About Me
I am a postdoctoral researcher under Prof. Ian Goldberg at the University of Waterloo. I am also a member of the Cryptography, Security, and Privacy (CrySP) lab.
I received my PhD degree in Computer Science from Georgetown University under the supervision of Prof. Micah Sherr. My PhD dissertation titled, Privacy-preserving Systems For Measuring Anonymity Networks, mainly focuses on developing efficient, safe and (ε, δ)-differentially private measurement systems for anonymity networks (primarily Tor).
I am interested in security, privacy, and applied cryptography. I enjoy architecting lightweight cryptographic solutions to real-world security and privacy problems.
Here is my CV.
Publications
- An Extensive Evaluation of the Internet’s Open Proxies [pdf]
Akshaya Mani*, Tavish Vaidya*, David Dworken, and Micah Sherr (* co-first authors)
In Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC), December 2018.
- Understanding Tor Usage with Privacy-Preserving Measurement [pdf]
Akshaya Mani*, T Wilson-Brown*, Rob Jansen, Aaron Johnson, and Micah Sherr (* co-first authors)
In ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC), October 2018.
- Distributed Measurement with Private Set-Union Cardinality [pdf]
Ellis Fenske*, Akshaya Mani*, Aaron Johnson, and Micah Sherr (* co-first authors)
In ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), November 2017.
- Historε: Differentially Private and Robust Statistics Collection for Tor [pdf]
Akshaya Mani and Micah Sherr
In Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), February 2017.
Talks
- You Talk Too Much: Limiting Privacy Exposure via Voice Input [slides]
At the 5th International Workshop on Privacy Engineering (IWPE).
May 23, 2019. San Francisco, CA, USA.
- An Extensive Evaluation of the Internet’s Open Proxies [slides]
At the 34th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC).
December 5, 2018. San Juan, PR, USA.
- Understanding Tor Usage with Privacy-Preserving Measurement [slides ]
At the DC-Area Anonymity, Privacy, and Security Seminar.
November 28, 2018. George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
- Understanding Tor Usage with Privacy-Preserving Measurement [slides]
At the 18th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC).
October 31, 2018. Boston, MA, USA.
- Distributed Measurement with Private Set-Union Cardinality [slides]
At the 24th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS).
November 2, 2017. Dallas, TX, USA.
- Distributed Measurement with Private Set-Union Cardinality [slides]
Invited talk at the International Computer Science Institute.
October 17, 2017. Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Historε: Differentially Private and Robust Statistics Collection for Tor [slides]
At the 24th Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS).
February 28, 2017. San Diego, CA, USA.
Education
Work Experience
- Privacy Research Engineer
Optable Inc., Montréal, QC, Canada
Jul '20 – Present
- Research Intern, Networking and Security Group
International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
Jun '17 – Aug '17
- Research Intern, Security Team
TCS Innovation Labs, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
May '14 – Jul '14
- Research Intern, Theoretical Computer Science Lab
IIT Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Nov '13 – Apr '14
- Research Intern, ISPIA Lab
University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
May '13 – Jul '13
Service
- External reviewer, Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs) Issue 3, July 2021
- External reviewer, Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs) Issue 2, April 2021
- Program Committee member, Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society (WPES), November 2020
- External reviewer, Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs) Issue 4, October 2020
- Reviewer, ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS), December 2019
- Student PC member, 40th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, May 2019
- External reviewer, Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), February 2019
Awards
- IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy Student PC Travel Grant, 2019
- GHC Student Scholarship, 2017
- NDSS Student Travel Grant, 2017
- CRA-Women Grad Cohort Workshop Grant, 2016 and 2017
- WIA Program Merit-based Funding for Women, OWASP AppSec, 2016
- USENIX Security Grant for Women, 2015
akshaya [dot] mani [at] uwaterloo [dot] ca