Bruce Schneier is a long-time cybersecurity researcher and public-interest technologist. His work spans from deeply technical cryptography to pubic policy issues. He is currently a visiting lecturer at the Munk School, where he teaches cybersecurity policy. Or, has he puts it: “teaching cryptography to students who deliberately did not take math as undergraduates.” He is also a fellow at the Vector Institute and SRI.

His research interests span several overlapping areas. First, he is studying AI and cybersecurity. More specifically, both the security of AI and security with AI. Second, he is studying AI and trust. In particular, trustworthy AI, AI integrity, or — as he likes to say — integrous AI systems design. Third, he is working on public AI: AI models that are not controlled by for-profit corporations. One example is the Swiss model Apertus. And fourth, he is trying to reimagine democracy for the mid 21st Century. Democracy is an information system, and it was designed in the mid-18th Century using mid-18th Century technology. We would never design such a cumbersome and convoluted system today.

All of this draws on his past work on both security and democracy. His 2023 book, A Hacker’s Mind, looks at political, economic, and social systems through the lens of cybersecurity, and describes how the rich and powerful “hack” those systems for personal gain. His 2025 book, Rewiring Democracy, is a mostly optimistic look at how AI will, and already is, changing politics, legislating, government administration, the courts, and citizenship. He writes a lot on the topics of AI, cybersecurity, and democracy – including the popular blog, “Schneier on Security.”

At Vector, and elsewhere around the University of Toronto, Bruce hopes to continue pulling on these threads that weave through both technology and public policy. He looks forward to talking to, and working with, anyone interested in any of these topics.