.

"Journalists are among the most important people in cyber security because until the public fully understands the threat, the nation will never act to solve the problem," said Alan Paller, the SANS Institute's director of research. SANS sponsored the awards and is considered the largest and most trusted source of information security training and certification in the world.

Of the winners, Krebs received twice as many votes as the rest of the field combined. Krebs has authored hundreds of stories for the Washington Post over the last 15 years, including eight front-page stories and a Post Magazine cover.

"[He] breaks more stories more often than any other cybersecurity journalist," said a panel member. "Plus he seems to really focus on breaking stories that matter, not just those that will generate buzz."

McMillan finished second in the voting. He's broken stories on computer security since 2005 and covered computer security since 1996.

"He seems to never sleep, an admirable quality in a wire reporter, and ends not to sensationalize," said a panel member.

The additional eight winners were recognized because of their exceptional journalism this year, and in years past.

Poulsen is a former black hat hacker. He is currently a senior editor for Wired, and began writing about security and hacking news in early 2000.

Wilson is a 25-year veteran of computer industry journalism and a founding editor of Dark Reading, one of the Web's most comprehensive security news sites. Wilson helped Dark Reading to break a number of breach and vulnerability stories in 2009, as well as directing the site's editorial plans and strategies.

Zetter is a freelance journalist who has written for publications across the world. She writes on a variety of subjects from dining out in San Francisco to cryptography and electronic voting.

Acohido has been a reporter for 31 years, and won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting. He is the co-author of Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steak Your Money and Identity.

Epstein is an award-winning writer and investigative journalist with two decades of experience in Washington. He joined BusinessWeek Magazine's Washington Bureau in 2006, and currently works for the Huffington Post's Investigative Fund.

Goodin has covered legal affairs, Internet governance and financial markets for publications including CNET News.com, The Industry Standard, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News.

Gorman has over 13 years of reporting experience, with time at the National Journal, The Baltimore Sun, and the Journal. She covers intelligence, terrorism, and national security in the Washington D.C. bureau.

Lemos is an award winning veteran technology journalist of more than 13 years, focusing on computer security, cybercrime, and enterprise issues. He spent eight years as a staff writer at ZDNet News and as a senior staff writer at CNET News.com.

SOURCE SANS Institute