Saranga Komanduri

www.saranga.me

(412) 256-8375

Saranga Komanduri

Ph.D. Student at Carnegie Mellon University

I am a fourth-year doctoral student in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University advised by Lorrie Cranor and working in CyLab.

My main research projects involve passwords and security warnings, two situations where the burden of making security decisions is placed on lay users. I have presented full-length papers at CHI, SOUPS, GI, and Oakland.

Broad research interests
  • Usable privacy and security mechanisms
  • Judgment and decision making
  • Statistics and machine learning

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Passwords ResearchCurrent Work
  • Analysis of password policy requirements on password strength and usability
  • Development of estimation techniques for password strength measurement

Warnings ResearchCurrent Work
  • Assessing the rate at which non-experts ignore security warnings
  • Comparing mental models of computer security between experts and non-experts

Privacy Nudging2010 − 2012
  • Understanding how behavioral biases affect decision-making on social networks
  • Developing tools that provide users with information relevant to privacy decisions

Behavioral Advertising2011
  • Measured compliance of NAI and DAA members with self-regulation guidelines

Master's thesis2007
  • Designed a picture-based password system based on research into cognitive science and usable security issues

INTERNSHIPS

Redmond, WAMicrosoft Research

2012Research Intern

  • Supervisor: Stuart Schechter
  • Worked on tool to help users identify weak passwords

Mountain View, CAGoogle

2011Research Intern

  • Supervisors: Jessica Staddon, David Huffaker, and Ed H. Chi
  • Worked on Google+ project team during launch
  • Performed research and statistical analysis relevant to Google’s social products

EDUCATION

Pittsburgh, PACarnegie Mellon University
  • 2009 - 2015 (expected)Ph.D. in Computation, Organizations, and Society
  • 2011M.S. in Computation, Organizations, and Society

Bowling Green, OhioBowling Green State University
  • 2006 - 2007M.S. in Computer Science (4.0 GPA)
  • 2002 - 2005B.S. in Computer Science
    - Minors in Mathematics and Business Administration

PHD-LEVEL COURSES

PRIVACY
  • Lorrie CranorUsable Privacy and Security
  • Lorrie CranorPrivacy Policy, Law, and Technology

DECISION MAKING
  • George LoewensteinBehavioral Economics

LAW
  • Michael ShamosLaw of Computer Technology

STATISTICS
  • Tom Mitchell, Eric Xing, Aarti SinghMachine Learning
  • Larry WassermanIntermediate Statistics
  • Howard SeltmanExperimental Design for Behavioral and Social Sciences

TECHNICAL SKILLS

PROFICIENCIES
  • Statistics: R (preferred), SPSS, and MATLAB
  • Languages: C/C++, Ruby, LATEX, Java, Python, COBOL, FORTRAN, Perl, Visual Basic, Assembler, and others
  • Networking: Cisco IOS, Routing (EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS, and BGP), VLANS, VPNs and QoS tuning
  • Hardware: Hard drive data recovery, Intel/AMD/Apple hardware diagnosis and repair

CERTIFICATIONS
  • Cisco CCNP, CCDA, CCNA
  • Microsoft MCSE, MCP
  • Apple ACDT, ACPT
  • CompTIA A+, Linux+

PROGRAMMING
  • 2003 and 2005 ACM/BGSU Programming Contest Champion

PUBLICATIONS

All following publications are full-length, peer-reviewed conference or journal papers except where noted with a *.

