What Security Research Topics Does the Berkeley Security Group Cover?

Updated

The UC Berkeley Security Group, part of the EECS Department, studies a broad range of security topics. Its stated areas include cryptography, network security, usable security, and secure machine learning. If you want to know whether your interests match the group's work, the most reliable path is to check the individual faculty and student pages linked from the group's site, since those pages describe specific projects rather than just broad labels.

The four named research areas

The group's own description lists these directions:

  • Cryptography — the design and analysis of cryptographic systems.
  • Network security — security issues in networked and distributed systems.
  • Usable security — how people interact with security tools and how to make security practical.
  • Secure machine learning — security and privacy concerns in machine learning systems.

These four labels are the group's own summary, not an exhaustive list. The phrase "a wide variety of topics" signals that work extends beyond them.

Why the breadth matters

Security research at Berkeley is not confined to one lab or department. The group notes that its work "spans a number of labs, centers, departments, colleges, and schools." That means a single research question may involve cryptography, systems, human factors, or ML depending on the project. For a prospective student or collaborator, this cross-cutting structure is useful: you are not limited to one narrow subfield.

How to find more specific topics

The homepage itself does not enumerate every project. To go deeper:

  1. Open the faculty pages linked from the group site. Faculty listed include Henry Corrigan-Gibbs, Natacha Crooks, Chris Fletcher, Anthony Joseph, Vern Paxson, Raluca Ada Popa, Dawn Song, and David Wagner.
  2. Check the graduate student pages. Students listed include Noura Alomar, Sizhe Chen, Vivek Nair, Chawin Sitawarin, and many others.
  3. Look at affiliates and postdocs for adjacent work.

Each person's page typically describes their current projects, which is where the broad categories turn into concrete research questions.

Who should pay attention

  • Prospective graduate students — the faculty and student listings show who works on what, which helps you decide whom to contact.
  • Researchers and collaborators — the cross-lab structure indicates where interdisciplinary security work happens.
  • Industry and practitioners — the named areas (cryptography, network security, usable security, secure ML) map to common applied problems.

What the page does not tell you

The site describes research areas and people, but it does not publish pricing, admission requirements, or course schedules on this page. For those details you would need the relevant department or program pages. Treat the homepage as a map of who and what, not as an application guide.