Symposium Overview
The USENIX Security Symposium brings together researchers, practitioners, system administrators, system programmers, and others interested in the latest advances in the security and privacy of computer systems and networks. The 29th USENIX Security Symposium will be held August 12–14, 2020, in Boston, MA, USA.

Important: The USENIX Security Symposium moved to multiple submission deadlines last year and included changes to the review process and submission policies. Detailed information is available at USENIX Security Publication Model Changes.

All researchers are encouraged to submit papers covering novel and scientifically significant practical works in computer security. The Symposium will span three days with a technical program including refereed papers, invited talks, posters, panel discussions, and Birds-of-a-Feather sessions. Co-located events will precede the Symposium on August 10 and 11.

Important Dates
Spring Quarter Deadline
Refereed paper submissions due: Wednesday, May 15, 2019, 8:00 pm EDT
Early reject notification: Monday, June 17, 2019
Author responses due: Friday, June 21, 2019
Notification to authors: Monday, August 19, 2019
Final papers due: Thursday, September 19, 2019, 11:59 pm EDT
Summer Quarter Deadline
Refereed paper submission due: Friday, August 23, 2019, 8:00 pm EDT
Early reject notification: Monday, September 23, 2019
Author responses due: Friday, September 27, 2019
Notification to authors: Friday, November 1, 2019
Final papers due: Monday, December 2, 2019, 11:59 pm EDT
Fall Quarter Deadline
Refereed paper submission due: Friday, November 15, 2019, 8:00 pm EDT
Early reject notification: Sunday, December 15, 2019
Author responses due: Friday, December 20, 2019
Notification to authors: Saturday, February 1, 2020
Final papers due: Monday, March 2, 2020, 11:59 pm EDT
Winter Quarter Deadline
Refereed paper submission due: Saturday, February 15, 2020, 8:00 pm EDT
Early reject notification: Sunday, March 15, 2020
Author responses due: Friday, March 20, 2020
Notification to authors: Friday, May 1, 2020
Final papers due: Monday, June 1, 2020, 11:59 pm EDT
Invited talk and panel proposals due: Friday, February 14, 2020, 8:00 pm EST
Poster proposals due: Tuesday, July 7, 2020, 9:00 pm EDT
Notification to poster presenters: Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Lightning talks information will be available soon.


Symposium Topics
Refereed paper submissions are solicited in all areas relating to systems research in security and privacy, including but not limited to:

System security
Operating systems security
Web security
Mobile systems security
Distributed systems security
Cloud computing security
Network security
Intrusion and anomaly detection and prevention
Network infrastructure security
Denial-of-service attacks and countermeasures
Wireless security
Security analysis
Malware analysis
Analysis of network and security protocols
Attacks with novel insights, techniques, or results
Forensics and diagnostics for security
Automated security analysis of hardware designs and implementation
Automated security analysis of source code and binaries
Program analysis
Data-driven security and measurement studies
Measurements of fraud, malware, spam
Measurements of human behavior and security
Privacy-enhancing technologies and anonymity
Usable security and privacy
Language-based security
Hardware security
Secure computer architectures
Embedded systems security
Methods for detection of malicious or counterfeit hardware
Side channels
Research on surveillance and censorship
Social issues and security
Research on computer security law and policy
Ethics of computer security research
Research on security education and training
Applications of cryptography
Analysis of deployed cryptography and cryptographic protocols
Cryptographic implementation analysis
New cryptographic protocols with real-world applications
This topic list is not meant to be exhaustive; USENIX Security is interested in all aspects of computing systems security and privacy. Papers without a clear application to security or privacy, however, will be considered out of scope and may be rejected without full review.