NEW SECURITY PARADIGMS WORKSHOP
September 8–11, 2015 ++ Twente, The Netherlands ++ http://www.nspw.org

CALL FOR PAPERS

Submissions: April 18, 2015 23:59 (UTC-0, UK time) firm
Acceptance notification: June 11, 2015
Pre-proceedings deadline: August 3, 2015 (ACM SIG formatting required, Option 1)
Workshop: September 8–11, 2015, Twente, The Netherlands
Post-proceedings manuscripts: November 3, 2015

Since 1992, the New Security Paradigms Workshop (NSPW) has offered a unique forum for computer security/information security research involving high-risk, high-opportunity paradigms, perspectives and positions. NSPW seeks embryonic, disruptive, and unconventional ideas that benefit from early feedback. The ideas are almost always not yet proven, and sometimes infeasible to validate to the extent expected in traditional forums. Submissions typically address current limitations of computer/information security, directly challenge long-held beliefs or the very foundations of security, or view problems from an entirely novel angle leading to new solution paradigms. NSPW seeks ideas pushing the boundaries of science and engineering beyond what would typically be considered mainstream; papers that would be strong candidates in "conventional" computer/information security venues are, as a rule of thumb, a poor fit for NSPW. We welcome papers with perspectives that augment traditional computer/information security, both from other computer science disciplines and other sciences that study adversarial relationships (e.g., biology, economics, the social sciences). For NSPW 2015, we especially welcome papers from first-time NSPW authors. The workshop itself is highly interactive with presentations by authors prepared for in-depth discussions, and ample opportunity to exchange views with open-minded peers. NSPW is also distinguished by its deep-rooted tradition of positive feedback, collegiality, and encouragement.

REGULAR SUBMISSIONS (6–15 pages): NSPW papers vary in format and style, but often involve a systematic investigation supported by structured argument. Some involve an opinionated analysis, or explore a design space that emerges upon replacing a common assumption (even if this is beyond current technology). Successful submissions show strong scholarship, demonstrate sound knowledge of related literature while placing the contributions in context to it, and are often accompanied by suitable forms of early validation and a research agenda for broader validation. Ideal papers lead to spirited workshop discussion, but NSPW is not a debating society — the spirited discussion should relate to new ideas and perspectives as characterized above, rather than well-known controversial topics.

NSPHD SUBMISSIONS (New Security Paradigms/PhD; 12 pages maximum): This category is for students at an early stage in thesis research that meets the NSPW characteristics noted above, and ideally for thesis work and directions that would benefit from extensive expert feedback; the research thus must be preliminary (mature or completed theses are unsuitable). NSPHD papers may be held to a less rigorous standard than regular NSPW submissions. The format is flexible, but should outline your ideas, work completed so far, and what is envisioned as future work. NSPHD papers are typically omitted from the main proceedings, but if desired can be made available through links on the NSPW site. The NSPHD category is not intended for graduate students simply co-authoring, with faculty advisors, work suitable as a regular submission. Student authors of accepted NSPHD papers are invited to present; typically their faculty advisors are not.

PANEL PROPOSALS: NSPW often includes one or two stimulating panel discussions. If you have an idea for a great panel, we welcome your proposal. Specify potential panelists including chair, a paragraph or more outlining the topic, and its suitability for NSPW. The proposers of accepted panels and the panelists are typically invited to jointly prepare a short summary for the main proceedings after the workshop.

SUBMISSION PACKAGE: All submissions must be made in PDF-format through EasyChair at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nspw2015 (with ACM SIG formatting requested, Option 2). Submissions must include a cover page with authors' names, affiliation, justification statement and attendance statement. Papers not including these risk desk rejection, due to NSPW's unique goals and process. The justification statement should specify a category (Regular, NSPHD, or Panel), briefly explain why the submission is appropriate for NSPW, and summarize the new paradigm, perspective or position. The attendance statement must specify which author(s) commit to attend upon acceptance/invitation. All submissions are treated as confidential, both as a matter of policy and in accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. NSPW does not accept papers published elsewhere, nor submitted to other venues or journals concurrently. Submissions accompanied by nondisclosure agreements will not be considered.

ACCEPTANCE, ATTENDANCE, PROCEEDINGS: We plan to accept up to a dozen submissions. The workshop itself is invitation-only, with typically 30–35 participants consisting of authors of accepted papers, panelists, program committee members and organizers. One author of each accepted paper must attend; additional authors may be invited if space permits. All participants must commit to a "social contract": no one arrives late, no one leaves early, no laptops, and all attend all sessions of the 2.5 day program, sharing meals in a group setting. The workshop is preceded by an evening reception allowing attendees to meet each other beforehand. We expect to offer a limited amount of financial aid to those who absolutely require it. Final proceedings are published post-workshop, allowing revised papers to include feedback received during the workshop.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Matt Bishop (UC Davis, USA)
Kevin Butler (University of Florida, USA)
Bill Cheswick (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
Markus Duermuth (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)
Ben Edwards (University of New Mexico, USA)
Allan Friedman (George Washington University, DC, USA)
Mike Just (Heriot-Watt University, Scotland)
Ben Laurie (Google U.K.)
M. Mannan (Concordia University, Canada)
Sarah Meiklejohn (University College London, U.K.)
Sean Peisert (UC Davis/Lawrence Berkeley Lab, USA)
Wolter Pieters (University of Twente & TU Delft, Netherlands)
Christian W. Probst (Technical University of Denmark)
Elizabeth Stobert (Carleton University, Canada)
Andrew White (UNC Chapel Hill, USA)
Mary Ellen Zurko (Cisco, USA)

PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS

Rainer Boehme (rainer.boehme@uni-muenster.de), University of Muenster, Germany
Paul C. Van Oorschot (paulv@scs.carleton.ca), Carleton University, Canada