Conference Schedule
This is a draft program, and we expect minor modifications may be made prior to the conference.8:00
Breakfast (provided)
FOCI
9:00-12:00Policy-Relevant Privacy Research Workshop
9:00-12:0012:00
Lunch (provided)
FOCI
13:30-17:00Policy-Relevant Privacy Research Workshop
13:30-17:0018:00
Opening Reception (refreshments and food trucks)
8:00
Breakfast (provided)
8:30
Opening Remarks
9:00
Keynote: Privacy and Ads on the Emerging Agentic Web
Franziska Roesner 9:00-10:00 Abstract: Over the last two or more decades, a key privacy issue on the web has been the collection and use of data in the context of targeted advertising. Members of the computer security and privacy research community (and adjacent communities) have done substantial work over that time to characterize (and improve) this ecosystem and its risks, including: assessing the privacy implications of online tracking and ad targeting, studying problematic (e.g., manipulative or adversarial) ad content and ad targeting, and exploring privacy-preserving ad mechanisms. In this talk, I will first overview research findings and ecosystem developments around privacy and the online advertising ecosystem up until now. Then, I will look to the future in this era of generative AI, considering how tracking and advertising may manifest in the emerging “agentic web” — in which users interact substantially with AI agents, and agents interact directly with other web content — and how the landscape of privacy and related risks may evolve. Bio: Franziska (Franzi) Roesner is the Brett Helsel Professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where she co-directs the Security and Privacy Research Lab. Her research focuses broadly on computer security and privacy for end users of existing and emerging technologies. Her work has studied topics including online tracking and advertising, security and privacy for marginalized and/or vulnerable user groups, security and privacy in emerging augmented reality (AR) and IoT platforms, and online trust and safety. She is the recipient of a Google Security and Privacy Research Award and a Google Research Scholar Award, a Consumer Reports Digital Lab Fellowship, an MIT Technology Review "Innovators Under 35" Award, an Emerging Leader Alumni Award from the University of Texas at Austin, and an NSF CAREER Award. She has received paper awards or runners-up at the USENIX Security Symposium, the IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy, the Internet Measurement Conference, the WebConf, the Annual Privacy Forum, and the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems; as well as Test of Time Awards at NSDI, the IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy, and USENIX Security. She currently serves on the USENIX Security steering committee. She received her PhD from the University of Washington in 2014 and her BS from UT Austin in 2008.10:00
Break
10:30
Best Student Paper Session
10:30-12:0012:00
Lunch (provided)
13:30
Technical sessions
15:00
Break
15:30
Technical sessions
17:00
AMA with chairs
17:30
Rump Session
18:00
Optional led excursions (on your own)
8:00
Breakfast (provided)
9:00
Keynote: TBA
John Scott Railton 9:00-10:0010:00
Break
10:30
Technical Sessions
10:30-12:0012:00
Lunch (provided)
13:30
Technical sessions
15:00
Break
15:30
Networking Session
15:30
BoFs
16:30
Bus to PETS Gala (TELUS Spark Science Centre)
17:00
Poster Session (Atrium, TELUS Spark Science Centre)
18:30
Banquet Dinner (TELUS Spark Science Centre)
20:00
Bus back to University
8:00
Breakfast (provided)
9:00
Keynote: Managing complexity
Fredrik Strömberg 9:00-10:00 Abstract: What is strategy, innovation, and cybersecurity? What is trust and trustworthiness? What design principles are useful for managing complexity - in computer systems, organizations, and life? I have tried to answer these questions for almost two decades, driven by insatiable curiosity and at times unhealthy perfectionism. This talk is about the journey so far, more and less successful attempts at supporting and doing research, the principles that guide me and my companies, and the meaning of "good enough". Bio: Fredrik Strömberg is co-CEO at Mullvad VPN and Head of Research at the Amagicom group, consisting of Mullvad VPN, Tillitis and Glasklar Teknik. His main interest for the past decade has been the design and construction of more trustworthy computer systems. Together with colleagues and collaborators he has worked on the open-source projects System Transparency, Sigsum, Tillitis TKey, Tillitis HSM as well as open-source silicon and other open-source software and hardware-related internal research projects. Together with his friend Daniel Berntsson he founded Amagicom AB and Mullvad VPN, 17 years ago. His interests in computer security, strategy and creativity started a decade before that, in no small part thanks to his surroundings. Today he's a proud fourth-generation business owner and third-generation inventor. Mullvad was founded with the vision of making mass surveillance and online censorship ineffective, using entrepreneurship as a method for direct political action. Fredrik and Daniel has consistently refused outside investment in order to retain long term strategic flexibility, and re-invest much of Mullvad's profits in research and open-source software and hardware projects.10:00
Break
10:30
Technical Sessions
10:30-12:0012:00
Lunch (provided)
13:30
Technical sessions
15:00
Break
15:30
Technical sessions
17:00
Closing Remarks, Awards, Walk to celebration
17:30
Closing Celebration (Rump session 2, local trivia, games)
8:00
Breakfast (provided)
9:00
Welcome! (coffee and chat)
9:30
Opening Remarks
9:45
Keynote: When Everyone's a Target: Rethinking Threat Models in the Age of Ambient, Inherited, and AI-Enhanced Surveillance
Rebekah Brown, The Citizen Lab 9:45–11:00 Abstract:Traditional threat modeling starts with asking "who is the target, who is the adversary, and what are they after?" For high-risk groups such as journalists, activists, and dissidents, the answers have historically been state actors with advanced capabilities who are interested in the target's communications, location, and social circles. But the volume and types of data now available, along with shifts in who controls this information, have changed many of these assumptions.
The Mosaic Theory, where individual data points combine to reveal sensitive patterns no single piece would expose, has been operationalized at scale. Contextual data collected through everyday technology use is now fed into machine learning systems capable of inferring information never explicitly disclosed by an individual, enabling not only targeted attacks, but digital stalking, doxxing, and impersonation. Fully automated profiling systems now exist that autonomously scrape, collect, and analyze raw user data using coordinated agents, eliminating the need for background knowledge or profiling expertise. As a result, threat models can no longer be limited to high-value targets or explicitly sensitive data. They must account for how ordinary digital traces can be transformed into actionable intelligence about almost anyone.
This talk draws on Citizen Lab research into targeted attacks and ad-tech surveillance and new work on stalkerware, alongside emerging research on AI-enabled profiling, to address how researchers and technologists should prioritize between high-sophistication targeted threats and lower-sophistication, mass-availability threats, including AI tools now accessible to any abuser or state actor.
Bio:
Rebekah Brown is a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab focussing on targeted threats against civil society. She has over 20 years of experience in threat intelligence and analysis. Before joining the Citizen Lab, Rebekah worked at Apple, where she focused on complex threat models and helped design and implement features for individuals at increased risk for stalking, harassment, and abuse.
