Techniques
taken from the field of nature-inspired computation (e.g. Genetic Algorithms,
Genetic Programming, Simulated Annealing, and Artificial Immune Systems) are
steadily gaining ground in the area of cryptology and computer security. In
recent years, nature inspired algorithms have been proposed, for example, for
the design and analysis of a number of new cryptographic primitives, ranging
from pseudorandom number generators to block ciphers, in the cryptanalysis of
state-of-the-art cryptosystems, in the design of security protocols and in the
detection of network attack patterns, to name but a few.
There is a growing interest from the cryptographic and computer security communities
towards nature-inspired techniques. This has occurred partly as a result of
these recent successes, but also because the nature of systems is changing in a
way which means traditional computer security techniques will not meet the full
range of tasks at hand. The increasing distribution, scale, autonomy and
mobility of emerging systems is forcing us to seek inspiration from nature to
help deal with the challenges ahead. There is a general feeling that the area
is ripe for further research, with dedicated conference sessions only beginning
to emerge (e.g. the Conference on Evolutionary Computation special sessions in 2003, 2004 and 2005).
This special issue of the IJICS solicits the submission of research papers in this
general area. Suitable topics include (but are not limited to) the use of
nature-inspired techniques for:
- Intrusion detection.
- System security management.
- Security authentication technologies.
- The design of cryptographic primitives.
- The cryptanalysis of stream, block and public key encryption algorithms (and other security-related algorithms, e.g. watermarking algorithms).
- The design or analysis of security protocols.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
- A submitted paper must not be under the review of
any
other journal.
- Electronic submission is required; a manuscript in
PDF format must be submitted via the Journal Management System at http://www.icebnet.org/JMS/.
- Please submit your manuscript with a cover letter
containing the following imperative statements
(Click
here for a sample cover letter)
- Title and the central theme of the article.
- Which subject/theme of the Journal the material
matches.
- Why the material is important in its field and why
the material
should be published in this Journal.
- Nomination of up to four recognized experts who would
be
considered appropriate to review the submission.
Please state
(1) the names, title, addresses, phone, fax, and
email addresses
of these reviewers, (2) the expertise of each
reviewer relating
to your paper, and (3) your relationship with each
of them. An
attempt will be made to select at least one of the
nominated
reviewers.
- The fact that the manuscript contains original
unpublished work
and is not being submitted for publication
elsewhere
- A complete submission must include three separate
files: (1) the cover letter, (2) the title page,
and (3) the
manuscript without authors' names. These files
should be
submitted electronically to the Guest Editor via
the Journal Management System.
- Each paper will undergo two rounds of double-blind
reviews. Any paper that fails to meet the
required revisions
after two rounds of reviews will be rejected
unless only
minor changes are needed. (Click
here for Review Process details)
- Note that author name(s) must not appear anywhere
else in the
manuscript except in the title page and the
reference list (if
cited). No information can be placed in the
properties of the
manuscript's electronic file.
- Inappropriate submissions will be
returned to authors.
Factors leading to this action include
submission with improper or no cover letter,
excessive length,
technically inappropriate material, single spaced
body of text,
subject of no interest to readers, manuscripts
simultaneously
submitted to other publications, and manuscripts
not adhering to
author guidelines.
- Non-English speaking authors should have
their papers proofread by a professional technical
writer for
grammatical and spelling corrections as well as the
readability
of the paper, before submitting it to the Guest
Editor.
- Accepted papers must follow the guidelines posted at
the Journal's
web site to format the final papers.
IMPORTANT DATES
- September 30, 2005: Due date for full-paper submissions to the Specia Issue.
- October 15, 2005: Outcomes of initial screening are
returned to
authors whose papers are rejected for further
reviews.
- December 31, 2005: Outcomes of formal reviews are sent
to authors
of all papers.
- January 31, 2006: Due date for resubmission of
papers required
revisions.
- March 31, 2006: Outcomes of 2nd-round formal
reviews are sent
to authors of resubmitted papers.
- April 15, 2006: Due date for resubmission of papers
required
only minor revisions.
- April 30, 2006: Outcomes of 3rd-round formal
reviews are
sent to authors of resubmitted papers.
- May 15, 2006: Due date for authors to submit
properly-formatted copies for all accepted papers.
- October 2006 (Vol.1, No.4): Publication schedule.
For any questions and article submissions, please contact:
Guest Editors
John A Clark
E-mail jac@cs.york.ac.uk
and
Julio Cesar Hernandez
E-mail: jcesar@inf.uc3m.es
For more information on the Journal please visit the
IJICS
web site.
