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Nicolas Christin

Nicolas Christin

Courtesy Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Associate Research Professor, Engineering and Public Policy
Core Faculty, Institute for Software Research

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Bio

Nicolas Christin is an Associate Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, jointly appointed in the School of Computer Science and in Engineering & Public Policy. He is affiliated with the Institute for Software Research, and a core faculty in CyLab, the university-wide information security institute. He also has courtesy appointments in the Information Networking Institute and the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He holds a Diplôme d'Ingénieur from École Centrale Lille, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Virginia. He was a researcher in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, prior to joining Carnegie Mellon in 2005. His group's research won several awards including Honorable Mention at ACM CHI 2011 and 2016, Best Student Paper Award at USENIX Security 2014, and Best Paper Award at USENIX Security 2016 and ACM CHI 2017.

Education

PhD, 2003 
Computer Science 
University of Virginia

MCS, 2000 
Computer Science 
University of Virginia

Research

Nicolas Christin's research interests are in computer and information systems security. Most of his work is at the boundary of systems, networking and policy research. Topics that Nicolas is currently actively pursuing include online crime modeling, audit games, usable security, and security economics.

Related News

Friday, May 31, 2019

Christin says dark-web ecosystem undented by law enforcement efforts

International law enforcement has made major improvements in coordination and methodology, but according to Christin, their efforts don’t “seem to have dented the ecosystem in a major way.”
Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Christin comments on dark web dealings in The Economist

ECE/CyLab’s Nicolas Christin’s research on online anonymous markets was mentioned in The Economist. He comments on dark web narcotics dealings, saying that international market competition makes online prices lower than street prices, and that using the postal system makes arbitrage possible.
Thursday, July 07, 2016

NATO partners with CyLab to increase password security

NATO has partnered with CyLab in an effort to increase password security. Together, NATO and CyLab will research how changing passwords every few years instead of every few months could improve the security of NATO’s systems.
Monday, June 27, 2016

NATO partners with CyLab to increase password security

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with its 28 member nations from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, strives for peace and stability for its members.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Bauer, Christin, and Cranor’s password research receives high acclaim

A recent study, supervised by ECE/CyLab's Lujo Bauer and Nicolas Christin, and EPP/CyLab's Lorrie Cranor, has received honorable mention at ACM CHI 2016, the top conference for Human-Computer Interaction.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Users’ perceptions of password security do not always match reality

Think your password is secure? You may need to think again. People’s perceptions of password strength may not always match reality, according to a recent study by CyLab, Carnegie Mellon’s Security and Privacy Institute.
Monday, January 25, 2016

Christin quoted in WIRED on Dark Web drug trade

ECE/CyLab’s Nicolas Christin has been quoted in WIRED on the current state of the Dark Web’s drug trade.