Lukasz Olejnik is an independent researcher and consultant in cybersecurity and privacy, with a strong focus on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from INRIA, France, and an LL.M. in Information Technology Law from the University of Edinburgh. He integrates knowledge and skills from academia, industry, technology, research, policy and law.

He has a diverse background, having worked at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) and as a research associate at University College London. He has also been affiliated with Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy, Oxford University's Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.

As a former cyberwarfare advisor at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, he focused on the humanitarian consequences of cyberwarfare. Additionally, he has provided expertise on science and new technologies to the European Data Protection Supervisor. He contributed to the improvement of web and web browser security and privacy, as well as worked on W3C standards. He was elected and served as a member of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Technical Architecture Group. He provided advice to the policy and regulatory works at European Parliament.

He is the author of the books Philosophy of Cybersecurity and Propaganda. Beyond his written work, he assists organizations with cybersecurity, privacy, data protection, and aspects of technology policy.

He contributes public commentary to international media.

Research Interests

• Cybersecurity
• Digital propaganda, information operations and warfare
• International law and technology
• International Humanitarian Law and technology
• Cyberwarfare, cyber conflict, strategy
• Privacy
• Technology policy

Lukasz conducts research at the intersection of technology, policy, and law, with a primary focus on cybersecurity and privacy. His current work explores the use of cyber capabilities across the full spectrum of conflict. Additionally, he analyses the design and adoption of privacy technologies, with an emphasis on how these areas intersect and inform one another. Broad aspects of cybersecurity and privacy play an integral role in technology standardization.

Publications

Books:

• Propaganda (CRC Press, 2024)
• Philosophy of Cybersecurity (CRC Press, 2023)

Book chapter:

• On the governance of privacy-preserving systems for the web: should Privacy Sandbox be governed?. In Handbook on the Politics and Governance of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (pp. 279-314). Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023.

Research articles:

• The CNAME of the Game: Large-scale Analysis of DNS-based Tracking Evasion. Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, 3, 394-412, 2021.
• Policy strategies for value-based technology standards. Internet Policy Review, 10(3), 1-26, 2021.
• Shedding light on web privacy impact assessment: A case study of the Ambient Light Sensor API. In 2020 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW) (pp. 310-313). IEEE, 2020.
• Battery status not included: Assessing privacy in web standards. In 2017 International Workshop on Privacy Engineering, 2017.
• Selling off User Privacy at Auction. (2014). In Proceedings of the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS).
• Secure quantum private information retrieval using phase-encoded queries. Physical Review A—Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 84(2), 022313, 2011.

Policy papers:

• The Potential Human Cost of Cyber Operations, report of International Comittee of the Red Cross