About

The IEEE Digital Privacy Initiative was approved under IEEE Future Directions in January 2022 as an IEEE-wide effort dedicated to champion digital privacy for individuals. The Initiative advocates a user-centric perspective – focusing on the digital privacy needs of the individuals rather than the security of data, products, and organizations – such as empowering individuals with user-enabled privacy controls and promoting privacy at the outset of product and service lifecycles.

Security and privacy are interdependent, and privacy cannot be achieved without security. However, these terms are not synonymous. Security focuses on protective measures to prevent malicious threats and protect data from unauthorized access. Security also protects the interests of both individuals and enterprises. Privacy focuses on ownership establishment, control one has over his or her own personal information, and what/where/how the personal information is collected, processed, shared, and used.

The IEEE Digital Privacy Initiative envisions a future in which the capability exists to enable any individual around the world to privately maintain presence, data, identity, and dignity online. To help achieve this vision, the Initiative seeks the following goals:

• bring the voice of technologists to the digital privacy conversation, incorporating a holistic approach to address privacy that also includes economic, legal, and social perspectives
• facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration to advance research, promote standardization and best practices, and create tools and capabilities to support the privacy needs of individuals, and
• coordinate efforts across and beyond IEEE with a multicultural lens that are working on different dimensions of digital privacy.

 

IEEE Digital Privacy Initiative Co-Chairs

Christopher Gorog, CEO BlockFrame Inc, Chair IEEE Digital Privacy Initiative, Chair IEEE Blockchain Initiative Security & Privacy, Published Author, Inventor, Co-Founder of Blockchain Development Community, Founder of International Alliance of Trust Chains, Blockchain SME to the State of Colorado Legislator, the Host of the New Cyber Frontier Podcast, and Research Partner with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Arizona State University, University of Colorado, University of Denver, and Colorado State University.

Mr. Gorog is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium and Certified Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute and has over 25 years in industry designing cryptographic applications for cyber physical embedded systems and has worked to secure supply chains for several leading manufacturers.

He is an ex-Navy Nuclear Engineer, who has also spent several years in Academia as a Director for Cybersecurity programs at Colorado Technical University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Master of Business Administration, Master of Computer Science in Computer System Security from Colorado Technical University. His PhD work in Cybersecurity Engineering at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, engages several community groups and international organizations in support of research for the State of Colorado to enable security and privacy for government records.

 

Stefano Zanero received a PhD in Computer Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, where he is currently an associate professor with the Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria. His research focuses on malware analysis, cyberphysical security, and cybersecurity in general. Besides teaching “Computer Security” and “Digital Forensics and Cybercrime” at Politecnico, he has an extensive speaking and training experience in Italy and abroad. He co-authored over 90 scientific papers and books. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and sits in the Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer Society; he is a lifetime senior member of the ACM, which has named him a Distinguished Speaker; and has been named a Fellow of the ISSA (Information System Security Association). Stefano is also a co-founder and chairman of Secure Network, a leading cybersecurity assessment firm, and a co-founder of BankSealer, a startup in the FinTech sector that addresses fraud detection through machine learning techniques.

 

IEEE Digital Privacy Initiative Contacts

If you have general questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Participating IEEE OUs