The 4th International Workshop on Cyber Forensics and Advanced Threat Investigations in Emerging Technologies
April 24-25, 2025
Call for Papers
The rapid proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICT) has dramatically expanded global connectivity, increasing the volume of data traversing diverse networks with different policies and purposes. Edge and gateway devices—often with limited capabilities—must store, analyze, and protect this data against increasingly sophisticated attacks. As connectivity grows among heterogeneous systems, so do the potential attack vectors that malicious actors can exploit.
In response to these threats, there is a pressing need for innovative methodologies, frameworks, and tools—particularly open-source digital forensics solutions—that can collect, preserve, and analyze evidence across a variety of platforms and services. This includes network monitoring tools, routers, firewalls, web proxies, netflows, system logs, and beyond. Such measures will aid in reconstructing timelines for cyber incidents and, potentially, identifying the responsible threat actors.
Furthermore, the convergence of cyber-physical systems (CPS) with emerging technologies (IoT, cloud/edge/fog computing, software-defined networks, and more) has led to new security and forensics challenges. New and robust strategies are required to provide timely detection, prevention, and investigation of cyberattacks in these environments. This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners to share the latest advances in cyber forensics and advanced threat investigations, with a particular focus on open-source approaches that promote transparency, accessibility, and community-driven innovation.
Scope
The CFATI 2025 workshop aims to showcase both theoretical and practical developments in digital forensics and cyber-physical systems security, with an emphasis on open-source tools and frameworks. Submissions discussing novel techniques for gathering evidentiary data from networked devices and services, especially within CPS and IoT ecosystems, are highly encouraged. We also invite works that reproduce existing studies or further validate state-of-the-art solutions, thereby ensuring robust and trustworthy systems for tomorrow’s emerging technologies.
Topics of Interest
Submissions may include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
Open-Source Digital Forensics (Tools and services for evidence collection and analysis, Frameworks for data acquisition in cloud/edge, SDN/NFV, P2P, and VPN environments)
Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Security & Forensics (Threat detection and countermeasures in IoT and smart environments, Data exfiltration and intrusion analysis for industrial control systems, Large-scale investigations in distributed CPS networks
Threat Investigations in Emerging Technologies (Attack detection, traceback, and attribution in next-generation networks, Malware analysis, reverse engineering, and memory forensics, Methods for reconstructing digital evidence and incident timelines)
Advanced Methods and Tools (AI/ML-driven approaches for threat detection, forensics, and log analysis, Visualization techniques for big data and network traffic analysis, Reproducible research, benchmarks, and performance evaluations, Open-source intelligence (OSINT) and dark web investigations)
We also encourage contributions describing innovative work in the realm of cybersecurity, cyber defense, and digital crimes.
Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission: March 20, 2025
Notification of paper acceptance: March 25, 2025
Deadline for early conference registration:March 31, 2025
Deadline for camera-ready paper submission:March 31, 2025
Conference dates: April 24-25, 2025
Submission Guidelines
Papers should not exceed a maximum of 6 pages as full papers or 4 pages as short papers (including abstract, body, tables, figures, and references), and should be submitted as a pdf in 2-column IEEE format. Detailed instructions for the authors can be found at the conference website. Accepted papers will be published in IEEE Xplore. All accepted papers must be presented by one of the authors to be published in the conference proceedings.
If you have any further questions please contact the CFATI chair Dr. Ahmed Elmesiry via email a.elmesiry@londonmet.ac.uk
Publication
Papers should be prepared in English using the IEEE format. Papers that do not conform to the format will not be accepted despite content compliance. Submissions will be evaluated by at least 2 members of the Scientific Program Committee members.
Accepted papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore subject to meeting IEEE Xplore’s scope and quality requirements
Workshop Awards
Best Open-Source Tool prize, which will be presented in a paper during the workshop. The prize, valued at 300 euros, is being financed by one of our collaborators from the industry.
Best Paper award, which will be presented during the workshop. The prize, valued at 400 euros, is being financed by one of our collaborators from the industry.
Session Chairs
Ahmed Elmesiry, London Metropolitan University (UK)
Hafiz Malik, University of Michigan – Dearborn, USA
Elisa CHIAPPONI, Amadeus IT Group, France
Technical Program Committee
Kanaka Durga Amaravathi, Osmania University (IN)
Mona Abdelgayed, London Metropolitan University (UK)
Mehdi Gheisari, Islamic Azad University (IR)
Michael Spranger, University of Applied Sciences Mittweida (DE)
Hafiz Malik, University of Michigan – Dearborn (US)
Gabriella Marcelja, SG Impact Ventures AG (CH)
Sharwari Solapure Sangli, Walchand College of Engineering (IN)
Yugal Pathak, Esec Forte Technologies (IN)
(Additional members to be announced.)
This Workshop is Technically Supported by
Association of Cyber Forensics and Threat Investigators (https://www.acfti.org)
Industrial Cybersecurity Center (https://www.cci-es.org)
Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control, and Communication (https://www.insticc.org)