Carnegie Mellon University CyLab

06/01/2026

Can posting a “peace sign” selfie put you at an increased risk of biometric identity theft? CyLab faculty member Vyas Sekar of Carnegie Mellon University Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) sets the record straight with Lauren Fichten of CBS News:

Claims have circulated on social media that fingerprints can be pulled from photos featuring peace signs, but experts say the risk to the average person is low.

05/20/2026

For the fifth consecutive year, Carnegie Mellon University students have claimed first place in the MITREcorp Embedded Capture the Flag (eCTF) competition, further cementing the university’s status as the top program in one of the nation’s most demanding collegiate security contests.

For the fifth consecutive year, Carnegie Mellon University students have claimed first place in the MITRE Embedded Capture the Flag (eCTF) cybersecurity competition, further cementing the university’s status as the top program in one of the nation’s most demanding collegiate security contests.

05/18/2026

Public Knowledge cited recent research from CyLab researchers Yanzi Lin, Cheng Zhang, Madelyne Xiao, Lorrie Cranor, and Sarah Scheffler in its newest white paper, “Getting Age Assurance Right: A Risk-Based Framework for High-Risk Online Features,” by Government Affairs Director Sara Collins. Read the full white paper below, and learn more about the findings, which Professor Cranor will present at the 2026 USENIX Conference on Privacy Engineering Practice and Respect (PEPR '26).

Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy.

05/01/2026

CyLab faculty members Lorrie Cranor and Norman Sadeh recently participated as panelists at “Privacy Regulation Strategies for 2026,” a tech policy forum hosted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Block Center for Technology and Society. Professor Cranor’s panel discussed the current fragmentation of the U.S. privacy landscape, while Professor Sadeh’s panel shared strategies for identifying and measuring violations. Learn about key findings, read policy recommendations, and watch full panel videos at the following link: https://www.cmu.edu/block-center/news-events/block-center-tech-policy-forum

04/30/2026

AI is already transforming , but how well can today’s tools defend against fast-moving, AI-powered attacks they’ve never seen before?

CyLab’s Cyber Autonomy Initiative is exploring the real limits of current and LLM-based cyber defense systems to better understand what’s needed for resilient, next-generation security. Learn how CyLab is helping shape the future of autonomous cyber defense.

Advances in AI are dramatically changing the playing field in cybersecurity. AI is enabling attacks to be faster, more effective, and much more numerous. For the cybersecurity community to stay a step ahead of its adversaries, defense techniques and strategies need to be fundamentally rethought with...

04/29/2026

Carnegie Mellon University's Information Networking Institute (INI) is serving as Regional Host of this week's National Science Foundation (NSF) CAE in Cybersecurity Community Symposium, which gathers 800+ faculty, administrators and government officials dedicated to growing our workforce. Learn more about INI's presence at the symposium below, including a keynote address by INI Director and CyLab faculty member Dr. Dena Haritos Tsamitis:

04/21/2026

“As paradoxical as it may seem, AI, including agentic AI, is becoming essential to protecting privacy.”

In a column for the ACM - Association for Computing Machinery, Norman Sadeh, Co-Director of the Privacy Engineering program at Carnegie Mellon University, argues that without , adequate has become simply out of reach.

Membership in ACM includes a subscription to Communications of the ACM (CACM), the computing industry's most trusted source for staying connected to the world of advanced computing.

04/20/2026

Hideto Tomabechi, CyLab Fellow and CEO of Cognitive Research Labs, Inc., will present a guest talk on the evolution and future of cognitive warfare, especially in the context of generative and , at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, April 22 at 3 p.m. ET. The hybrid event is open to the public and both in-person and online registration to attend is open now. Please see below for full details and to register.

Cognitive Research Labs is a CyLab partner and sponsor of the picoCTF: High School Hacking Competition through its CognitiveHack Japan competition.

Cognitive warfare powered by AI – including the spread of disinformation to leaders, militaries, and the general public – is growing in East Asia. AI also can be tool to respond to such attacks.

04/17/2026

Congratulations to the CyLab researchers that were honored at the ACM - Association for Computing Machinery CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing! Lorrie Cranor, CyLab Director, received the 2026 ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award, one of the highest honors in the field of human-computer interaction, from fellow CyLab faculty member Brad Myers. Laura Dabbish was inducted into the CHI Academy by fellow CyLab faculty member Sauvik Das. CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute professors Jeff Bigham and Chris Harrison were also inducted into the CHI Academy. And Professor Das’s co-authored paper, “Privy: Envisioning and Mitigating Privacy Risks for Consumer-facing AI Product Concepts,” received an Honorable Mention.

04/15/2026

CyLab participation at the ACM - Association for Computing Machinery CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing in Barcelona is in full swing! Lorrie Cranor, CyLab Director, shared research on ID-required mobile money services in East Africa, and Jenny Tang, a Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon’s Societal Computing program, presented her research on digital estate planning.