The International Symposium and Research Workshop CSCC: Computer Security & Cybersecurity Challenges 2022 was held on 12-13 May at the Polish Academy of Sciences Scientific Center in Paris. The event was initiated by Wojciech Wodo, PhD, from Wrocław University of Science and Technology, who co-organized it with the Polish Academy of Sciences Scientific Center in Paris. The event brought together both experienced scientists and young students in the course of their doctoral studies, dealing with broadly defined cybersecurity. The workshop was hybrid, speakers performed both stationary in Paris and connected remotely. The workshop aimed to familiarise researchers with their areas of expertise and to learn about the latest trends and potential research directions in computer security and cybersecurity. Another aspect of the event was the networking between participants and presenters to generate collaborations and ideas for joint projects or grants.

In total, we hosted guests from 8 universities in 7 countries (Poland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, the UK and Ukraine). We had a pleasure to listen many presentations, including topic of open science, which was presented by Dr Sothearath Seang, as well as about the disinformation spread during the war in Ukraine, as told us Dr Oleksandr Berezko, a fellow of the Lviv Polytechnic National University, who connected with us remotely. In keeping with the theme of the workshop, we were also accompanied by topics very much related to cybersecurity, such as a presentation of Prof. Mirosław Kutyłowski on the protection of privacy or advanced cryptography, which Dr Kamil Kluczniak talked about.

The workshop also covered topics related to differential privacy, security of fingerprint biometrics readers, cryptographic mechanisms of fully homomorphic encryption, audio encryption in open transmission channels, construction and analysis of physical properties of unclonable functions (PUFs), security of FIDO2 hardware tokens, recognition of audio forgeries using neural networks or security of protocols used in the automotive industry.

Both participants and speakers drew attention to the importance of security in cyberspace, which they were able to develop during the team workshop part of the meeting. It focused on brainstorming, which was led by Dr Andrejs Romanovs from Riga Technical University. It allowed us to understand the problem of cybersecurity gaps, both in our daily life and in education. The workshop addressed the competence and awareness gap, both among IT professionals and the public, as well as the inadequate education model.

Each day’s workshop sessions ended with a networking session, where guests could continue the topics they were interested in throughout the day, which led to many new acquaintances. The whole event was very intense, a lot of time was dedicated to knowledge exchange, and everyone had the opportunity to speak about their research work or their PhD areas. The Q&A session after presentations was always full of questions and comments, which made the event very interactive.

The event was very positively received by the participants, and questions have already been asked about the next edition. Another value derived from the workshop is the establishment of close cooperation between Wrocław University of Science and Technology and Riga Technical University in the area of common projects in the field of cybersecurity. For the time being, this is to take place in three dimensions: a summer school, a research project, and a course of study.

Date of the conference: 12-13 May 2022

Place of the conference: Polish Academy of Sciences Scientific Center in Paris (74, rue Lauriston)

 

Organising Committee:

dr inż. Wojciech Wodo (Wrocław University of Science and Technology)

Diana Kogaczewska (Polish Academy of Sciences Scientific Center in Paris)