WISE Home
The World Conference on Information Security Education is co-located with IFIP SEC 2025 and will be held 21-23 May 2025 in Maribor, Slovenia.
We are very excited to hold the 17th World Conference on Information Security Education, in conjunction with the 40th IFIP TC-11 International Information Security and Privacy Conference (IFIP SEC 2025). IFIP Working Group 11.8 (Information Security Education) invites you to contribute to their activities by submitting papers for presentation and working group topics.
To register for WISE, please complete registration for the IFIP TC-11 International Information Security and Privacy Conference (IFIP SEC 2025) at https://sec2025.um.si/.
Conference Theme
We solicit submissions on all relevant Information Security Education topics including, but not limited to:
|
|
Important Dates
Deadline for submission of full papers and working group abstracts: 31 January 2025 14 February 2025
Notification of acceptance: 14 March 2025
Delivery of camera-ready papers by authors: 28 March 2025
Papers must be submitted using the conference management site at: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/WISE2025
Publication of Proceedings
The previous conference proceedings for the 2024 session are published at the Springer site for the WISE2024 proceedings: Information Security Education - Challenges in the Digital Age. For all other recent proceedings, look in the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology Series by Springer (with ISBN and indexed in Scopus). Earlier conference proceedings (WISE11 and before) were published in the IFIP AICT series.
*Image by Leonhard Niederwimmer from Pixabay.
Call for Papers
Call for Papers
Please see the informaton below or download the Call for Papers here.
The 17th World Conference on Information Security Education (WISE2025) 21-23 May, 2025
IFIP TC-11 WG 11.8 - Information Security Education
In conjunction with the 40th IFIP TC-11 International Information Security and Privacy Conference (IFIP SEC 2025)
IFIP Working Group 11.8 - Information Security Education will hold the 17th World Conference on Information Security Education (WISE2025) in order to advance the state of computer security and information assurance education throughout the world. To that end, we invite practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and others from academia, industry, and government to submit papers for presentation and topics for working group discussions to WISE2025. We will organize the conference around paper presentations. All presentations and discussions will be in English.
WISE2025 will be held in conjunction with the 40th IFIP TC-11 International Conference on Information Security and Privacy Protection (IFIP SEC 2025). More information can be found on the WISE2025 (https://www.ifiptc11.org/wg118-wise) and IFIP SEC 2025 (https://sec2025.um.si/) websites.
Conference Theme
We solicit submissions on all relevant Information Security Education topics including, but not limited to:
|
|
Important Dates
Deadline for submission of full papers and working group abstracts: 31 January 2025 14 February 2025
Notification of acceptance: 14 March 2025
Delivery of camera-ready papers by authors: 28 March 2025
The conference will feature general paper sessions and a working group session.
- Paper submissions should follow the guidelines for full paper submission (initially without author or institution names) using the template that can be found when ready at:
- https://www.springer.com/gp/
computer-science/lncs/ conference-proceedings- guidelines - Templates are available here:
- Submitted at: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/WISE2025
-
The submissions for WISE will be reviewed separately from the IFIP TC-11 International Information Security and Privacy Conference. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Papers must be original work, not previously published, written in English, and at most 14 pages long including references and appendices. All submissions will be reviewed double blind and must be submitted in a full and blinded version (author and institution information removed). Submission instructions are available on the conference website. Acceptance will be based upon originality, contribution to the field, and relevance to the conference. Conference proceedings will be published under the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology Series by Springer (with ISBN and indexed in Scopus).
Publication of Proceedings
The conference proceedings are now published under the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology Series by Springer (with ISBN and indexed in Scopus).
Accepted Papers
Accepted Papers
The papers accepted for WISE2025 are:
A Car Hacking Mini-Unit for High School Cybersecurity Education
Cooper Dean (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Brian Almaguer (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Timothy Buck (Chesapeake High School); Nichole Kunkle (Chambersburg Area Senior High School); Christian Nguyen (Troy High School); Preet Patel (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Anne Roberts (Christian Brothers College High School); Marti Shirley (Glenbard East High School); Huirong Fu (Oakland University); Xiaoyan Sun (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Jun Dai (Worcester Polytechnic Institution)*
A Transdisciplinary Approach to Embedding Cybersecurity Across the Curriculum of an Undergraduate Computing Degree Program in South Africa
Michael De Jager (North West University)*; Reolyn Heymann (North West University); Japie Greeff (North West University)
An Evaluation Process for Tools that Build or Evidence Competency in Cybersecurity: Development and Lessons Learned
Susanne Wetzel (Stevens Institute of Technology)*; Eugene Vasserman (Kansas State University); Stephen Miller (Whatcom Community College); Christopher Simpson (National University)
CSEC Foundations Guidelines
Matt Bishop (University of California Davis)*; Philip Huff (University of Arkansas Little Rock); Jun Dai (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Melissa Dark (Dark Enterprise, Inc.)
