CNF: TC: ACSAC 2009 Conference Support

Applied Computer Security Associates, Olney MD

Investigators

Abstract

Applied Computer Security Associates, Inc. (ACSA), the sponsor of the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) requested funding to support undergraduate and graduate students attendance at the 25th ACSAC, to be held December 7-11 2009. The ACSAC conference, currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, is a top-tier academic security conference which averages about 200 highly skilled security professional attendees per year. ACSAC regularly brings together the foremost minds in academic, governmental and commercial computer security to both address the most pressing problems in applied computer security, as well discuss seminal works in Computer Security. Besides our keynotes (the "Invited Essayist" and "Distinguished Practitioner"), in 2000, ACSAC introduced the "Classic Papers" series, in which two or three authors of seminal papers in computer security are invited to update those papers and present lessons learned. These papers, available free on the ACSAC web site, familiarize a new generation of students with key security research developments of the past, and provide a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate instruction. NSF funding will provide worthy students with an opportunity to meet and interact with notable figures at the conference, whose past attendees have included luminaries such as Whitfield Diffie (Sun), Stephanie Forrest (U of New Mexico), Brian Snow (NSA), Steve Lipner (Microsoft), Gene Spafford (Purdue), Peter Neumann (SRI), and Steve Bellovin (Columbia). There have been many examples where speakers at ACSAC have been seen "holding class" with attendees after the formal session has ended.