PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Thomas Ristenpart

Also known as Tom Ristenpart

Thomas Ristenpart is a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto, which he joined in 2026. He received a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from the University of California, Davis in 2003 and a master's degree there in 2005, then completed a Ph.D. at UC San Diego in 2010. Before he joined Cornell Tech in May 2015, he was an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He introduced honey encryption at Eurocrypt in 2014, and the 2012 paper “Cross-VM side channels and their use to extract private keys” received an ACM CCS Test of Time Award in 2022. In 2016 he co-authored “Stealing Machine Learning Models via Prediction APIs,” which received a USENIX Security Test of Time Award in August 2026, and the 2015 paper “Model Inversion Attacks that Exploit Confidence Information and Basic Countermeasures” received an ACM CCS Test of Time Award in October 2025.

Works
172
Citations
16,437
h-index
55

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 17 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2003–2005

    Degrees at UC Davis

    He receives a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from the University of California, Davis in 2003 and a master's degree there in 2005.

  2. 2010

    A doctorate at UC San Diego

    He completes his Ph.D. at UC San Diego in 2010.

  3. 2014

    Honey encryption at Eurocrypt

    He introduces honey encryption at Eurocrypt in 2014. An incorrect decryption yields fake data.

  4. May 2015

    Joining Cornell Tech

    He joins Cornell Tech in May 2015 after an assistant professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  5. 2022

    Cross-VM side channels

    In 2022 he and Ari Juels receive an ACM CCS Test of Time Award for the 2012 paper “Cross-VM side channels and their use to extract private keys.” The side-channel attack gathers data leaked by one virtual machine and yields a software key that unlocks encrypted files in another.

  6. October 2025

    Model inversion attacks

    In October 2025, as a professor of computer science at Cornell Tech, he receives an ACM CCS Test of Time Award for the 2015 paper “Model Inversion Attacks that Exploit Confidence Information and Basic Countermeasures,” co-authored with Matt Fredrikson and Somesh Jha. The paper shows that machine learning models made available through online services can leak sensitive information.

  7. August 2026

    Stealing prediction models

    While a faculty member at Cornell, he co-authors “Stealing Machine Learning Models via Prediction APIs,” presented at USENIX Security in 2016. The paper receives a USENIX Security Test of Time Award in August 2026.

  8. Since January 2026

    Professor at Toronto

    He joins the University of Toronto in 2026 as a professor of computer science.

Sources and credits

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  1. Thomas Ristenpart - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 16 October 2026.
  2. New Approaches for Building Cryptographic Hash Functions - Microsoft Research microsoft.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  3. Colloquium Series: Thomas Ristenpart, "Computer Security in Known-Adversary Threat Models" web.cs.toronto.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  4. Ristenpart dli.tech.cornell.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  5. Thomas Ristenpart @ University of Toronto cs.toronto.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  6. “Honey Encryption” Will Bamboozle Attackers with Fake Secrets technologyreview.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  7. Cornell Tech - Cornell Tech Faculty Win Test of Time Award at CCS 2022 tech.cornell.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  8. Thomas Ristenpart Wins Test of Time Award for Privacy Research tech.cornell.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  9. Professor Thomas Ristenpart wins Test of Time Award for privacy research | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  10. Thomas Ristenpart receives USENIX Security Test of Time Award web.cs.toronto.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  11. Professor Ari Juels Receives USENIX Security Test of Time Award tech.cornell.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  12. Thomas Ristenpart @ University of Toronto cs.toronto.edu. Checked 16 October 2026.