
Roya Ensafi is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, where her research focuses on computer networking, security, and privacy. Her lab designs scalable techniques and systems to protect users’ Internet connections from disruption and surveillance. Roya is best known for her work in the area of Internet censorship, where she pioneered the use of side-channels to remotely measure network interference globally. Her notable projects with real-world impact include researching and documenting the Kazakhstan HTTPS MitM interception, Russia’s throttling Twitter, and the Great Cannon of China. She is a founder of Censored Planet, a global censorship observatory that continuously monitors various types of network interference in over 170 countries since August 2018.