Ron Deibert

Ron Deibert 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.

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.

Books:
Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy, 2025
RESET: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, 2020
Black Code: Surveillance, Privacy and the Dark Side of Cyberspace, 2013