Steven Murdoch

Career

Steven James Murdoch holds the position of Professor of Security Engineering in the Computer Science Department at University College London. His research spans several interconnected areas of digital security, including privacy-enhancing technology, Internet censorship, and anonymous communication systems. A significant portion of his work has centered on Tor, the anonymity network, and he is credited with creating Tor Browser, one of the most widely used tools for anonymous web access.

Murdoch is also recognized for his work exposing vulnerabilities in the EMV bank chipcard payment system, the technology underlying Chip and PIN transactions. His findings in this area drew considerable attention to weaknesses in a payment infrastructure relied upon by millions of consumers and financial institutions.

In March 2022, he joined the board of the Open Rights Group, a United Kingdom-based digital rights organization.

Education

Murdoch completed his undergraduate and doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge. His PhD, completed in 2008, was supervised by Markus Kuhn and focused on computer security. The thesis, titled "Covert channel vulnerabilities in anonymity systems," examined weaknesses in systems designed to protect user anonymity.

Recognition

Murdoch has received a number of honors in recognition of his contributions to security research. He received the 2008 ERCIM Security and Trust Management Working Group Award for his doctoral thesis. In 2012, he was appointed as a Royal Society University Research Fellow, a competitive fellowship supporting outstanding early-career scientists in the United Kingdom.

He holds fellowship status in two prominent professional bodies: the British Computer Society and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.