KC Claffy

Kimberly C. Claffy, widely known as “KC Claffy,” is a pioneering Internet scientist and the longtime leader of the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA). Under her direction, CAIDA has become one of the world’s most respected independent research centers focused on the security, stability, and resilience of the Internet’s core infrastructure. Her work centers on rigorous, third-party scientific assessment of the systems that quietly power the global Internet — including its addressing, routing, and naming (DNS) architectures.

She is a resident research scientist based at the University of California's San Diego Supercomputer Center.

Claffy’s leadership reflects a deep understanding that today’s Internet is no longer simply a technical network, but a complex global ecosystem shaped by economic incentives, policy decisions, governance structures, and ethical considerations. As the infrastructure has matured and grown more interdependent, her work has expanded beyond pure network measurement to include interdisciplinary collaboration spanning economics, public policy, law, and responsible data stewardship. She has been instrumental in ensuring that CAIDA’s research and infrastructure efforts not only advance technical knowledge but also inform global Internet governance and security discussions.

At the core of her work is empirical Internet measurement. Claffy has led research in Internet cartography and performance measurement, producing detailed analyses that map and characterize the structure of the global network. Her team conducts in-depth studies of the security of the Internet’s addressing and routing systems, as well as the Domain Name System (DNS), examining vulnerabilities and evaluating operator adoption of best practices designed to strengthen routing security. These efforts provide critical, data-driven insights into the health and integrity of the global Internet ecosystem.

Beyond research, Claffy directs CAIDA’s infrastructure development activities, overseeing large-scale software systems, data collection pipelines, and curated repositories that support Internet research worldwide. Among her recent initiatives is the development of a high-capacity 100GB monitoring platform designed to enable the secure sharing of traffic data with academic researchers. In collaboration with the RouteViews Project at the University of Oregon, CAIDA has expanded this platform to broaden its scientific utility, strengthening global research capacity in routing and measurement studies.

She also leads the Global Measurement Infrastructure Design project, which focuses on designing and prototyping a highly distributed network measurement platform capable of capturing diverse data types relevant to security research. This next-generation infrastructure is built not only to observe the Internet, but to host carefully vetted experiments — enabling more dynamic and forward-looking analysis of network behavior.

Through decades of scientific leadership, kc claffy has helped define the field of Internet measurement research. Her work combines technical rigor, interdisciplinary perspective, and a commitment to transparency and data integrity. In an era when the reliability and security of digital infrastructure underpin nearly every aspect of modern life, her contributions continue to shape our understanding of the Internet’s structure, risks, and resilience.