The Academy Distinguished Speaker Series
In spring, the Academy presents the popular Distinguished Speaker Series featuring high-profile speakers on fascinating subjects. Participation is encouraged with a Q&A after the presentations.
Join Professor Ron Deibert, O.C., O.Ont., PhD, for a gripping exploration of cyber espionage, digital repression, and the global fight for human rights. Drawing on his book, Chasing Shadows: Chronicles of Counter-Intelligence from the Citizen Lab, Professor Deibert reveals how the Lab’s small Toronto-based research team has uncovered surveillance reaching from Mexico to Italy, defended billions worldwide, and confronted the rising tide of digital authoritarianism.
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Professor Ron Deibert, O.C., O.Ont., PhD: “For over twenty years, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab has pioneered investigations into digital security and human rights—from exposing state cyber espionage to uncovering the global spread of mercenary spyware targeting journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. Drawing from my latest book, Chasing Shadows, I will recount how our mission to conduct counter-intelligence for civil society revealed surveillance around the inner circle of murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and uncovered domestic espionage campaigns across Mexico, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Thailand, El Salvador, and most recently, Italy. As our small team disarmed cyber mercenaries and helped improve the digital security of billions, we, too, became targets—caught in the same sinister crosshairs as those we sought to protect. I will also look ahead to the future of our mission and the rising challenges of AI-enabled subversion, Dark PR, and advertising intelligence, and how the kind of public-interest research the Lab has championed is now under threat from a growing tide of despotism and authoritarianism.”