WPEC 2024 (September 24–26) is a virtual workshop, free to attend, and with a call for talk proposals.
WPEC 2024, the NIST Workshop on Privacy-Enhancing Cryptography 2024, will bring together multiple perspectives of PEC stakeholders. The 3-days virtual workshop is organized for sharing insights about PEC capabilities, use-cases, real-world deployment, initiatives, challenges and opportunities, and the related context of privacy & auditability. The program will aim for two main themes/scopes (specific and broad), aiming for about 50% time for each, as follows:
- Private Set Intersection (PSI): for a deep dive into this specific technique, exploring its technicalities, readiness, feasibility, applicability, variants, and broader context.
- Other PEC techniques: for a broader perspective of PEC (including FHE, MPC, and ZKP, and possible combinations with other privacy-enhancing technologies).
Important Dates:
- Submission deadline: July 22, 2024
- Notification deadline: August 27, 2024
- Registration deadline: Please register early
- Workshop: September 24–26, 2024
WPEC 2024 is organized within the scope of the NIST Privacy-Enhancing Cryptography (PEC) project. Various topics are also of direct interest to the NIST Multi-Party Threshold Cryptography (MPTC) project.
The workshop will host technical and positioning talks, and panel discussions, in a learning and collaborative environment. The presentations will be recorded and made available online. The gathering of reference material is intended as informative for future characterization of PEC techniques, listing of potential use-cases, and the matching between PEC capabilities and real-world privacy & auditability challenges.
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External proposals for talks are welcomed by email, using the provided PDF form and following its instructions. All submissions will be reviewed, and an acceptance or rejection decision will be sent by email. The review phase may include asking submitters to refine their proposals for better alignment with the thematic and logistical needs of the workshop. The overall selection, which will also include invited talks or panels, will prioritize the creation of a high-quality balanced program, aligned with the workshop goals.
The workshop welcomes highly-technical crypto material, and also less-technical inter-disciplinary perspectives about PEC development and integration.
Welcomed topics for presentation proposals:
- Private Set Intersection (and variants)
- Other PEC tools (e.g., ZKP, FHE, MPC, specially-featured signatures/encryption)
- Pairing-based PEC (distinctive features of crypto based on bilinear maps)
- Post-quantum PEC (examples, and differences from pre-quantum solutions)
- Systematization of PEC knowledge (techniques, applications, and related context)
- PEC integration with various technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, blockchain,digital identity, federated learning, quantum information, navigation, networking)
- PEC for combined privacy and auditability (challenges and opportunities)
- PEC need and adoptability (e.g., fulfilled, urgent, emerging, envisioned)
- Specific PEC perspectives (from Academia, Industry, Government, and Community)
- PEC specification, deployment, and standardization (challenges & achievements)
- Other PEC initiatives (e.g., of characterization, development, education)
Participation rules and expectations:
Contact: Questions and talk proposals (submission forms) should be sent to wpec2024(at)nist(dot)gov
