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Yuvraj Agarwal wins Norm Hardy prize
The prize recognizes intuitive, user-centered, secure system design.
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Anushka Pathak - Thu, 19, Feb 2026
- 13:55 EST
- 18
Yuvraj Agarwal / Courtesy: Foresight Institute
Indian American computer scientist Yuvraj Agarwal has been named a 2025 Norm Hardy Prize winner for developing a layered cybersecurity label for smart home devices that has influenced U.S. policy and consumer standards.
The Foresight Institute awarded the prize to Agarwal along with Pardis Emami-Naeini and Lorrie Faith Cranor for advancing usable security and helping consumers better evaluate connected devices.
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The team’s research showed that clear, accessible information about security and privacy practices shapes consumer decision-making. Their layered label presents key protections, including security updates, authentication, and data-handling practices, in a concise primary display, with additional details available through a QR code or URL.
Consumer testing found the format enabled easier comparison without overwhelming technical information and influenced perceptions of risk and purchasing decisions, including concerns about third-party data sales.
The work informed the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, a federal labeling initiative for connected devices overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, and contributed to related standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Consumer Reports.
The Norm Hardy Prize recognizes contributions that make secure behavior intuitive and practical in modern software environments. Named after late computer scientist Norm Hardy, known for identifying the confused deputy vulnerability and developing KeyKOS, a capability-secure operating system, the award highlights systems and design principles that make secure choices the easier or default option.
Agarwal is a tenured associate professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and director of SynergyLabs. He is affiliated with the Software and Societal Systems Department, the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, and, by courtesy, Electrical and Computer Engineering.
His research spans hardware and software systems, with a focus on energy efficiency, security, and privacy in the Internet of Things and smart buildings. SynergyLabs develops deployable systems with real-world applications, including campus-scale deployments and tools used by hundreds of thousands in mobile privacy studies.
He earned a BE in Electrical Engineering from Pune University in India, an MS in Information and Computer Science from the University of California at Irvine, and a PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of California at San Diego.
Agarwal is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the Advanced Computing Systems Association, formerly known as the Unix Users Group (USENIX).
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