PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kobbi Nissim

Also known as Kobbi Nissim B

Kobbi Nissim is a computer scientist whose research helped establish differential privacy for computing over personal data. His career spans secure function evaluation, database privacy, research at Ben-Gurion and Harvard, and work that connects privacy with machine learning and law. He shared the 2017 Gödel Prize, received the 2021 ACM Paris Kanellakis Award, and became an IACR Fellow in 2024. As of October 2026, he holds Georgetown's McDevitt Chair in Computer Science and studies memorization and data reconstruction.

Works
185
Citations
20,878
h-index
45

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2001–2013

    Secure protocols and database privacy

    At Weizmann, he studies under Moni Naor and coauthors “Communication Complexity and Secure Function Evaluation,” published in 2001. In 2003, he and Irit Dinur publish “Revealing Information while Preserving Privacy”; their paper shows that an attacker can reconstruct most of a database from enough noisy query answers and receives the ACM PODS 2013 Test-of-Time Award.

  2. 2006–2017

    Defining differential privacy

    In 2006, he helps formulate differential privacy, a definition for computing over personal data, with Cynthia Dwork, Frank McSherry, and Adam Smith. He shares the 2017 Gödel Prize for their paper “Calibrating Noise to Sensitivity in Private Data Analysis.”

  3. 2012–2017

    Research at Ben-Gurion and Harvard

    Before joining Georgetown, he works in Ben-Gurion University's computer science department. From 2012 to 2017, he visits Harvard University's Center for Research in Computation and Society. His research includes privacy, cryptography, and machine learning.

  4. 2018–2019

    Privacy law and computer science

    He coauthors the 2018 article “Bridging the Gap Between Computer Science and Legal Approaches to Privacy.” In 2019, the work receives the Caspar Bowden Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies.

  5. 2021

    An ACM privacy award

    In 2021, he and his coauthors receive the ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for their work on differential privacy.

  6. 2024

    An IACR fellowship

    The International Association for Cryptologic Research selects him as a Fellow in 2024.

  7. 2026

    Memorization and reconstruction

    In 2026, he and his coauthors publish “Bayesian Perspective on Memorization and Reconstruction.” The paper proposes a Bayesian security definition that can prevent reconstruction attacks in some settings.

  8. As of October 2026

    The McDevitt Chair

    As of October 2026, he holds Georgetown's McDevitt Chair in Computer Science and is an Affiliate Professor at Georgetown Law.

Sources and credits

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  1. ECCC - TR01-062 eccc.weizmann.ac.il. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. ACM PODS Alberto O. Mendelzon Test-of-Time Award – SIGMOD Website sigmod.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Kobbi Nissim - Homepage people.cs.georgetown.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. 2017 Gödel Prize eatcs.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. Kobbi Nissim | Center for Digital Ethics | Georgetown University digitalethics.georgetown.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Harvard Journal of Law & Technology jolt.law.harvard.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  7. ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for Kobbi Nissim - Department of Computer Science cs.georgetown.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  8. CS@Georgetown Newsletter | Summer 2024 - Department of Computer Science cs.georgetown.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  9. Bayesian Perspective on Memorization and Reconstruction drops.dagstuhl.de. Checked 15 October 2026.