The Hidden Architect of Our Digital Lives: A Tribute to My Batchmate, Professor N. Asokan – Batch of ’82, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya – By Zainulabdeen Mohamed Hairu
Source:https://www.facebook.com/mohamed.hairu
Every time you tap your phone to pay for a coffee, every time your wireless headphones “magically” pair with your laptop, and every time you log into a secure app without a second thought — you are using the mind of my Batchmate.
It is a surreal and electrifying feeling. To the world, he is Professor Nadarajah Asokan, a titan of cybersecurity. To me, he is the resilient young man I shared a dorm with during our first year at the Peradeniya Campus, residing together at Hilda Hall in August 1982. We were just boys then, engineering students with our whole lives ahead of us. We didn’t know that he would go on to engineer the very safety of the modern world.
From Hilda Hall to Global Recognition
Our shared journey began at Hilda Hall, amidst the excitement of freshers’ week and the rigorous labs of Peradeniya. But as we all remember with heavy hearts, the 1983 riots shattered that peace. While many of us stayed or struggled through, Asokan was forced to leave the country he loved.
He didn’t just survive this rupture; he conquered it. He moved to India, restarted his entire degree at IIT Kharagpur, and eventually landed at the University of Waterloo in Canada. From there, he joined Nokia Research in Finland, where he became the “hidden architect” of the mobile revolution.
A Life of Monumental Achievements
If you want to know how great his impact is, look at his “Triple Crown” of academic honors—a feat very few humans ever achieve:
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2023): The highest honor for any scientist in Canada.
- ACM Fellow (2018): Recognized for securing the mobile systems we carry in our pockets.
- IEEE Fellow (2017): Honored for his foundational contributions to system privacy.
He holds over 50 patents. He co-designed the Bluetooth Secure Simple Pairing protocol. Yes—the “Pairing” screen on your phone is, in part, his invention. He pioneered Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), the “secure vaults” inside phone chips that protect your fingerprints and passwords from hackers.
The Heart That Never Left Home
What makes me most proud, however, is that fame never changed him. Despite being the Executive Director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI) at Waterloo, he remains a “son of the soil.”
Asokan has never disconnected from his roots. He is a tireless advocate for the Tamil language and society. Even with his massive research load, he finds time for:
- Translating and Promoting: He has translated vital documents and stories related to Tamil society, ensuring our culture is represented and preserved.
- Academic Mentorship: He is a lifeline for Sri Lankan and Tamil researchers, providing guidance, networking, and technical assistance to those following in his footsteps.
- Batch Connectivity: He remains a figure in our ’82 batch networking, proving that the bonds formed at Hilda Hall are stronger than civil unrest or thousands of miles of ocean.
A Legacy of Proud Defiance
Asokan’s life is a message: You can take a student out of Peradeniya, but you cannot take the brilliance or the heart out of the student. Today, as he leads the world in AI Security, protecting us from the dangers of tomorrow, I look back at our time at Hilda Hall with a smile. We knew he was bright, but we didn’t know he would become a guardian of the digital age.
To my dear batchmate, Asokan: We are beyond proud. You have lived up to your name—you have taken the “sorrow” of 1983 and transformed it into a legacy of security and hope for the entire world.
