Call for Papers 
Security and Privacy in Medical and Home-Care Systems

SPIMACS

An ACM CCS Affiliated Workshop

13 November 2009

Chicago, IL, USA

Call for papers for the first Security and Privacy in Medical and Home-Care Systems Workshop. The acronym is SPIMACS, pronounced "spy max".  The goal of the proposed workshop is to bring together a range of computer and social scientists to develop a more complete understanding of the interaction of individuals and computer security technologies as they are associated with critical care, continuing care and monitoring of the frail. The goals include but go beyond traditional vulnerability and usability critiques to include evaluations of use of security technologies in homes and in health care. The Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health Act, signed on 2/17/09, brings this issue strongly to the fore.

The defined domain of the home includes a wide range of devices from powerful broadband-connected desktop machines to embedded sensors for specialized applications. There are unique dimensions to security when computing occurs in the home: the importance of location privacy when location is equivalent to identification; unique usability targets including children and elders; a complete lack of IT staff and possible support; requirements for strong authentication in the home with the potential requirement for strong anonymity outside the home; and mobility requirements that ranging from constantly at rest to always in motion. Examples of unique security challenges include defense against traffic analysis with medium latency requirements for physical security or some cases of medical monitoring, or sensor networks that need to be managed (and be made trustworthy) by nontechnical  users.

These challenges are compounded when the technology in the home is for the purpose of monitoring for medical purposes. Vulnerable populations can be made more independent by the adoption of ubicomp, AI, social technologies, and digital, networked living assistance. But ill-considered systems can create new risks. Medical monitoring and home monitoring of vulnerable populations create unique security and privacy risks in design and application.

The scope of this workshop includes but is not uniquely limited to:

 usable security
usable privacy technologies
home-based wireless network security
security in specialized application for the home, e.g. medical or physical security monitoring
authentication in the home environment
security and anonymization of home-centric data on the network
usable security for unique populations, e.g. elders, children, or the ill
privacy and security evaluation mechanisms for home environments   
medical and spatial privacy
privacy-aware medical devices
privacy-enhanced medical search
analyses of in-home and medical systems
attacks on medical devices
threat analyses or attacks on medical or home data
novel applications of cryptography to medical data

We invite talks emphasizing unique security challenges, innovative technologies, and reconsidered threat models. We also invite papers which analyze the use of technologies at home, the challenges of design targeted at a population with cognitive decline, design for the disable with a focus on medical and home support when these projects have a primary or at least significant focus on privacy and security. Papers explaining the data contraints and controls on data from policy, ethical or legal perspectives are also welcome.
Important Dates:

    Submissions due 	June 12 , 2009
    Notification of acceptance 	August 16, 2009
    Final papers due 	August 25, 2009
    Workshop 	13 November 2009 (immediately following the 16th ACM CCS)

Please comply with the format suggested by ACM CCS
http://www.sigsac.org/ccs/CCS2009/submission.shtml
Templates available at http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates.