Call for Papers

All submissions are made through EasyChair (please only use this link for submission). As per tradition, proceedings will be published in Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS).

Important dates

  • Paper submissions: 14 May 2021 (AoE)
  • Notification of acceptance: 25 June 2021 (AoE)
  • Final versions due: 10 September 2021 (AoE)

CRITIS 2021 continues the tradition of bringing forth innovative research in the field of critical (information) infrastructures protection (C(I)IP), exploring ideas that address challenges to resilience and societal safety, and fostering dialogue with stakeholders.

This year, papers focusing on technology forecasting, monitoring, foresight, scouting for C(I)IP are most welcome in a special TechWatch & TechForecast track. Moreover, CRITIS 2021 will also focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on C(I)IP. Papers, testbeds, datasets reports, industrial/practical experience reports on that crisis are specially welcome.

CRITIS 2021 topics include (but are not limited to):

Topic 1: Protection of Cyber-Physical Systems and Industrial Control Systems

  • Protection of industrial installations and industrial control systems (ICS), such as: supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems (DCS), remote terminal units (RTU) and programmable logic controllers (PLC)
  • Vulnerability and risk analysis / threat modelling
  • Cyber-security in C(I)I systems and embedded systems (e.g. SMART instrumentation)
  • Self-healing, self-protection, and self-management architectures for C(I)I
  • Fault-tolerant control for cyber-physical systems in C(I)I
  • Modelling and analysis of cyber-physical systems in C(I)I
  • Exploration of the privacy / utility trade-off in C(I)IP
  • New developments in security operations center (SOC) and security information and event management (SIEM) for C(I)IP
  • Distributed privacy-preserving cyber threat intelligence sharing platform for C(I)I (e.g., MISP, TheHive, Cortex, OpenCTI, etc.)

Topic 2: C(I)IP Organisation, (Strategic) Management and Legal Aspects

  • Operational technology (OT) security
  • Standards and frameworks for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity (e.g., NIST, ISO/IEC 27001 & 22301, Cobit, ITIL, etc.)
  • Cross-border issues regarding the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive
  • Security information sharing for C(I)IP and information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs)
  • C(I)IP policies at international, national and cross-border levels (e.g., public-private partnerships)
  • Economics, investments and incentives for C(I)IP
  • Digital forensics and attack attribution in the context of C(I)I
  • International approaches to C(I)IP including identification of C(I)I elements
  • Risk management, impact and consequence analysis regarding C(I)I
  • Coherent prevention, preparedness / exercises, incident management / mitigation, and recovery approaches to C(I)I
  • Resilience and survivability of C(I)I as complex cyber-physical systems
  • R&D agenda at national and international levels for C(I)IP 
  • Defence of civilian C(I)I in conflicts with cyber-warfare elements
  • Infrastructure, architectural and technology changes impacting C(I)I-sectors (e.g., smart grids and energy supply in smart-city developments)

Topic 3: Human Factor, Security Awareness and Crisis Management for C(I)IP and Critical Services

  • Analysis of human factor and security awareness in C(I)IP
  • Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on C(I)IP
  • Supply chain cyber-attack and C(I)IP
  • Advanced decision support for mitigating C(I)I related emergencies
  • Social aspects and public communication in C(I)IP
  • Psycho-social dimensions of crisis management and intervention with C(I)I
  • Training for C(I)IP and effective intervention
  • The role of social-medias in C(I)I-related crisis management (as a threat or a benefit)
  • Recent trends in cyber-economy (clouds, quasi-monopolies, e-currencies, etc.) and implications for C(I)IP
  • Impact of geopolitical and social factors on C(I)IP

Topic 4: Future, TechWatch & Forecast for C(I)IP and Critical Services

  • Technology forecasting, monitoring, foresight, scouting, horizon scanning for C(I)IP and critical services
  • Production-capability networks, innovation structures and dynamics underlying the technology lifecycle for C(I)IP
  • Modelling portfolios of emerging and/or disruptive technologies related to C(I)IP
  • Applying real-option models to capture the net-present value of uncertain innovation portfolios for C(I)IP
  • New platforms for financing and data management (e.g., blockchains)
  • New Internet architectures, IoT infrastructure and emerging standards
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for autonomous management of C(I)I (e.g., anomaly detection)
  • Digital twins and their deployment as augmented reality for training and scenario-risk analysis
  • New communication technologies (e.g., 5G) and their potential impact on C(I)I