About

I am an incoming tenure track faculty of Computer Science at the University of Alabama.


My interests broadly include research in 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

I am fortunate to have worked with and advised these awesome students.

University of California, Irvine

  • Jad Al Aaraj - Research Topic: IoT Privacy Control.
  • Ismat Jarin - Research Topic: Privacy in Virtual Reality and Generative AI.
  • Olivia Figueira - Research Topic: Privacy and Safety Management for Children and Teens.

University of California, Los Angeles

  • Jerry Xu, Laura Ness, Huan Xu - Project: Robust Captcha Design: DisCaptcha.

University of Virginia

  • Peiyi Yang, Jie Fan, Zice Wei, Haoqian Li - Research Paper: Towards Usable Parental Control for Voice Assistants.
  • Hongyi Li, Minjie Tang, Leizhen Shi - Project: Finding Safe Wake Words for Voice Devices using Distinctive Features.
  • Matthew Hancock - Thesis: The Struggle for Control of Personal Data.
  • Gabriel Simmons - Thesis: Voice Privacy: Analyzing Trends and Patterns in Amazon Alexa Voice History.
  • Chase Lemley - Thesis: Alexa Data Monitoring: Virtual Personal Assistants and Information Privacy Protection.
  • Amanda Nguyen - Project: Alexa Parental Permissions: Virtual Personal Assistants and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
  • Yilin Huang - Project: How much does my data worth? A user study about people's perceived value of different types of personal data.
  • Yilin Guo (visiting student from ShanghaiTech) - Project: A Study on Developers' Perceptions of Privacy Regulations in China and the USA.

Teaching

Interests:

In the near term, I would be most prepared to teach courses on IoT/Usable security and privacy, and user-centered research methods.
I am also open to teaching introductory computer science, cybersecurity, privacy, and programming courses.

Experience:

University of California, Irvine

University of Virginia

  • Spring 2023 - CS6501/ECE6502: Network Security and Privacy (Teaching Assistant)
  • Spring 2022 - CS8501: IoT Security and Privacy (Teaching Assistant/Guest Lecturer)
  • Fall 2021 - CS6333: Mobile and IoT Security (Teaching Assistant)
  • Spring 2020, Fall 2019 - CS3710: Intro to Cybersecurity (Teaching Assistant)

Portland State University

  • Spring 2018 - CS251: Discrete Structure II (Teaching Assistant)
  • Winter 2018, Fall 2017 - CS250: Discrete Structure I (Teaching Assistant)