Christina Garman is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University. Her research interests focus on analyzing, building, and deploying privacy-enhancing technologies, with an eye towards identifying problems at the systems level and then composing practical solutions to solve them. This includes building and deploying privacy protocols, building tooling to better understand the security of existing applications and libraries, as well as designing hardware-backed primitives using TEEs. Christina received an NSF CAREER Award in 2021, and her work has received two best paper awards at ACM CCS, an IEEE Security and Privacy Test of Time Award, and been featured in numerous media, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Wired, ArsTechnica, and The Economist. She is also one of the co-founders of Zcash, a privacy preserving cryptocurrency based on her work on Zerocash. She received her MS and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Computer Science in 2013 and 2017 respectively, and a BS in Computer Science Engineering and a BA Mathematics, with a minor in Physics, from Bucknell University in 2011.
Ph.D., Computer Science
Advisors: Dr. Matthew D. Green
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Completed December 2017
Master of Science in Engineering, Computer Science
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Completed December 2013
Bachelor of Science, Computer Science and Engineering
Bachelor of Arts, Mathematics
Minor, Physics
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Completed May 2011
Privacy has shown itself to be invaluable in everyday life, especially as more and more devices and interactions are moving to the online world. Whether it is browsing the web, making a purchase, or sending a message to a friend, the need for privacy is everywhere. Despite the fact that users (often unknowingly) rely on the security of systems which aim to offer privacy, recent years have seen a number of serious vulnerabilities in such systems, some with large consequences. These have been caused by various problems, including poor designs, difficulty of implementation, and use (or misuse) of (in)secure primitives.
My research interests focus on practical and applied solutions to today's privacy needs, namely the design and analysis of real world systems. I aim to make it easier to design and securely deploy new and complex systems with concrete privacy guarantees, while preventing insecurities from occurring in such systems.
I am fortunate to be able to work with many great students on this research!
See my CV for more information.
Associate Chair, IEEE Security and Privacy 2026
Program Chair, Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2025
Associate Chair, IEEE Security and Privacy 2025
Co-Organizer, NSF/SaTC Aspiring PI Workshop 2024
General Chair, Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2024
Vice Chair, USENIX Security 2023
Organizing Committee, GREPSEC VI, 2023
Virtual Environment Chair, USENIX Security 2021
Organizing Committee, GREPSEC V, 2021
Lightning Talks Chair, USENIX Security 2021
USENIX Security 2025
Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) 2025
Real World Cryptography (RWC) 2025
IEEE Security and Privacy 2024
Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) 2024
Real World Cryptography (RWC) 2024
International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2023
NDSS 2023
Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) 2023
The Science of Blockchain Conference (SBC) 2023
International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2022
Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) 2022
USENIX Security 2022
USENIX Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT) 2021
USENIX Security 2021
International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2021
NDSS 2020
International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2020
IEEE Security and Privacy 2020
Eurocrypt 2019
International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2019
NDSS 2019
IEEE Security & Privacy on the Blockchain (IEEE S&B) 2019
ACM Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT) 2019
ACM CCS 2018
CRYPTO 2018
Workshop on Bitcoin Research 2018
International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2018
Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs 2018.2) Reviewer
Workshop on Bitcoin Research 2017
Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs 2017.4) Reviewer
World Wide Web Conference (WWW) Security and Privacy Track 2016
Workshop on Bitcoin Research 2016
IEEE Security and Privacy (Student) 2016
USENIX Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT) 2015
Workshop on Bitcoin Research 2015
Subreviews for PKC 2012, USENIX 2012, FC 2014, USENIX 2014, CCS 2014, FC 2015, USENIX 2015, USENIX 2016, CRYPTO 2016