Call for papers: "Security Aspects in Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing.

Over the last few decades there has been tremendous growth in the area of pervasive and ubiquitous computing. During this era, various portable devices have been invented which are capable of performing various complex operations while keeping in view of the needs of users. These devices are being used in wide varieties of applications such as health monitoring and diagnostic systems, safety alarms, intelligent transport systems and environment monitoring.

But as these devices are vulnerable to various types of attacks (inside and outside) and threats, secure communication between them is of paramount concern in the pervasive and ubiquitous computing environment. This is mainly because of the direct interaction of these devices with the Internet, which is an open environment for information dissemination using these devices. Additionally, because to the lack of pre-deployment infrastructure due to resource constraints in these devices, the research community faces new security challenges to provide efficient solutions for secure communication with practical aspects.

Motivated by recent advances and existing techniques for secure communication in this field, this special issue aims to collect quality research proposals with a solid background in both theoretical and practical aspects. Proposals which are supported by mathematical formulation and validation will be given special attention when considered for inclusion in this issue.

The key objectives of this issue are as follows:

• To explore new innovations and ideas with the utility of becoming an end product for the benefits of the community.
• To explore the various security threats and precautionary measures for the same to increase the overall performance of systems. 

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 3rd IEEE International Symposium on Biometrics and Security Technologies (ISBAST’13), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to the following in the context of pervasive and ubiquitous computing:

• Trust management
• Intrusion detection and avoidance techniques
• Privacy and anonymity
• Modern security architectures and implementations
• Threat and vulnerability modelling
• Lightweight cryptographic solutions
• Key agreement, distribution and management
• Access control management systems
• Secure mobile systems
• Secure coding techniques
• Formal verification and validation techniques for security
• Biometric solutions
• Lightweight AAA infrastructures
• Secure social networking

Important Dates
Paper submission due: 15 September, 2013
Decision notification: 15 December, 2013
Revised paper submission: 15 January, 2014
Final paper submission: 15 February, 2014