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The 4th Workshop on Security and Privacy in Connected Embedded Systems (SPICES 2025) -- https://www.tii.ae/workshop/spices
Co-located with EWSN 2025 -- September 22, 2025 -- https://www.ewsn25.cs.kuleuven.be/
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Embedded systems have become pervasive in modern society, from managing the power grids that allow you to boil the kettle in the morning to monitoring your sleep patterns at night. They play a crucial role in facilitating communication, enabling access to information, and powering the unseen minutiae of everyday life. Securing these networks and devices is of utmost importance to ensure the safety and privacy of individuals, businesses, and governments.

However, despite significant recent progress recognizing the need for security in such systems, it is often still an afterthought. Furthermore, emerging communication technologies such as 6G, cloud computing, and the inexorable rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning present new security threats and privacy issues that require innovative solutions. Moreover, unconventional threats and vulnerabilities can circumvent established security and privacy dogmas, exposing key weaknesses in critical systems.

The Workshop on Security and Privacy in Connected Embedded Systems (SPICES) aims to address these challenges. It provides a platform for researchers, practitioners, and industry experts to discuss the latest topics and challenges in wireless and embedded systems security and privacy – not only on how existing systems should be secured but also exploring important security aspects (or lack of) in current research trends. We welcome submissions with unusual takes on existing techniques, proposals for novel security and privacy solutions, exposure of atypical weaknesses, and the application of unconventional approaches to solving next-generation wireless security challenges.

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).
- AI / Machine Learning assisted security and privacy at the physical, MAC, or networking layers.
- Generative Adversarial Networks for wireless and embedded security.
- 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.).
- Measurement of embedded computing privacy leakage.
- Privacy-enhancing and anonymization techniques in embedded computing.
- Security and privacy techniques in embedded computing.
- Privacy-enhanced data analytics and storage in embedded computing.
- Privacy-preservation methods on context (e.g., location, energy) changes in embedded computing.
- Offensive security and side-channel attacks on IoT devices.
- Security and possible weaknesses in 6G cellular networks (3GPP, ETSI, IEEE, etc.).
- Testbed and experimental platforms for wireless security.
- Vehicular network security (e.g., drones, automotive, avionics, autonomous driving).
- Security for UAV swarms (i.e., distributed, highly mobile systems).
- Communications security in satellite systems.
- Cryptography primitives and lightweight protocols for embedded IoT devices.
- Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS).
- Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs).
- Internet of the Things (IoT) security and privacy.
- Smart Contracts and Blockchain for wireless communication.
- Multi-factor authentication methods for embedded IoT devices.
- Zero-knowledge and zero-trust techniques in embedded computing.

We especially encourage submissions that aim to broaden the discussion outside of traditional security and privacy challenges and approaches. Examples could include, but are not limited to:
- Bio-inspired security solutions.
- Visual/movement-based security solutions.
- Environment-adaptive security.
- Underwater communications security.
- Visual Light Communication (VLC)-based security.
- Quantum-based security.
- Communication of embedded devices via satellite
- Networks for tracking

Well-reasoned arguments or preliminary evaluations are sufficient for this workshop.

*** Submission Instructions ***
Submitted papers must contain at most six pages (US letter, 9pt font size, double-column format, following the ACM master article template), including all figures, tables, and references. All submissions must be written in English. SPICES 2025 will use a double-anonymous review policy during the paper review process. Authors must not include their names, affiliations, and contact information in the manuscript they submit for review. Reviewers will not know the authors' identity until the paper's outcome is decided. Only PC chairs will know the identity of the authors and be able to interact with them during the review process, should the need arise. Submissions that are not properly anonymized will be rejected without being reviewed.

Submissions may be uploaded through the SPICES workshop track under the dedicated HotCRP submission site https://spices25.hotcrp.com.

Accepted papers will be published in ACM as part of the EWSN 2025 proceedings. Authors of accepted papers are expected to present their work in a plenary session as part of the main workshop program.

*** Important Dates ***
Paper submission deadline: June 01, 2025 (AoE, 23:59 UTC-12)
Notification of acceptance: July 15, 2025
Camera-ready: July 25, 2025
Workshop day: September 22nd, 2025

*** Workshop Organizers ***
- Michael Baddeley (Technology Innovation Institute, UAE)
- Pericle Perazzo (University of Pisa, Italy)
- Fikret Basic (TU Graz, Austria)
- Utz Roedig (University College Cork, Ireland)