Workshop Description

The rapid digitalization of society has led to the emergence of complex, sensitive cyber ecosystems that underpin critical infrastructures, essential services, and modern digital lives. As networks evolve toward ubiquitous, high-bandwidth communication, including 5G-and-Beyond, 6G, and massive IoT, they face increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyberattacks. These modern threats, characterized by polymorphic malware, encrypted malicious communications, and AI-generated attack logic, require a shift from traditional rule-based mechanisms toward integrated, scalable, and trustworthy cybersecurity solutions.

The ENS 2026 workshop focuses on presenting recent scientific and industry developments in tools and methodologies for threat detection, vulnerability assessment, and incident response across all types of emerging networks. Grounded in the philosophy of security-by-design, the workshop aims to explore resilient systems engineering from the hardware level (e.g., RISC-V and Open FPGA) up to the software and cloud layers. A central theme of this edition is the role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning as a double-edged sword: both as powerful tools for predictive analytics and anomaly detection, and as a source of novel, automated threats.

Workshop Objectives

ENS 2026 serves as an interdisciplinary forum for researchers and practitioners to:
1) Share innovative methods for protecting digital infrastructures, including energy, telecommunications, and research networks.
2) Explore Explainable AI (XAI) and trustworthy ML models that allow human analysts to interpret and validate automated security decisions.
3) Bridge the gap between academia, industry, and security operations centers (SOCs) to foster a secure and trustworthy digital society.
4) Address the evolving landscape of privacy, ethics, and regulatory frameworks, such as EU technological sovereignty and cybersecurity standards.

The ENS workshop builds upon three successful editions of the 5G-NS (5G Networks Security) workshop, which were previously organized in co-location with the ARES conference since 2018.

Moreover, this year, the ENS workshop is co-organized by the PERUN (Protecting Sensitive Cyber Ecosystems from Upcoming Next Generation and AI-generated Malware Threats) project. Additionally, the extended versions of all accepted papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility (indexed in Scopus).

Topics of Interest

We invite original research contributions on novel security solutions for emerging networks, including but not limited to:
• AI-Powered Threat Detection & Analysis
• AI-Generated Malware: Detection and prevention of attack logic synthesized by LLMs and GenAI.
• Encrypted Traffic Analysis: Identifying malicious patterns in encrypted and hidden communications.
• Explainable AI (XAI): Transparent and trustworthy frameworks for network intrusion detection (NIDS).
• Predictive Analytics: Using deep learning and reinforcement learning for anomaly detection and system health checks.
• Resilient Systems & Hardware-Level Security
• Security Engineering: Integrating security into the lifecycle of software, firmware, and hardware.
• Trusted Hardware: Utilizing RISC-V technology and Open FPGA frameworks for resilient design.
• Firmware Vulnerability Assessment: Holistic auditing using static, dynamic, and hybrid analysis.
• Secure Virtual Environments: Hardware emulation, intelligent fuzzing, and the use of cyber-ranges for risk assessment.
• Network Infrastructure & Edge Security
• 5G/6G & Beyond Security: Secure architectures for next-generation ubiquitous communication.
• SDN/NFV & Network Slicing Security: Orchestration and management of virtualized network elements.
• Edge & IoT Security: Protecting decentralized infrastructures and embedded devices.
• Information Centric & Named Data Networking: Security protocols for emerging data-driven architectures.
• Security Operations & Cross-Sector Protection
• Automated Incident Response: AI-based qualifiers and assistants for faster incident management.
• Security for Critical Sectors: Tailored protection strategies for energy, NGOs, and national research networks.
• Dynamic Security Assessment: Continuous monitoring and vulnerability discovery in live environments.
• Privacy & Regulatory Compliance: Ethical guidelines, data protection, and policy recommendations for intelligent systems.

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: May 17, 2026 Deadline Extended !!!
Author notification: June 1st, 2026
Camera-ready version: June 13, 2026

Workshop Chairs

Krzysztof Cabaj (Chair) – Main contact person,
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland (PERUN Project)
krzysztof.cabaj@pw.edu.pl

Wojciech Mazurczyk (Chair)
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
FernUniversitaet in Hagen, Germany (PERUN Project)
wojciech.mazurczyk@pw.edu.pl

Pascal Bisson (Chair)
Thales, France (5GDrones H2020 Project, 5G IA SEC WG chair)
pascal.bisson@thalesgroup.com

Edgardo Montes de Oca (Chair)
Montimage, France (Networld Europe steering board member, SNS JU NATWORK Project)
edgardo.montesdeoca@montimage.com

Ilsun You (Chair)
Kookmin University, South Korea
ilsunu@gmail.com