CACTUS/P Colloquium is a regional event for the Capital Area (and broader friends) to gather and discuss recent results in Usable Security and Privacy, broadly construed. The Colloquium consists of both research talks and networking events, and is hosted twice a year.

The next CACTUS will be held on May 8, 2026 at George Mason’s “Mason Square” campus in Arlington, VA.

Registration

Registration is open!

Agenda

9:00am–9:15am: Arrival

Coffee & tea

9:15am–9:30am: Welcome

9:30am–10:30am: Research Talks I

9:30am–9:45am — Daniel Zappala, Brigham Young University

“Guidelines For Human-Centered Threat Modeling”

9:45am–10:00am — Ayushi Mishra, University of Maryland, College Park

“Privacy Harms in Email Verification Process”

10:00am–10:05am — Ayush Daga, George Mason University

“What Dating Apps Show About Us: A Measurement Study of Security and Privacy Weaknesses in Android Dating Applications”

10:05am–10:10am — Rehma I Shaikh, George Mason University

“Gendered Patterns in Cybercrime”

10:10am–10:15am — Lina Rashdan, George Washington University

“Exploring Privacy Concerns Among Users of Locally Deployed AI Personal Assistants Agents for Autonomous Task Execution”

10:15am–10:20am — Christopher B. Landis, U.S. Naval Academy

“A Framework for Usable Zero-Trust Architectures in Maritime Environments”

10:20am–10:25am — Shiza Ali, The George Washington University

“Mapping Threats to Defenses in Online Survey Fraud”

10:25am–10:30am — Wendy Bickersteth, Carnegie Mellon University

“Mental Models, Metaphors, and Misconceptions: How Usable Privacy and Security Literature Frames Knowledge and Action”

10:30am–10:45am: Break

10:45am–11:45am: Research Talks II

10:45am–11:00am — Alan Luo, University of Maryland, College Park

“Perceived Privacy Risk and Mitigation Post-Roe”

11:00am–11:15am — Cora Sula, George Mason University

“From A to Zines: Narrative Threat Modeling in U.S. Reproductive Health Media”

11:15am–11:30am — Lanjing Liu, Johns Hopkins University

“Designing Privacy Choice in Generative AI Chatbot Ecosystems”

11:30am–11:45am — Miranda Wei, Princeton University

“Combating AI-Enabled Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)”

11:45am–1:15pm: Lunch

1:15pm–2:15pm: Research Talks III

1:15pm–1:30pm — Xinyi Zhang, Virginia Tech

“From Vulnerable to Resilient: Examining Parent and Teen Perceptions on How to Respond to Unwanted Cybergrooming Advances”

1:30pm–1:45pm — Dhiman Goswami, George Mason University

“Analysis of Privacy Risks and Mitigation in Online Propaganda Detection through the PROMPT Framework”

1:45pm–2:00pm — Yunze Zhao, University of Maryland, College Park

“Privacy Risks in LLM Inference: Understanding Failures in AI-Serving Systems”

2:00pm–2:15pm — Wentao Guo, University of Maryland, College Park

“An Exploratory User Study of Disclosure Avoidance Tools for Scientific Microdata”

2:15pm–2:30pm: Coffee Break

2:30pm–3:20pm: Research Talks IV

2:30pm–2:45pm — Qi Sun, Johns Hopkins University

“Privy: From Fine Print to Fair Practice in Privacy Rights Exercise”

2:45pm–3:00pm — Eric Zeng, Georgetown University

“Measuring the Identifiability of Deepfakes”

3:00pm–3:05pm — Miuyin Yong, University of Maryland, College Park

“How Aspiring Cybersecurity Professionals Navigate Skill Development”

3:05pm–3:10pm — Matthias Fassl, George Washington University

“Delete Me Softly: Data Removal Service Adoption and Abandonment”

3:10pm–3:15pm — Michelle Melo, George Mason University

“Understanding Privacy Needs in the Autism Community: A Community-Centered Mixed-Methods Study”

3:15pm–3:20pm — Smirity Kaushik, George Washington University

“Caste Bias in Text to Image Models”

3:20pm–3:30pm: Break

3:30pm–4:15pm: BOFs and Speed Networking

4:15pm–4:30pm: Closing Remarks## Schedule

Location, directions, and other information

All events will take place at Fuse Mason Square, in the Global Connections Studio (room 1324).

Transit, driving, and biking directions, as well as parking information, can be found here.

See also additional parking information here and here.

Welcome!