PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Christopher Kruegel

Also known as C. Kruegel, Chris Kruegel

Christopher Kruegel is a computer-security researcher whose work includes an AI system for cyber defense. He earned graduate degrees in Vienna, held research posts at TU Vienna and UCSB, and coauthored work on static analysis for mimicry attacks and evasive-malware detection. He and Giovanni Vigna formed Last Line in 2010; the ACM named Kruegel a Fellow in 2023. In 2025, he and Vigna led UCSB's Shellphish effort behind Artiphishell, which placed among the AIxCC finals' top five cyber reasoning systems; IEEE named him a Fellow in 2025. As of October 2026, he is a professor and vice chair in UCSB Computer Science.

Works
383
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2004

    Degrees and a UCSB postdoc

    He earns M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Technical University of Vienna in 2000 and 2002, respectively, then works as a UCSB postdoctoral researcher from 2002 to 2004.

  2. 2005–2009

    Mimicry research and tenure

    In a 2005 USENIX Security paper, he and coauthors develop a static-analysis tool for Intel x86 binaries that uses symbolic execution to automate mimicry attacks against intrusion-detection systems. At TU Vienna, he joins the faculty and becomes an associate professor in 2006. He joins the UCSB Computer Science Department as an assistant professor in 2008 and becomes an associate professor with tenure in July 2009.

  3. 2010

    Last Line and the TR35

    MIT Technology Review names him to its 2010 TR35 list, which recognizes 35 innovators under age 35. He and Giovanni Vigna form Last Line Inc. in 2010 to commercialize their security research.

  4. 2014

    BareCloud malware detection

    In a 2014 USENIX Security paper, he and coauthors introduce BareCloud, an automated evasive-malware detection system based on bare-metal dynamic analysis.

  5. 2023

    An ACM Fellowship

    The ACM names him a 2023 Fellow for contributions to systems security, malware detection, and vulnerability analysis.

  6. 2025

    Artiphishell at AIxCC

    With Giovanni Vigna, he leads UCSB's Shellphish effort in 2025. Artiphishell is a cyber reasoning system that automatically identifies, reproduces, and patches software vulnerabilities; it places among the top five cyber reasoning systems at the AIxCC finals in August 2025.

  7. 2025

    An IEEE Fellowship

    IEEE names him a 2025 Fellow for contributions to security, malware detection, and vulnerability analysis.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and vice chair

    As of October 2026, he is a professor and vice chair in UCSB Computer Science.

Career

  1. Since 2002University of California, Santa BarbaraPostdoctoral Researcher, Assistant Professor
  2. From 2010Last Line Inc.Co-founder
  3. 2006–2009TU WienAssociate Professor

Education

  1. 2002TU WienPh.D.
  2. 2000TU WienM.Sc.

From the biography.

  1. 14% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Christopher Kruegel. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after their doctorate, and how the timing changed across cohorts.
  2. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of California, Santa Barbara. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Santa Barbara. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes University of California, Santa Barbara. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Kruegel and Yan Appointed to the Aas and Venky Endowed Chairs | UCSB Computer Science cs.ucsb.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Automating Mimicry Attacks Using Static Binary Analysis | USENIX usenix.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Technology Developed by UCSB Computer Scientist Advances Internet Security | The Current news.ucsb.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Just the Hackers You Need - The Santa Barbara Independent independent.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. BareCloud: Bare-metal Analysis-based Evasive Malware Detection | USENIX usenix.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Christopher Kruegel named as ACM Fellow | The ACTION Institute action.ucsb.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Open AI 10 Billion Tokens | UCSB Computer Science cs.ucsb.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Christopher Kruegel named 2025 IEEE Fellow | UCSB Computer Science cs.ucsb.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  9. AI Vulnerability Scanning in the Age of Mythos - UC Santa Barbara campuscalendar.ucsb.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.