By: Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute
The Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute hosted a unique interdisciplinary workshop on campus that brought together University of Waterloo faculty, staff, and students, as well as industry representatives and visiting academics. Attendees spent an enjoyable and thought-provoking day Thursday, May 16, 2024, at the Enterprise Theatre in East Campus 5 exploring algorithmic game theory by hearing perspectives from both economists and computer scientists in a special speaker/presentation format organized and led by CPI’s Acting Executive Director, Anindya Sen.
Kate Larson, professor at the Cheriton School of Computer Science and a University Research Chair, started the event with her opening remarks that discussed the practical usage of game theory, including how it is being used to improve security. One of the fascinating examples she provided is the deployment of AI technology to prevent poaching in wildlife parks on the continents of Africa and Asia. She referenced the Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security (PAWS) which people can learn more about in this Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences news article.
Sujaya Maiyya, CPI member and assistant professor at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, kicked off the first session on the subject matter of Pattern Attacks and Data Collection and Privacy. She referenced that more than 94% of current enterprises – including 83% of healthcare organizations - rely on cloud services, especially for their infrastructure and data storage needs, underlining the need for mitigating access pattern attacks in outsourced datastores.
This was followed by Zijian Wang, assistant professor of economics at Wilfrid Laurier University, who presented on “Payments and the Provision of Privacy by Digital Platforms". Digital platforms often collect large amounts of personal information from their users; while the monetization of such data may take different forms, the generated revenue ultimately relies on trade that takes place between consumers and producers on or off the platforms. Wang has studied how payment arrangements -- which are essential for trade to happen -- affect platforms' decisions to monetize users' data or to offer users privacy.
As an added feature of this workshop, the presenters were given the opportunity to review and discuss each other’s work, which led to some lively discussions!
With their minds full and stomachs empty, everyone adjourned to the hearty meal provided by CPI; staff were delighted to see that candid conversations were being had and compelling connections were being made at the networking lunch. The institute is committed to facilitating these interactions with the goal that it will lead to the development of impactful research and discoveries.
Sen said it best: “The CPI Game Theory Interdisciplinary Workshop provided a space and opportunity for attendees to strengthen old relationships while also forging new meaningful ties.” Besides Waterloo community members, representatives from Mastercard, BlackBerry, Kyndryl, and Eaton Industries (Canada) Company also participated in the workshop.
Sachio Iwamoto, Director, Principal Architect, Research Lead – FinTech / Blockchain / web3 at Kyndryl said, “Thrilled by Professor Sen's event uniting top researchers, I found CPI's initiatives perfectly aligned with Kyndryl Research focus on ‘Service Science.’ This interdisciplinary approach is key for tackling complex business challenges. Thank you for the opportunity - I enjoyed the discussions and look forward to more!”
Kevin Chung, Program Manager, Lifecycle Marketing Services, Eaton Industries (Canada) Company, also shared his enthusiasm about the event. He said, “CPI’s game theory workshop was a great preview of the University of Waterloo’s research portfolio in the areas of cybersecurity and privacy. Looking forward to potential collaboration and future events.”
Amy Pei, assistant professor of marketing at D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University and Clemens Possnig, assistant professor of economics, University of Waterloo, rounded out the afternoon with their discussions examining algorithmic game theory in economics and business.
Professor Possnig presented his work on recommendation systems, and how their continued search for more profitable recommendation strategies can affect users. He noted that the interaction of human users and learning recommendation algorithms can lead to quite beneficial outcomes for users when compared to standard economic predictions.
Yaoliang Yu, associate professor at the Cheriton School of Computer Science and CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute, ended the day highlighting data poisoning and left guests contemplating the future of data in the age of artificial intelligence, which he implied both supports and impedes data security.
CPI looks forward to hosting more such events on campus. Catch us Thursday, June 20th at the Nicolas Papernot talk on Characterizing Machine Unlearning through Definitions and Implementations. All are welcome! Also, save the date for CPI’s Annual Conference happening Thursday, October 10th in Federation Hall.