2024 - Paul Vixie

The Messaging Malware Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M³AAWG) is proud to announce Paul Vixie as this year’s winner of the Mary Litynski Award. The award was presented at the 60^th General Meeting, Feb. 19 - 22, 2024, in San Francisco, California.

For more, please read blog post. 

2023 - Chris Lewis

M³AAWG has presented the 2023 Mary Litynski Award to Chris Lewis, one of the most prolific and expert spam fighters in the anti-abuse ecosystem. The award recognizes the lifetime achievements of an individual who has significantly contributed to making the Internet safer for all, reflecting that same work ethic and dedication.

Please see blog post to learn more about the excellent work Chris Lewis has contributed to the community.

2022 - Troy Hunt

Troy Hunt, founder of Have I Been Pwned. Hunt was honored at the group's 54^th general meeting. Have I Been Pwned allows site visitors to check whether their email has been part of a data breach. He created the free service in 2013 after working on what was the largest data breach at that time.

Presented February 22, 2022 during the M³AAWG 54^th General Meeting. Please see the @M3AAWG video at link and news release at https://bit.ly/35fgrDW.

2021 - Alex Bobotek

Alex Bobotek has spent the better part of two decades within the M³AAWG community striving to make a rapidly evolving worldwide mobile messaging ecosystem safer for all. A leader in mobile spam prevention, Alex has helped drive multiple initiatives around awareness, best practices, solutions, and standards, and his contributions are behind the addition of M³AAWG’s third “M” and continued expansion into mobile messaging and mobile networks.

Presented February 16, 2021 during the M³AAWG 51^th General Meeting. Please see the M³AAWG blog post for details.

2020 - Dr. Cristine Hoepers, Ph.D.

Dr. Cristine Hoepers, Ph.D., is the general manager of CERT.br, the Brazilian national Computer Emergency Response Team. Dr. Hoepers has been general manager of CERT.br, which is maintained by the non-profit Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), since 1999. Her work in incident management, Internet best practices development, and information security training has reduced online abuse in Brazil and across Latin America, and increased Internet resilience.

Presented February 18, 2020 during the M³AAWG 48^th General Meeting. Please see the M³AAWG blog post for details. blog post for details.

2019 - Dave Piscitello

As a young security consultant, Dave Piscitello wondered, “how do these guys get away with all this spam and malware?” which led him to take on the challenging work of persuading the online ecosystem to address DNS abuse and related issues through his years at ICANN and in his involvement with other industry associations. Acknowledging the range and significance of these efforts, the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group presented the 2019 M³AAWG Mary Litynski Award to Piscitello at the M³AAWG 45^th General Meeting on February 19 in San Francisco.

Presented February 19, 2020 at the M³AAWG 45^th General Meeting in San Francisco.  See the news release for details.

2018 - Dave Rand

Co-Founder, MAPS  –  Also: AboveNet, Kelkea, PC532, EtherValve, CEF and MRTG/

Presented February 20, 2018 at the M³AAWG 42^nd General Meeting in San Francisco.  See the news release for details on how Dave co-founded the first reputation-based, anti-spam company, managed the first ISP to ban spam, and has continuously worked to protect online users as a pioneering anti-spam champion. (Photo by Franck Martin.)

2017 - Michael "Mick" Moran

Assistant Director, INTERPOL Vulnerable Communities Unit

Presented February 21, 2017 at the M³AAWG 39^th General Meeting in San Francisco.  See the news release and acceptance video where Mick Moran talks about Internet-based child abuse material and what the industry can do to help protect vulnerable victims.

2016 - Rodney Joffe

A long-time and influential cybersecurity advocate, who has taken on work from fighting the early cases of spam to global anti-bot work and protecting networks from DDoS attacks, is shown here on the right conversing with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Presented June 9, 2015 at the M³AAWG 34^th General Meeting in Dublin, Ireland
See the news release and a video conversation with Rodney Joffe on the changes he's seen in the industry.

2015 - Jayne A. Hitchcock

Advocate for Cyberbullying Victims
Who@ (www.haltabuse.org)

Presented February 17, 2015 at the M³AAWG 33^rd General Meeting
See the news release with tips on protecting your children from cyberstalking and watch the video of Jayne Hitchcock's discussion on this topic.

2014 - Brian Krebs

Investigative Journalist
Krebs on Security

Presented February 18, 2014 at the M³AAWG 30^th General Meeting
See the news release detailing the award

2013 - John Levine, Ph.D. 

2012 - J. D. Falk 

Presented to J.D. Falk at a remembrance in his honor on February 20, 2012 at the M³AAWG 24^th General Meeting. His wife, Hope Barrone-Falk, accepted the award.

2011 - Neil Schwartzman 

Active M³AAWG member, CAUCE Executive Director,
and industry contributor

Presented June 8, 2011 at the M³AAWG 22nd General Meeting. 
Watch a video describing Neil Schwartzman's accomplishments