Umar Iqbal

Umar Iqbal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, where he investigates transparency and control mechanisms in computing systems to enhance user privacy and security. His work intersects computer security, privacy, and technology policy with a focus on web tracking, IoT, and agentic systems.

• Research Themes: Web security, emerging technology privacy, regulatory compliance under CCPA/GDPR, and tracking mitigation
• Scientific Awards:
  • Best paper award at ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC), 2023
  • Caspar Bowden Award for Outstanding Research in PET Runner-Up, 2024
  • Best applied research paper (3rd) at CSAW NYU Tandon, 2020
• Collaborations: Regularly works with researchers like Franziska Roesner, Tadayoshi Kohno, and Zubair Shafiq

His publication portfolio spans 2016-2025 with impactful work on browser fingerprinting (IEEE Oakland 2021), ad blocking (IEEE Oakland 2020), and LLM platform security (AIES 2024). Current research includes privacy implications of AI systems and regulatory auditing frameworks.