With the amount of information being transmitted over the Internet growing every day, the question of privacy has only become more pressing. In 1993 cryptographer and software engineer Philip R. Zimmermann took the issue to heart and created Pretty Good Privacy, a "freeware" program intended to give personal users some measure of privacy when sending messages. PGP, despite lack of sponsors, publicity, or company-backing, went on to become the most popular email encryption program in the world. After programmers worldwide began distributing and making modifications to the program, the federal government charged that PGP was violating U.S. export restrictions on cryptographic software. The government dropped its three-year criminal investigation case in 1997, and today an updated version of PGP is still widely in use in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In 1996 Zimmermann founded PGP Inc., which was acquired by Network Associates the following year. Zimmermann is a senior fellow at Network Associates, as well as consultant on cryptography. He has received a number of awards for his seminal work on cryptography, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from Secure Computing Magazine, the Norbert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the Electronic Freedom Foundation's Pioneer Award, and PC Week's IT Excellence Award.