Stephen Thomas Kent (born January 25, 1951) is an American computer scientist, noted for his contributions to network security.

In 1969 he graduated from Ridgewood Preparatory School in Metairie, Louisiana, and in 1973 from Loyola University New Orleans with a B.S.

[2] While a graduate student, Kent spent two summers at BBN Technologies, which he joined full-time in 1980 after receiving his doctorate degree.

He served as a member of the Internet Architecture Board (1983–1994), and chaired the Privacy and Security Research Group of the Internet Research Task Force (1985–1998) and the Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) from 1990 to 1995, during which time he also co-chaired the Public Key Infrastructure Working Group.

He was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2013, where he is recognized as "a pioneer in the architecture of network security systems, including the design and development of network layer encryption and access-control systems and standards; secure transport layer protocols; secure e-mail technology; Public Key Infrastructure standards and certification authority systems.