The 21st International Conference on Information Security Practice and Experience (ISPEC 2026) will be held in Xi’an from November 6 to 8, 2026, organized by Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, China. The conference invites original papers presenting innovative research results on information security technologies and applications. We welcome submissions covering theories, techniques, implementations, applications, and practical experiences on a wide range of topics. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Cryptology
• Applied cryptography
• Mobile security
• Cloud security
• Access control
• Privacy enhanced technology
• Viruses and malware
• Software security
• Database security
• Web security
• Operating system security
• Intrusion detection
• Big data security and privacy
• Biometric Security
• Implementation
• Network security
• Key management
• Security and privacy in ubiquitous computing
• Formal methods for security
• Digital forensics
• Security for critical infrastructures
• Embedded systems security
• Lightweight security
• Smart grid security
• Cyber security for urban transportation
• Cyber-physical security
• Cryptocurrency
• AI Security

Systematization of Knowledge (SoK) Papers.

This year, we also solicit systematization of knowledge (SoK) papers that evaluate, systematize and contextualize existing knowledge for topics of broad interest to the cybersecurity community. Examples of SoK papers include papers that provide an important new viewpoint on an established, major research area, support or challenge long-held beliefs in such an area with compelling evidence, or provide an extensive and realistic evaluation and comparison of competing approaches to solving specific security problems.

SoK papers must include the prefix “SoK:” in the title of the paper and will be reviewed by the PC. They will be accepted based on their treatment of existing work and value to the community.

Instructions for Authors

Authors are invited to submit original papers: they must not substantially duplicate work that any of the authors have published elsewhere or have submitted in parallel to any other conferences that have proceedings or any journal. The submission must be anonymous, with no author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, or obvious references. Original contributions are invited up to 16 pages in length (single column) excluding appendices and bibliography and up to 20 pages in total, using at least 11-point fonts and with reasonable margins. Submissions not meeting the submission guidelines risk rejection without consideration of their merits. The submission page is: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ispec2026.

Publication Information

The conference proceedings will be published by Springer in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. Previous ISPEC proceedings are available on SpringerLink, where you can find detailed metrics including citations, downloads, and reader statistics at both paper and book levels.

Paper Preparation Guidelines

Authors must prepare their papers using either the LaTeX or Word templates provided by Springer. Please consult Springer's Instructions for Authors of Proceedings for detailed formatting guidelines.

Important Dates

1^st Round Paper Submission Deadline: June 26, 2026

Notification of Acceptance: July 24, 2026

2^nd Round Paper Submission Deadline: August 7, 2026

Notification of Acceptance: August 31, 2026

Camera-ready Copy: September 15, 2026

Conference: November 6 to 8, 2026

More information about the conference can be found at ISPEC 2026, Xi'an.