Research/Areas of Interest:
Cybersecurity Policy; Privacy; Communications Surveillance
Education
- PhD., MIT
- M.S., Cornell University
- B.A., Princeton University
Biography
Susan Landau is bridge professor in cyber security and policy, and splits her time between Fletcher and Tufts University's School of Engineering (as a professor of Computer Science). Susan works at the intersection of cybersecurity, national security, law, and policy. She has testified before Congress, written for the Washington Post, Science, and Scientific American, and frequently appears on NPR and BBC. Her previous positions include senior staff privacy analyst at Google, distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems, and faculty member at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Wesleyan University.
Professional Activities
- 2020-present: Division Committee of the Division of Engineering and Physical Sciences, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- 2019-present: Committee on International Security Studies, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2016-present: Member, Forum on Cyber Resilience, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- 2015-present: Area Editor in Political and Policy Perspectives, Journal of Cybersecurity
- 2013-2016: Associate Editor in Chief, IEEE Security and Privacy
- 2010-2016: Member, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- 2002-2008: Member, Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, National Institute of Standards and Technology
- 1994-2001: Associate Editor, Notices of the American Mathematical Society
Other Affiliations
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Awards
- 2020: Appointed a "National Associate" of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- 2018: Information System Security Association Hall of Fame
- 2016: EFF Pioneer Award for Keys Under Doormats: Mandating insecurity by requiring government access to all data and communications with Harold Abelson, Ross Anderson, Steven Bellovin, Josh Benaloh, Matt Blaze, Whitfield Diffie, John Gilmore, Matthew Green, Peter Neumann, Ronald Rivest, Jeffrey Schiller, Bruce Schneier, Michael Specter, and Daniel Weitzner.
- 2015: Inductee, Cybersecurity Hall of Fame
- 2012: The Guardian's Open 20: Fighters for Internet Freedom
- 2012: Surveillance Studies Book Prize
- 2012: Fellow, John S. Guggenheim Foundation
- 2011: Fellow, Association for Computing Machinery
Courses taught
- DHP P249 International Cyber Conflict
- DHP D291 Computer Science for Future Policymakers
- DHP P237 Privacy in the Digital Age
- ILO L235 Cyberlaw and Cyberpolicy
Selected Publications and Presentations
ARTICLES
S. Landau, Categorizing Uses of Communications Metadata: Systematizing Knowledge and Presenting a Path for Privacy, New Security Paradigms Workshop, 2020.
S. Landau and A. Lubin, Examining the Anomalies, Explaining the Value: Should the USA FREEDOM Act's Metadata Program be Extended?, Harvard National Security Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 3 (2020), pp. 308-358.
BOOKS
People Count: Contact-Tracing Apps and Public Health, MIT Press, April 2021.
Listening In: Cybersecurity in an Insecure Age, Yale University Press, 2017.
OP-EDS
D. McDonough and S. Landau, Breaking the Encryption Impasse, The Hill, January 16, 2020.