About the Competition

 

  A B O U T  T H E  C O M P E T I T I O N  

In order to encourage the development of the scientific foundations of cybersecurity, the National Security Agency (NSA) established The Annual Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper Competition. NSA invites nominations of papers that show an outstanding contribution to cybersecurity science. A set of Distinguished Experts will review the nominations according to the criteria below. Awardees will be invited to NSA to receive the award and present the winning paper to an audience of cybersecurity experts.

  N O M I N A T I O N S  &  E L I G I B I L I T Y  

Papers published in peer-reviewed journals, magazines, or technical conferences are eligible for nomination. The date of the publication must be between January 1st 2022 and December 31st 2022. Nominations include, in 500 words or less, a nomination statement describing the scientific contribution of the paper and explaining why this paper merits the award. A strong nomination statement is desired and will be used as part of the criteria when evaluating paper submissions. Nominated papers must be available in English and pdf format. Nominations must be submitted via this site. The nominator may not be an author or co-author of the nominated paper. If a paper includes a reviewer as a co-author it may not be considered for an award. Papers may come from any field of cybersecurity research. (Please refer to the SoS-VO discussion forum What is Security Science?)

For a set of potential sources for paper nominations, please see: https://cps-vo.org/sos/papercompetition/sources-2021. To suggest additional sources, please email BSCPC@cps-vo.org .

  E V A L U A T I O N  

A set of distinguished experts will review the submitted nominations and provided individual assessments to the NSA Research Directorate.

The following individuals will serve as distinguished experts for the 11th Annual Competition:

Dr. Evan Austin, Naval Research Laboratory

DR. WHITFIELD DIFFIE, Cybersecurity Advisor

DR. PAUL KOCHER, Independent Researcher

DR. JOHN LAUNCHBURY, Galois, Inc

DR. CARRIE GATES, Bank of America

DR. SEAN PEISERT, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

DR. RADIA PERLMAN, DELL EMC

MR. PHIL VENABLES, Google

DR. ARUN VISHWANATH, Cybersecurity Advisor

MS. MARY ELLEN ZURKO, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

For additional information on the review team.

The NSA Research Directorate recommended awardees to the NSA Director of Research, whose decision is final. Considerations in the evaluation of the nominated paper may include:

Scientific merit and significance of the work reported, the degree to which the paper exemplifies how to perform and report scientific research in cybersecurity.

  T I M E L I N E  

Submission Period Begins: January 15, 2023

Submission Period for Entries Ends: April 15, 2023 AOE

Evaluation Process for Entries Begins: April 20, 2023

Winners Notified: By October, 2023

Winners Announced: Fall 2023