Ron Deibert
Founder & Director
Ron Deibert (O.C., O.Ont.) is a professor of political science and the founder and director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. His research focuses on the intersections of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security. Under his leadership, the Citizen Lab has produced over 180 influential reports on cyber espionage, commercial spyware, internet censorship, and digital threats to human rights, including landmark investigations such as “Tracking Ghostnet” and “China’s Great Cannon.” These reports have been cited widely in global media, garnering more than 25 front page exclusives in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, and other leading media outlets, and have been cited by policymakers, academics, and civil society as foundational to the understanding of digital technologies, human rights, and global security.
Professor Deibert is the author of notable books including Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy (2025), RESET: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society (2020), which won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and Black Code: Surveillance, Privacy and the Dark Side of Cyberspace (2013). His work as Director of the Citizen Lab and as a scholar has received extensive recognition: in 2013, he was appointed to the Order of Ontario; in 2020, he was awarded two ISA (International Studies Association) awards: the ISA Canada Distinguished Scholar award and the STAIR Distinguished Scholar ‘Transversal Acts’ award; and in 2022, he was named Officer of the Order of Canada – the country’s second highest civilian order of merit. Currently, Professor Deibert serves on the editorial boards of several renowned academic journals, including International Political Sociology, Explorations in Media Ecology, Review of Policy Research, and the Journal of Global Security Studies. He has also served on the advisory boards of Access Now, Privacy International, the technical advisory groups of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and is an active member of the advisory boards of PEN Canada and the Spyware Accountability Initiative.
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Publications
Espionage Against the European Parliament
Member of Committee Investigating Spyware Hacked with Pegasus
We found that former Member of the European Parliament Stelios Kouloglou was hacked with Pegasus spyware while serving on the PEGA committee, which investigated Pegasus and other spyware abuses in Europe. Through forensic analysis of his device, we found that the attackers could have had access to confidential documents and committee deliberations.
Russia Breaks Into Human Rights Activist’s Phone With Cellebrite
We analyzed Russian activist Andrey Pivovarov’s phone, finding that Russian authorities used forensic extraction tools made by Cellebrite to gain access to his device. A document prepared by Russian authorities confirms that Cellebrite was used to extract information to aid in Pivovarov’s prosecution. Importantly, we found that authorities continued to use Cellebrite for political repression even after the company had cancelled its contracts with Russian customers.
Uncovering Webloc
An Analysis of Penlink’s Ad-based Geolocation Surveillance Tech
Location data collected from mobile apps and digital advertising can reveal habits, interests and almost any other aspect of someone’s life. In this report, we uncover how a geolocation surveillance system called Webloc uses ad-based data to monitor hundreds of millions of people across the globe.
