Researchers from around the world gathered in Arlington, Virginia, from 28-30 July for the 40th Annual IFIP WG 11.3 Conference on Data and Applications Security and Privacy (DBSec 2026).
The anniversary conference showcased advances across a rapidly evolving field while celebrating four decades of DBSec and the IFIP WG 11.3 community.
The technical program covered AI applications in security and privacy, access control and user privacy, data privacy and cyberattacks, AI security and privacy, data security, threats and attacks, and the security of large language models and blockchains.
Keynote presentations were delivered by Daniel Massey of the U.S. National Science Foundation and Sharad Mehrotra of the University of California, Irvine.
Reflecting on four decades of DBSec
A highlight of the anniversary edition was the special panel, IFIP WG 11.3 Conferences: Status and Prospects. Moderated by Sushil Jajodia, the panel featured Vijay Atluri, Carl Landwehr, Pierangela Samarati, Ravi Sandhu, Bhavani Thuraisingham and Jaideep Vaidya.
Panellists reflected on the origins and evolution of the field, from early work on multilevel secure databases, access control, inference and privacy to current challenges involving AI, autonomous agents and emerging security technologies.
The discussion also highlighted the important role focused research communities such as DBSec have played in fostering collaboration, mentoring researchers and developing new research directions.
Outstanding papers recognised
The Best Paper Award went to Anonymous Hierarchical Key Assignment Schemes by Roberta Cimorelli Belfiore, Alfredo De Santis, Anna Lisa Ferrara, Manuela Flores and Barbara Masucci.
The Best Student Paper Award was presented for Integrating ABAC into PostgreSQL: A Trusted Execution Environment Based Approach by Harshit Jain, Shamik Sural, Vijayalakshmi Atluri and Jaideep Vaidya.
An Honorable Mention for Best Student Paper was awarded to Silent Fallbacks and Semantic Gaps: Evaluating the Functional Soundness of LLM-Generated Linux Password Policies by Vivek Vaidya, Aditya Patwardhan, Sudiksha Das and Ashish Kundu.
WG 11.3 awards announced
The conference also recognised the recipients of the 2026 IFIP WG 11.3 awards. Indrajit Ray received the Outstanding Contribution Award, while Sharad Mehrotra and Bhavani Thuraisingham each received an Outstanding Research Award.
To commemorate the 40th edition of DBSec and recognise the foundational contributions of two community leaders, the Working Group approved new names for its principal awards from 2027.
They will become the IFIP WG 11.3 Sushil Jajodia Outstanding Research Award and the IFIP WG 11.3 Carl Landwehr Outstanding Contributions Award.
A milestone for the community
DBSec 2026 was hosted by George Mason University under the leadership of General Chair Massimiliano Albanese. IFIP WG 11.3 thanks Professor Albanese and the local organising team for delivering an excellent conference, along with Program Co-Chairs Pierangela Samarati and Balaji Palanisamy for developing a strong and engaging technical program.
The milestone event provided an opportunity to showcase current research, celebrate the history of the DBSec community and consider the challenges that will shape data and applications security and privacy in the years ahead.