The Security & Privacy Research Group is a cross-faculty initiative at the University of Toronto. Our faculty work across areas like applied cryptography, hardware and systems security, privacy, and machine learning security.

Faculty


Lisa Austin

Law

  • Privacy law, property law, and legal theory.

  • Recent work includes investigation into online privacy policies, online harms, and mobile device permissions.


Ronald Deibert

Global Affairs & Public Policy

  • Global security, digital technologies, and human rights, including counterintelligence for civil society.

  • Director of the Citizen Lab


Anwar Hithnawi

Computer Science

  • Research interests in privacy-preserving systems and applied cryptography.

  • Builds practical techniques for secure computation and privacy in real-world systems.


Deepa Kundur

Electrical & Computer Engineering

  • Research at the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and intelligent critical infrastructure.

  • Investigates cyber deception technologies and intelligent honeypots for active defense, resilient and trustworthy AI for cyberattack detection, and quantum-enhanced cybersecurity for energy, industrial, and transportation systems.


David Lie

Electrical & Computer Engineering

  • Works on systems and platform security, including trusted execution and mobile/cloud security.

  • Focuses on building practical defenses and secure computing abstractions.


Aleksandar Nikolov

Computer Science

  • Theory of private data analysis.

  • Recent topics include private optimization and differentially private query release


Nicolas Papernot

Electrical & Computer Engineering

  • Research at the intersection of security, privacy, and machine learning.

  • Studies robust/secure ML and privacy-preserving learning techniques.


Tom Ristenpart

Computer Science

  • Research in computer security and privacy, including applied cryptography and authentication.

  • Recent work includes technology safety and privacy in interpersonal abuse settings.


Gururaj Saileshwar

Computer Science

  • Research at the intersection of computer security and computer architecture.

  • Focus areas include microarchitectural security, hardware/system security, and security for AI/ML systems.


Bruce Schneier

Global Affairs & Public Policy

  • Digital privacy, cybersecurity, and cybersecurity policy.

  • Security of AI, security with AI, trustworthy AI, AI integrity.


Akshayaram Srinivasan

Computer Science

  • Research on foundational aspects of cryptography.

  • Recent focuses include secure multiparty computation, zero knowledge, and post-quantum cryptography.


Mona Wang

Global Affairs & Public Policy
Computer Science

  • Research on privacy, security, and digital freedom on the Internet.

  • Recent focuses include security and privacy measurement, organizational threat modeling, and censorship circumvention.