Recent advances in wireless communications have supported an increasingly interconnected world: from ultra high-throughput and scalable 5G Massive MIMO systems, to batteryless embedded sensor devices capable of running for years on limited or scavenged power. Behind these networks, the revolution in cloud computing has enabled softwarization of services and unprecedented global access to data. Governments and companies are leveraging these technologies in ways that ensure modern wireless communication networks increasingly permeate all aspects of our everyday lives: from managing power grids, to delivering your pizza.

Unfortunately, despite several recent high-profile cases of industrial espionage and embarrassing public data leaks,  security is still often considered as an afterthought, even as everything from car journeys, to infrastructure monitoring, to delivering your pizza is increasingly automated. Even when security is prioritized, the pace of technological change and inherent novelty of use cases can expose unforeseen weaknesses – sometimes to dire consequences.

The Workshop on Unconventional Security in Wireless Communications (USWC) aims to bring together researchers from fields such as Networking, AI, ML, Telecoms, and Digital Security, and invites them to “think outside the box”. Not only on how wireless communications and networks should, and could, be secured, but how unconventional attacks may circumvent established security dogma. We welcome submissions with unusual takes on existing techniques, proposals for novel security solutions, exposure of atypical weaknesses, and the application of unconventional approaches to solve next-generation wireless security challenges.

UWSC provides a venue for researchers from diverse backgrounds to apply novel technologies and techniques in unusual and surprising ways – whether to solve current challenges, or expose inherent weaknesses. Above all, UWSC aims to be a forum for lively discussion and engaged debate on past, present, and future of communication security in an interconnected world.

Call for Papers

We invite researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to submit papers (up to 6 pages, double-column) focusing on topics such as:

• Wireless security for cyber-physical systems (e.g., factory automation).
• Wireless security for critical infrastructures (e.g., healthcare, smartgrid).
• AI / Machine Learning for malware and attack detection at the network layer.
• AI / Machine Learning assisted security and privacy, at the physical, MAC, or networking layers.
• Security protocols for wireless communications and networking.
• RF Jamming attacks and defenses for wireless networks.
• Localization and positioning privacy (GPS, UWB, BLE 5.2, etc.).
• Physical tracking security and privacy.
• Ultra low-power security for RF backscatter.
• Side-channel and fault attacks on multi-radio devices (e.g., LTE/Wi-Fi/BLE chipsets).
• Side-channel attacks on IoT devices (e.g., Dolphin Attack)
• Security and possible weaknesses in 6G cellular networks (3GPP, ETSI, IEEE, etc.).
• Reverse engineering of and tampering with wireless communications.
• Testbed and experimental platforms for wireless security.
• Resilience and dependability for wireless networks.
• Vehicular networks security (e.g., drones, automotive, avionics, autonomous driving).
• Security for UAV swarms (i.e., distributed, highly-mobile systems).
• Key management (agreement or distribution) for highly-mobile networks.
• Wireless network security in satellite systems.
• NFC and smart payment applications.
• Cryptography primitives and lightweight protocols for embedded IoT devices.
• Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS).
• Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs).
• Theoretical and formal approaches for wireless security.
• Internet of the Things  (IoT) security.
• Mobile Security.
• Cellular communication security.
• Adversarial Machine Learning and Unlearning for wireless communication.
• Smart Contracts and Blockchain for wireless communication.

In following with the theme of this workshop, we especially encourage submissions which aim to broaden the discussion outside of traditional security challenges and approaches. Examples could include, but are not limited to:

• Bio-inspired security solutions.
• Visual/movement-based security solutions.
• Security techniques based on multi-modal sensor fusion.
• Underwater communications security.
• Visual Light Communication (VLC)-based security.
• Quantum-based security.