Pubali Datta

Prof. Datta's research interest is in improving security and privacy of emerging computing platforms. Modern computing systems are constantly growing in size and complexity, and layers of abstraction have helped us design these systems. However, as core design primitives are obscured, these indirections can also engender new security challenges. Dr. Datta's research looks past these abstractions to study the core functionalities of modern computing systems. She also looks at the human perspectives of security and privacy through user studies in order to understand the security and privacy challenges faced by the users of these systems. Through identifying the security and privacy challenges within these systems, Dr. Datta designs mechanisms that prevent security violations while meeting the design and operational requirements of system users. She primarily works in the areas of Emerging Cloud Architectures, Internet of Things, Threat Intelligence, and Network Security. Her research detects, deters and investigates security attacks within large complex systems through the means of access control, information flow analysis, and auditing.
 She regularly publishes in top security and systems venues. Her IEEE S&P’23 paper “Characterizing Everyday Misuse of Smart Home Devices” was recognized with a Distinguished Paper Award.