Jaron Mink

Jaron Mink is a prominent researcher currently serving as a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy. His academic focus lies at the intersection of usable security, machine learning, and system security. Mink's research investigates how human interaction can both undermine and enhance security in machine learning systems. He examines the ways in which human factors can be exploited to compromise security, as well as how they can be leveraged to bolster it.

Mink's work is particularly relevant in the context of the increasing prevalence of machine learning-enabled threats, such as deepfakes. He studies user perceptions and reactions to these emerging threats, especially among lay users on social media platforms. Additionally, he evaluates the usability of machine learning tools for technical users, specifically focusing on how easily ML developers can implement security defenses.

He holds a PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has contributed significantly to the field through both teaching and research initiatives. Prior to his current role, he was affiliated with Arizona State University, where he served as an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence.123