Sarah Cortes, PhD

I'm an information security and privacy researcher. I hope my research and datasets help you make the world a better place. As a security researcher, I use tools like measurement, modeling, and simulation to develop solutions to challenges involving security technologies. I also relate legal theory and practice to technical realities.

Note: PrivacyResearch.is presents an overview of my research and datasets. For MLAT datasets, please go to MLAT.is. For professional services, please go to InmanTechnologyIT.com. Also see SarahCortes.is and wiki.SarahCortes.is.
Acceptable Use
You are welcome to use my research in any academic project. Thanks for providing attribution. Please contact me for access to my databases.
Attribution
If you use my MLAT research in your publication or on your web site, thank you for providing the citations:

Sarah Cortes,
MLAT World Treaty Cartel Internet Overlay for Darknet and Digital Traffic Analyticis for MLAT.is, Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Symposium on Technologies for Homeland Security (HST17), April 2017.

Sarah Cortes, Cyberterrorism. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives, Ed. Paul Joseph (2016) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483359878.n174.

Aaron Jaggard, Aaron Johnson, Sarah Cortes, Paul Syverson, Joan Feigenbaum,
20,000 in League Under the Sea, Anonymous Communication, Trust, MLATs, and Undersea Cables
Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS-15th International Symposium), 1(1), pp 4–24, ISSN (Online) 2299-0984, DOI: 10.1515/popets-2015-0002, April 2015.

Sarah Cortes,
Legalizing Domestic Surveillance: The Role of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties in Deanonymizing TorBrowser Technology,” in the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 22 #2 (December 2015), pp. 1-99http://jolt.richmond.edu/2015/12/05/v22i1article2.

 Robin W. Cotton, Catherine Grgicak, Sarah Cortes, Margaret Terrill, Charlotte J. Word, DNA Mixtures, www.DNAmixtures.com. Boston University School of Medicine, Biomedical Forensic Sciences. This project was supported by Award No. 2008-DN-BX-K158 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U. S. Department of Justice. Note: This application was highlighted in Executive Office of the President, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), Report to the President: Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods, September 20, 2016. https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/PCAST/pcast_forensic_science_report_final.pdf.

Links and citations to PrivacyResearch.is and MLAT.is are of course welcome too.
License
For more detail, please see the full license agreement.


My areas of research and interests include:

Privacy, Surveillance and Anonymous Network Communications
Aaron Jaggard, Aaron Johnson, Sarah Cortes, Paul Syverson, Joan Feigenbaum,
20,000 in League Under the Sea, Anonymous Communication, Trust, MLATs, and Undersea Cables
Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS-15th International Symposium). Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages 4–24, ISSN (Online) 2299-0984, DOI: 10.1515/popets-2015-0002, April 2015.

Sarah Cortes, “Legalizing Domestic Surveillance: The Role of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties in Deanonymizing TorBrowser Technology,” in the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology, 22 Rich. J.L. & Tech. 2 (2015), http://jolt.richmond.edu/v22i1/article2.pdf.

Forensics 
- DNA: DNA Mixtures- Boston University Biomedical Forensic Sciences Department, BU Medical School
Collaborated with Dr. Robin Cotton, Department Chair and former director, Cellmark Labs, on a grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), US Department of Justice (DOJ). Developed an application and web portal to train forensic scientists on analysis of complex DNA mixtures.

Smart Grid and Privacy Standards
- IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) P1912 Privacy and Security Architecture for Consumer Wireless Devices Working Group as subcommittee lead on research and use cases
- Member of NIST Smart Grid Cyber Security Working Group (CSWG), 2010-Present
- Co-author of NIST 7628 Smart Grid Privacy Legal Frameworks

Data Breaches
- Testimony before various legislative and regulatory bodies on the Massachusetts Data Breach Law, 2009 including the Massachusetts Legislature, and OCABR[download]
- Data Breaches and Insurance-Related Loss Estimates

E-discovery
- Attorney General of NY Eliot Spitzer required Putnam Investments to submit to e-discovery during Spitzer's investigation of parent company Marsh & MacLennan. Putnam Investment’s e-discovery, including that related to IT security management.

Cyberstalking Technology and Cyberstalking Law
- Twitter and Cyberstalking Law - whitepaper [download]
- Clean Communications Protocols for working with Targets and Victims
- IPV Tech Working Group- Intimate Partner Violence and Technology Working Group

Teaching Computer Skills to Underrepresented Groups
- Each One Teach One