In 1982 he co-founded the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), serving as president of the national organization from 1987 to 1989. He was named to the ISSA Hall of Fame in 2000.

In 1989 he co-founded the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc. (ISC)², bringing together a variety of industry organizations interested in training and certifying information security professionals.

Tipton and other volunteers spent the next five years developing the organization's Common Body of Knowledge, a regularly updated compendium of knowledge critical to the information security professional, training seminar curriculum and certification exam. The first (ISC)² training and exams were presented in the spring of 1994 to U.S. Postal Service information security managers with CISSP accreditation in fall of the same year.

Tipton has served as a featured speaker at all major information security conferences, published several papers on information security issues and is editor of two publications: Data Security Management and Handbook of Information Security.

A resident of Villa Park, Calif., Tipton has a bachelor's degree in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's in personnel administration from George Washington University.

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