Galina Kofman
Russian-American computer programmer and executive
Galina Kofman is a computer scientist and business executive. She was the author of the Kerberos protocol for various IBM systems. Kofman also authored FTP for IBM VM/CMS and OS/2. She received two IBM CEO Outstanding Technical Achievements awards and holds a patent on grid applications. Kofman is an executive at Recyclebank, a green company that rewards people for recycling.
Career at IBM Research
Galina Kofman began her work in Internet protocols at IBM's Thomas Watson Research Center, where she joined a group led by Barry Appelman, a noted figure in Internet history and the inventor of instant messaging. Her involvement with TCP/IP dates to 1983, when her first project was RLSS, a remote login system that served as a predecessor to Telnet at IBM. This early work placed her at the center of IBM's efforts to engage with the emerging Internet, even as the company maintained its own competing protocol family, Systems Network Architecture.
Kofman is best known for authoring implementations of the Kerberos authentication protocol for multiple IBM operating systems, including OS/2, VM/CMS, and AIX. She also developed FTP client and server software for VM/CMS and OS/2, and authored implementations of the Network Time Protocol for various IBM operating systems. Her contributions helped establish reliable, standards-based networking across IBM's diverse platform ecosystem.
Beyond protocol implementation, Kofman was active in research related to algorithms for processing unstructured text. In 2006, she served as program manager and lead developer of the IBM Magic system, extending her work into applied research and systems development.
Recognition
Kofman received two IBM CEO Outstanding Technical Achievement awards, one in 1990 and another in 1992, recognizing her sustained contributions to IBM's technical portfolio. She also holds a patent related to grid applications.
Career After IBM
Following her tenure at IBM, Kofman transitioned to the private sector, taking an executive role at Recyclebank, a company that operates a rewards-based platform encouraging consumer recycling participation.
