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Press Release | Dec. 16, 2013

NSA Announces 2013 Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper Competition

The National Security Agency is seeking nominations for the 2013 Annual Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper Competition. The competition is for scientific papers that were published between October 1 2012 and December 31 2013 and that show an outstanding contribution to cybersecurity science. Deadline for nominations is March 31 2014.

The competition was created to stimulate research toward the development of systems that are resilient to cyber attacks. Entries are judged on scientific merit the strength and significance of the work reported and the degree to which the papers exemplify how to perform and report scientific research in cybersecurity.

"This competition supports the greater NSA mission to strengthen and protect cyber space for our nation " said Dr. Michael Wertheimer NSA Director of Research. "It offers a great opportunity to share scientific methods and it was a remarkable success in its first year."

The winning papers from last year are available at the Cyber-Physical Systems website http://cps-vo.org/group/sos/papercompetition.

This year's nominations will be reviewed by a panel of distinguished experts including:

  • Dr. Dan Geer In-Q-Tel
  • Dr. John McLean Naval Research Laboratory
  • Dr. Whitfield Diffie Cybersecurity Advisor
  • Professor Angela Sasse University College London
  • Professor Fred Schneider Cornell University
  • Mr. Phillip Venables Goldman Sachs
  • Professor David Wagner University of California at Berkeley
  • Dr. Jeannette Wing Microsoft Research

Individual recommendations from the panel will be forwarded to the NSA Research Directorate with Dr. Wertheimer making the final decision on awards. The contest winner and honorable mentions will be announced on the NSA external web site www.nsa.gov and the winner will be invited to present the winning paper to an audience of cybersecurity experts and government personnel. For more information regarding the eligibility criteria nomination procedures criteria for judging and to download the nomination forms visit http://cps-vo.org/group/sos/papercompetition/submit.

The NSA/CSS Research Directorate creates breakthroughs in science technology engineering and mathematics. These discoveries enable NSA to achieve and sustain intelligence advances against immediate and emerging threats to U.S. national security. Our continuing investment in a world-class faculty contributes to mission success bringing the power of science to securing our nation's future.

More information about the National Security Agency is available online at NSA.gov.