Hardware security and trustworthy hardware are on the brink of a revolution and this workshop and the resulting special issue/book seek to showcase the latest advances in state-of-the-art trustworthy hardware and identify the most promising research frontiers in IC and system security. The scope of this workshop spans critical aspects of IC and system security ranging from theoretical and conceptual foundations, synthesis, testing and verification, to modeling and optimization to case studies. From a platforms perspective this workshop/special issue will cover IC and system security and trust issues in ASICs, COTS, FPGAs, microprocessors/DSPs, and embedded systems. Other topics of interest include: Hardware security primitives (circuitry and mechanisms) including IDs, PUFs, PPUFs, public TRNGs, side channels, dual rail logic, controlled aging, IC conditioning, watermarking, fingerprinting, and obfuscation; Hardware-based security protocols including DRM (IC metering, enabling and disabling), trust guarantees, authentication, privacy, hardware-based PKC; Hardware attacks: creation, detection, characterization, and compensation; Forensic and reverse engineering (e.g. process, IC, models, algorithms); Computer aided design (CAD) techniques for IC and System Security; Trusted synthesis and compilation using untrustworthy CAD tools; Trusted hardware based system security; Impact of nano and other emerging technologies on hardware-based system security; Hardware-supported primitives and protocols for operating systems and utility software.

In almost all areas of national security, new personnel are instructed in the importance of understanding the lessons of history in order to better tackle current issues. Yet this practice has been all but ignored when it comes to cyber. Cyber history is believed to be irrelevant as the field is constantly evolving and new technologies and methodologies emerge every day. In fact, cyber has an extensive history that reaches far beyond the attacks on the Estonian networks in 2007. Events that transpired in the 1980s and after have taught the cyber community many important lessons. By implementing these lessons into the context of today’s crises, policy and decision makers can make better more informed decisions. Jason Healey will discuss the history of conflict in cyberspace, lessons learned for the future, and the growing importance of cyberspace in conflicts around the world.

This one-day conference on cybersecurity threats and opportunities in the Gulf region, is jointly hosted by the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative and NYU Abu Dhabi’s Center for Cyber Security. Recent high profile cyber breaches in the region’s finance and energy sectors have highlighted the need to focus on cybersecurity and its importance to state and economic stability. The United Arab Emirates’ unique position as an economic, energy, and transportation hub makes cyber issues even more pressing. This event will bring together local and US experts from the government and private sector to address these pressing issues at a full-day conference in Abu Dhabi.Topics expected to be covered include: securing energy, finance, and transportation infrastructure; growing a cybersecurity workforce; national security cyber issues; and regional threat capabilities and intent.

Caerus from Emirates International School Meadows in Dubai and the team from Delhi Private School in Dubai were our top finalists. The two teams received dan expense-paid trip to New York City and competed in the 2015 CSAW @ NYU HSF competition in November of 2014. We thank all the students and their mentor teachers for participating in the High School Forensics challenge. This year’s HSF competition has been one of the largest high school cyber security events in the world! We hope everyone had fun and found the challenge to be a worthwhile learning activity. For more information on please visit the HSF site.

CCS-AD hosted a day long research round table to develop a cyber security research agenda that focused on problems that are most relevant to the region. To make the region a leader in the cyber security area, the round table explored concrete collaborative research projects that can engage leading cyber security researchers in the region, including researchers from Qatar, KSA, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey. The discussion touched on a wide variety of related topics such as data sharing, test-bed development, and how to attract cyber security talent to the region was also addressed. They discussed roadblocks to effective collaboration and ways to overcome them.