Shi's Encryption Work Highlighted in MIT Technology Review

Elaine Shi, an assistant professor of computer science with appointments in UMIACS and the Maryland Cybersecurity Center, is part of a team of researchers featured in MIT Technology Review for their work on a prototype browser extension called ShadowCrypt, which makes it easy for users to send and receive encrypted text on Twitter, Facebook or any other website.

Using ShadowCrypt, a person who writes or is authorized to read a tweet or e-mail sees normal text. The site operator or anyone else looking at or intercepting the posting would see a garbled string of letters and numbers.

To use ShadowCrypt, you install the extension and then create encryption keys for each website you wish to use it with. A small padlock icon at the corner of every text box is the only indication that ShadowCrypt is hiding the garbled encrypted version that will be submitted when sent or posted.