USENIX Security '22 Call for Papers

Symposium Topics

Refereed paper submissions are solicited in all areas relating to systems research in security and privacy, including but not limited to:

• System security
  • Operating systems security
  • Web security
  • Mobile systems security
  • Distributed systems security
  • Cloud computing security
• Network security
  • Intrusion and anomaly detection and prevention
  • Network infrastructure security
  • Denial-of-service attacks and countermeasures
  • Wireless security
• Security analysis
  • Malware analysis
  • Analysis of network and security protocols
  • Attacks with novel insights, techniques, or results
  • Forensics and diagnostics for security
  • Automated security analysis of hardware designs and implementation
  • Automated security analysis of source code and binaries
  • Program analysis
• Machine learning security and privacy
• Data-driven security and measurement studies
  • Measurements of fraud, malware, spam
  • Measurements of human behavior and security
• Privacy-enhancing technologies and anonymity
• Usable security and privacy
• Language-based security
• Hardware security
  • Secure computer architectures
  • Embedded systems security
  • Methods for detection of malicious or counterfeit hardware
  • Side channels
• Research on surveillance and censorship
• Social issues and security
  • Research on computer security law and policy
  • Ethics of computer security research
  • Research on security education and training
  • Information manipulation, misinformation, and disinformation
  • Protecting and understanding at-risk users
  • Emerging threats, harassment, extremism, and online abuse
• Applications of cryptography
  • Analysis of deployed cryptography and cryptographic protocols
  • Cryptographic implementation analysis
  • New cryptographic protocols with real-world applications

This topic list is not meant to be exhaustive; USENIX Security is interested in all aspects of computing systems security and privacy. Papers without a clear application to security or privacy of computing systems, however, will be considered out of scope and may be rejected without full review.

Refereed Papers

Papers that have been formally reviewed and accepted will be presented during the Symposium and published in the Symposium Proceedings. By submitting a paper, you agree that at least one of the authors will attend the conference to present it. Alternative arrangements will be made if global health concerns persist. If the conference registration fee will pose a hardship for the presenter of the accepted paper, please contact conference@usenix.org.

A major mission of the USENIX Association is to provide for the creation and dissemination of new knowledge. In keeping with this and as part of USENIX's open access policy, the Proceedings will be available online for registered attendees before the Symposium and for everyone starting on the opening day of the technical sessions. USENIX also allows authors to retain ownership of the copyright in their works, requesting only that USENIX be granted the right to be the first publisher of that work. See our sample consent form for the complete terms of publication.

Go to Paper Submission Policies and Instructions page for more information.

Artifact Evaluation

View the Call for Artifacts.

Symposium Activities

Invited Talks, Panels, Poster Session, Lightning Talks, and BoFs
In addition to the refereed papers and the keynote presentation, the technical program will include invited talks, panel discussions, a poster session, and Birds-of-a-Feather sessions (BoFs). You are invited to make suggestions regarding topics or speakers in any of these sessions via email to the contacts listed below or to the program co-chairs at sec22chairs@usenix.org.

Invited Talks and Panel Discussions

Invited talks and panel discussions will be held in parallel with the refereed paper sessions. Please submit topic suggestions and talk and panel proposals via email to sec22it@usenix.org by February 1, 2022.

Poster Session

The USENIX Security Symposium is excited to have an in-person conference after two years of virtual conferences. We are, therefore, offering an opportunity to authors of papers from the 2020 and 2021 USENIX Security Symposium to present their papers as posters this year in Boston. New poster submissions of unpublished works will be also accepted.

Important Dates
Submission Deadline: Friday, July 8, 2022, 11:59 pm AoE
Early Notification Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Posters will not be included in the proceedings but may be made available online if circumstances permit. At least one author of each accepted poster must register for and attend the Symposium to present the poster.

Due to limited space, we will accept submissions on a “first come first served” basis, with priority for posters of papers published in the 2020 and 2021 Symposium.

Submission Details
There is no review process for posters of accepted papers from the 2020 and 2021 Symposium. Poster authors will need to submit a draft of the poster in PDF (maximum size 36" by 48") via the poster submission form, and after the acceptance notification, they will need to bring a printed version of the poster to the conference venue.

For new posters submissions of unpublished work, authors will need to submit a draft of the poster (maximum size 36" by 48"), or a one-page abstract in PDF via the poster submission form. We will notify authors of acceptance by July 13, 2022, and may accept additional posters after that if there is room.

Poster submissions from published and unpublished works must include the authors' names, affiliations, contact information, and link to the paper presentation (only if the poster is from a paper published in the 2020 or 2021 USENIX Security Symposium, leave the text box blank otherwise).

Poster authors of accepted papers from the 2020 and 2021 Symposium are optionally encouraged to prepare their posters using the Better Posters template by Mike Morrison. This initiative was featured by National Public Radio, and more information is also available here.

For more information, please contact the poster session chair at sec22posters@usenix.org.

Lightning Talks

Due to scheduling constraints, we will not be hosting a Lightning Talks session this year (also previously known as a Work-in-Progress/Rump session).

Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions (BoFs)

Birds-of-a-Feather sessions (BoFs) will be held Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are informal gatherings of persons interested in a particular topic. BoFs often feature a presentation or a demonstration followed by discussion, announcements, and the sharing of strategies. BoFs can be scheduled on-site or in advance. To schedule a BoF, please send an email to the USENIX Conference Department at bofs@usenix.org with the title and a brief description of the BoF; the name, title, affiliation, and email address of the facilitator; and your preference of date and time.

Go to Paper Submission Policies and Instructions.