Yan Zhu

About

Yan Zhu is a prominent figure in the tech industry, known for her work as a security engineer and advocate for user privacy. She currently serves as the Chief Information Security Officer at Brave Software, the company behind the Brave browser, which focuses on user privacy and security. Zhu has also contributed to various open-source projects, including Let’s Encrypt, HTTPS Everywhere, SecureDrop, and Privacy Badger. Her background includes roles as a senior security engineer at Yahoo and a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Zhu is recognized for her efforts in developing tools to protect user data and pushing for stronger privacy protections. She has been involved in web standards development, serving as an editor for W3C documents and participating in the W3C Technical Architecture Group. In 2015, she was listed as one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 in enterprise technology. Zhu's educational background includes a B.S. in physics from MIT, although she is a high school dropout. Her work emphasizes the principle of least privilege in data collection and advocates for privacy-focused solutions in digital services.