[CFP] WSDF 2026 at the ARES conference

[Virginia Franqueira]

Call for Papers

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19th International Workshop on Digital Forensics

(WSDF 2026)

to be held in conjunction with the 21st International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2026 – http://ares-conference.eu)

August 24-27, 2026 (Linköping University, Sweden)

Important Dates

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Submission Deadline      April 15, 2026

Author Notification         June 01, 2026

Proceedings Version       June 13, 2026

Workshop Description

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Digital forensics is a rapidly evolving field primarily focused on the extraction, preservation and analysis of digital evidence in a manner suitable for presentation in a court of law, or for other legal proceedings and formal investigations.

The ubiquitous nature of digital devices in modern life and the opportunities provided by the “cyber space” present many avenues for criminal activity that directly involve, or are facilitated by, such established technologies. On the other hand, new technologies emerge at an ever-rapid pace and become more accessible – many of which represent novel challenges for digital forensics, enlarging the scope for research and development.

WSDF aims to bring together experts from academia, industry, government and law enforcement who are interested in advancing the state of the art in digital forensics by exchanging their knowledge, results, ideas, challenges, best practices and experiences. The aim of the workshop is to provide a relaxed atmosphere that promotes discussion and free exchange of ideas while providing a sound academic backing. Its focus is not only restricted to technical digital forensics, but WSDF also welcomes investigative related topics in policing, criminology, law and behavioural sciences.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

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Digital Evidence Extraction and Analysis

Network Forensics

Anti-Forensics Techniques

Memory Forensics

Digital Forensics of immersive technologies (AR/MR/VR/XR)

Cyber Terrorism and Warfare

Log Analysis and Malware Analysis

Incident Response and Management

Best Practices and Case Studies

AI to enhance investigation capabilities (e.g., Natural Language Generation (NLG), Large Language Models (LLMs))

AI applications/benefits for policing

Digital Forensics of AI-based systems

Quality assurance in investigations

Certification of Digital Forensics labs

Multimedia Forensics

Cyber Criminal Profiling

Big Data in Digital Forensics

Digital Forensics datasets

Digital Forensics education

Cloud Forensics

Mobile & Drone Forensics

Emerging challenges in Digital Forensics

eDiscovery

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)

Cybercrime investigations

AI-generated evidence (trends, authentication)

Evidence gathering in adversarial attacks

AI-generated child abuse material

Investigations involving Generative AI  

Legal and court challenges of deepfakes

Pattern-of-life Analysis

Workshop Chairs

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Virginia N. L. Franqueira

   University of Kent, UK

Andrew Marrington

   Zayed University, UAE

Martin Steinebach

   Fraunhofer Institute SIT, DE

Frank Breitinger

   University of Augsburg, DE

Program Committee

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Arafat Aldhaqm, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MY

Bander Alrimy, University of Portsmouth, UK

Olga Angelopoulou, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Sandra Avila, University of Campinas, BR

Ibrahim Baggilli, Louisiana State University, US

Raymond Chan, Singapore Institute of Technology, SG

Patricio Domingues, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, PT

George Grispos, University of Nebraska Omaha, US

Katerina Kanta, University of Portsmouth, UK

Erisa Karafili, University of Southampton, UK

Aine MacDermott, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Richard Overill, King’s College London, UK

Chiara Pero, University of Salerno, IT

Hudan Studiawan, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, ID

Nina Sunde, The Norwegian Police University College, NO

Benjamion Turnbull, University of New South Wales, AU

Harm Van Beek, Netherlands Forensic Institute, NL

Stefano Zanero, Politecnico di Milano, IT

Jeroen van den Bos, Inspectorate of Justice and Security, NL

Best Paper Award

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As in the past, the WSDF organisers will issue a certificate for Best Paper.

The decision criterion will consider both the paper and the oral presentation quality.

Submission Guidelines

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The submission guidelines valid for the workshop are the same as for the ARES conference; refer to https://www.ares-conference.eu/submission-guidelines

Papers accepted in workshops will be published in proceedings by Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LCNS).