SIGSAC Annual Report
July 1999 - June 2000
Submitted by: Ravi Sandhu Chair
SIGSAC continues to forge ahead in establishing leadership in the
Information and Systems Security community. This annual report
outlines accomplishments of the past year and future plans.
1. SIGSAC's CONVERSION TO CONFERENCE ONLY SIG
SIGSAC's conversion to a conference-only SIG has been a successful
move. With its strong conferences and close association with
TISSEC, SIGSAC is a major presence in the security
community.
2. SIGSAC CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
SIGSAC's oldest conference is the ACM Conference on Computer and
Communications Security (CCS). The conference was initiated in 1993.
Since then it has been held twice in Fairfax (1993, 1994), and once
each in New Delhi, India (1996), Zurich, Switzerland (1997), San
Francisco (1998) and Singapore (1999). The 2000 conference will be in
Athens, Greece. 2001 CCS is planned for Philadelphia and 2002 for the
Washington, DC metro area. From its inception CCS has established
itself as among the very best research conferences in security. This
reputation continues to grow. SIGSAC leadership continues to discuss
the future of this conference. Currently we are leaning towards a
model that would keep the conference on the US East coast in the
November timeframe, while leaving the option of taking to other US and
international locations when we receive strong proposals.
Starting in 2001 SIGSAC is pleased to announce the inception of a
second major annual conference called the ACM Symposium on Access
Control Models and Technologies (SACMAT). This conference has evolved
from the SIGSAC sponsored ACM Workshop on Role-Based Access Control
(RBAC). The RBAC series was initiated in 1995 in collaboration with
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The first
workshop was held at NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland, November 30 -
December 1, 1995. The next three workshops were held at the GMU
campus in Fairfax in the October-November timeframe in 1997, 1998 and
1999. Most recently the workshop was held at the Technical University
of Berlin in Berlin, Germany in July 2000. The decision to enlarge
the scope of the workshop to access control in general and to move it
to the May timeframe was made after considerable discussion amongst
RBAC attendees. SACMAT will be the first conference in the security
research community exclusively focussed on access control.
CCS and SACMAT give SIGSAC and ACM two major annual conferences
separated by six months. Both conferences should have a strong
future.
The annual New Security Paradigms Workshop, started in 1992, is a
specialized workshop sponsored by SIGSAC. The 9th workshop will be
held in September 2000 near Cork, Ireland.
3. SIGSAC PUBLICATION INITIATIVES
SIGSAC has been instrumental in creating the new ACM Transactions
on Information and System Security (TISSEC). Outstanding papers
from CCS and SACMAT are invited each year or publication in TISSEC
after appropriate enhancement and review.
4. SIGSAC SPECIAL PROJECTS
SIGSAC continues to support the Computer Security Day.
5. AWARDS
None.
6. SUMMARY
A reinvigorated SIGSAC continues its technical leadership in the
Information and System Security arena. SIGSAC has two major annual
conferences and one specialized workshop series. SIGSAC has been
instrumental in creating a new ACM Transactions on Information and
System Security. In conclusion, SIGSAC is providing strong technical
leadership to the community and is developing a cadre of volunteers
from which future leadership will emerge.
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