About

I am a tenure track assistant professor at the University of Alabama. Previously, I was at the University of California (Irvine/Los Angeles) and University of Virginia. I completed a PhD in Computer Science in 2023, advised by Professor Yuan Tian.


My research interests broadly include Security and Privacy, Human-centered Computing, and Emerging Technologies, with applications to smart systems (AI/ML) and public policy (law & policy). Specifically, my work focuses on usable security and privacy for emerging technologies (e.g., IoT, AI, XR) and the implications of technology and policy. The overarching goal is to bridge the gaps between computing applications’ behaviors and user perceptions/preferences as well as inform secure and privacy-respecting designs for future smart systems.


News

  • 04/14/2025: Tu is joining the University of Alabama as their new tenure track professor in Fall 2025.
  • 03/25/2025: Poster reviewer for IEEE S&P 2025.
  • 03/04/2025: New paper accepted to PETS 2025.
  • 10/09/2024: TPC member (Security Usability and Measurement track) for CCS 2025.
  • 08/14/2024: TPC member (Systems track) for WWW 2025.

Recent Publications

For a full list of publications, please view my Google Scholar page.

VBIT: Towards Enhancing Privacy Control Over IoT Devices
2025

J. Al Aaraj, O. Figueira, T. Le, I. Figueira, R. Trimananda, A. Markopoulou

Under review.
"Free WiFi is not ultimately free": Privacy Perceptions of Users in the US regarding City-wide WiFi Services
Washington DC, USA, July 2025

P. Mandal, T. Le, A. Ami, Y. Tian, A. Nadkarni

Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS)
Alexa, is the skill always safe? Uncover Lenient Skill Vetting Process and Protect User Privacy at Run Time
Lisbon, Portugal, May 2024

T. Le, D. Zhao, Z. Wang, X. Wang, Y. Tian

International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)
Towards Real-time Voice Interaction Data Collection Monitoring and Ambient Light Privacy Notification for Voice-controlled Services
San Diego, CA, USA, February 2024

T. Le, Z. Wang, D. Huang, Y. Yao, Y. Tian

Symposium on Usable Security and Privacy (USEC)
Exploring Smart Commercial Building Occupants' Perceptions and Notification Preferences of IoT Data Collection
Delft, Netherlands, July 2023

T. Le, A. Wang, Y. Yao, Y. Feng, A. Heydarian, N. Sadeh, Y. Tian

IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy (EuroS&P)
Towards Usable Parental Control for Voice Assistants
San Antonio, TX, USA, May 2023

P. Yang, J. Fan, Z. Wei, H. Li, T. Le, Y. Tian

Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things Week (CPS-IoT)
SkillBot: Identifying Risky Content for Children in Alexa Skills
July 2022

T. Le, D. Huang, N. Apthorpe, Y. Tian

ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT)
Intent Classification and Slot Filling for Privacy Policies
Bangkok, Thailand, August 2021

W. Ahmad, J. Chi, T. Le, T. Norton, Y. Tian, KW. Chang

Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL)

Students


PhD Students

  • Ismat Jarin (UC Irvine)
  • Olivia Figueira (UC Irvine)
  • Jad Al Aaraj (UC Irvine)

Teaching

  • TBA