Passwords Research

2012
[2012] How does your password measure up? the effect of strength meters on password creation, B. Ur, P. G. Kelley, S. Komanduri, J. Lee, M. Maass, M. L. Mazurek, T. Passaro, R. Shay, T. Vidas, L. Bauer, N. Christin and L. F. Cranor, in Proceedings of the 21st USENIX conference on Security symposium (USENIX Security 2012), Berkeley, CA, USA: USENIX Association, 2012, pp. 5-5.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [bib]
[2012] Correct horse battery staple: exploring the usability of system-assigned passphrases, R. Shay, P. G. Kelley, S. Komanduri, M. L. Mazurek, B. Ur, T. Vidas, L. Bauer, N. Christin and L. F. Cranor, in Proceedings of the Eighth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2012), New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2012, pp. 7:1-7:20.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [doi] [bib]
[2012] Guess Again (and Again and Again): Measuring Password Strength by Simulating Password-Cracking Algorithms, P. G. Kelley, S. Komanduri, M. L. Mazurek, R. Shay, T. Vidas, L. Bauer, N. Christin, L. F. Cranor and J. Lopez, in Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (Oakland 2012), Washington, DC, USA: IEEE Computer Society, pp. 523-537 (Presenter).
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [doi] [bib]
[2012] * B. Ur, P. G. Kelley, S. Komanduri, J. Lee, M. Maass, M. L. Mazurek, T. Passaro, R. Shay, T. Vidas, L. Bauer, N. Christin, L. F. Cranor, S. Egelman and J. Lopez, "Helping Users Create Better Passwords", Usenix Login, vol. 37, no. 6, 2012, pp. 51-57.
[bib]
2011
[2011] Of passwords and people: measuring the effect of password-composition policies, S. Komanduri, R. Shay, P. G. Kelley, M. L. Mazurek, L. Bauer, N. Christin, L. F. Cranor and S. Egelman, in Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems (CHI 2011), New York, NY, USA: ACM, pp. 2595-2604 (Presenter) (Honorable Mention).
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [doi] [bib]
2010
[2010] Encountering stronger password requirements: user attitudes and behaviors, R. Shay, S. Komanduri, P. G. Kelley, P. G. Leon, M. L. Mazurek, L. Bauer, N. Christin and L. F. Cranor, in Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2010), New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2010, pp. 2:1-2:20 (Presenter).
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [doi] [bib]
2008
[2008] Order and entropy in picture passwords, S. Komanduri, D. R. Hutchings, in Proceedings of graphics interface 2008 (GI 2008), Toronto, Ont., Canada, Canada: Canadian Information Processing Society, pp. 115-122 (Presenter).
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [bib]
2007
[2007] * Improving Password Usability with Visual Techniques, S. Komanduri, M.S. Thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2007.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [bib]
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Warnings Research

2012
[2012] Operating system framed in case of mistaken identity: measuring the success of web-based spoofing attacks on OS password-entry dialogs, C. Bravo-Lillo, L. Cranor, J. Downs, S. Komanduri, S. Schechter and M. Sleeper, in Proceedings of the 2012 ACM conference on Computer and communications security (CCS 2012), New York, NY, USA: ACM, pp. 365-377.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [doi] [bib]
2011
[2011] * C. Bravo-Lillo, L. F. Cranor, J. Downs and S. Komanduri, "Bridging the Gap in Computer Security Warnings: A Mental Model Approach", IEEE Security and Privacy, vol. 9, no. 2, mar 2011, pp. 18-26.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [doi] [bib]
[2011] Improving computer security dialogs, C. Bravo-Lillo, L. F. Cranor, J. Downs, S. Komanduri and M. Sleeper, in Proceedings of the 13th IFIP TC 13 international conference on Human-computer interaction - Volume Part IV (INTERACT 2011), Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2011, pp. 18-35.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [bib]
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Privacy Nudging

2011
[2011] "I regretted the minute I pressed share": a qualitative study of regrets on Facebook, Y. Wang, G. Norcie, S. Komanduri, A. Acquisti, P. G. Leon and L. F. Cranor, in Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2011), New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2011, pp. 10:1-10:16.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [cites] [doi] [bib]
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Behavioral Advertising

2011
[2011] S. Komanduri, R. Shay, G. Norcie, B. Ur and L. F. Cranor, "AdChoices? Compliance with Online Behavioral Advertising Notice and Choice Requirements", I/S: A Journal of Law & Policy for the Information Society, vol. 7, 2011, pp. 603-638.
[local pdf] [bib]
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Social Search

2012
[2012] Around the Water Cooler: Shared Discussion Topics and Contact Closeness in Social Search, S. Komanduri, L. Fang, D. Huffaker and J. Staddon, in Proceedings of the Sixth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM-12), 2012.
[local pdf] [official pdf] [bib]
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WORK EXPERIENCE

Perrysburg, OhioPerrysburg Heights Community Center

2008Volunteer

  • Removed malware from infected systems
  • Performed PC/network maintenance and troubleshooting

Bowling Green, OhioBowling Green State University ITS

2006 - 2007Hardware Support Supervisor

  • Managed and trained employees in troubleshooting and repair of hardware issues
  • Provided hardware diagnosis and repair services for over 10,000 desktop and laptop systems on campus
  • Provided installation, configuration, and support services to users with Windows-based systems and UNIX-based systems (including Linux and Mac OS X)
  • Main contact for emergency repairs and customer service issues
  • Specialized in hard drive data recovery and operating system repairs

Waterville, OhioOnline Brokerage Services

2005Web Developer / IT Support

  • Created and rebuilt public websites with Visual Studio.NET
  • Duties included PC support and server administration

Toledo, OhioLucas County Information Services

1999 - 2001Network Technician

  • Personally responsible for maintenance, repair, and upgrades for approximately 150 PCs and coincident networking in various county departments
  • Interacted directly with users and departments in resolving hardware and software issues
  • Developed strategies for software distribution and network-wide upgrades

(pre-2000)Previous employers
  • Best Buy
  • Medical College of Ohio

HOBBIES

  • Video and board games
  • Drums
  • Bicycling

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Thank you for taking a look at my CV. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.