Expanding the Cybersecurity Workforce: Challenges, Current Practices and Future Directions in Attracting and Cultivating Multidisciplinary Talent
Christos Kallonas (Open University of Cyprus); Eliana Stavrou (Open University of Cyprus)*
Exposing the Gaps: The State of Supply Chain Coverage in Current Security Standards
Nico Mexis (University of Passau)*; Bjarne Lill (University of Innsbruck); Yousef Doleh (University of Passau); Stefan Katzenbeisser (University of Passau)
Gamified Defence: Practical Guidelines for Combating Social Engineering Attacks
Amandla Mpanza (Nelson Mandela University); Tapiwa Gundu (Nelson Mandela University)*
Improving Cyber Security Incident Response: A Collaborative Tabletop Game Approach
Andreas Seiler (Universität der Bundeswehr München)*; Ulrike Lechner (Universität der Bundeswehr München)
INFER: Enhancing Digital Forensics Education through Ready-to-Use Hands-on Labs with Portable Operating Environments
Tran Ngoc Bao Huyhn (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Haowen Xu (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Brian Almaguer (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Jun Dai (Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Xiaoyan Sun (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)*
Integrating Security Concepts into Introductory Programming Courses
Alina Torbunova (Åbo Akademi University)*; Ivan Porres (Åbo Akademi University)
Loss Aversion and Fixed Reward in Gamified Cyber Security Training
Nicole Carle (Abertay University); Jacques Ophoff (Abertay University)*; Lynsay Shepherd (Abertay University)
Lucky the Fish Teaches Children About Phishing
Given Mnisi (North-West University)*; Gunther Drevin (North-West University); Lynette Drevin (North-West University); Avi Moodley (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research)
Regulatory Challenges in Cybersecurity – A Critical Analysis of the EU AI Act
Frederic Tronnier (Goethe University)*; Sascha Löbner (Goethe University); Marie-Hermance Lacombe (Université Paris Dauphine); Kai Rannenberg (Goethe University)
The Cyber Range Lite
Leonardo Martucci (Karlstad University)*; Jonathan Magnusson (Karlstad University); Jonas Karlsson (Karlstad University); Tobias Vehkajärvi (Karlstad University)
Using Attack Trees for Security Education and Training: Simplifying Threat Analysis
Aliyu Tanko Ali (University of Lübeck)*; Damas Gruska (Comenius University in Bratislava)
The following workshop was also accepted:
Advancing Digital Privacy Education: A Global Curriculum Initiative
Gurvirender Tejay (Hofstra University)*; Tamara Bonaci (Northeastern University); Travis Breaux (Carnegie Mellon University); Ümit Cali (University of York); Ernesto Cuadros-Vargas (National University of Engineering ); Sara Foresti (Università degli Studi di Milano); Andrew McGettrick (University of Strathclyde); Rajendra Raj (Rochester Institute of Technology); Kai Rannenberg (Goethe University); Andrew Seely (Hillsborough Community College)
Program Committee
Program Committee
Conference Chair: Jacques Ophoff
Program Chairs: Lynette Drevin and Erik Moore
Publications/Logistics Chairs: Sune von Solms and Grace Leung
Web Chair: Jacques Ophoff
Conference Secretariat: Matt Bishop
WISE Reviewers:
Stefan Alfredsson, Karlstad University, Sweden
Maria Bada, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Matt Bishop, University of California, Davis, USA
Nathan Clark, University of Plymouth, UK
Michael de Jager, North-West University, South Africa
Lynette Drevin, North-West University, South Africa
Steven Furnell, University of Nottingham, UK
Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Ram Herkanaidu, University of Plymouth, UK
Sokratis Katsikas, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Konstantin Knorr, Trier University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Wai Sze Leung, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Dan Likarish, Regis University, USA
Sascha Löbner, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Leonardo Martucci, Karlstad University, Sweden
Herbert Mattord, Kennesaw State University, USA
Stig Mjølsnes, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Erik Moore, Seattle University, United States of America
Noluntu Mpekoa, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Jacques Ophoff, Abertay University, UK
Jarred Orfao, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Suzanne Prior, Abertay University, UK
Kai Rannenberg, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Carlos Rieder, isec ag, Switzerland
Leo Robert, Laboratory of Informatics, Modelling and Optimization of the Systems, France
Rudi Serfontein, North-West University, South Africa
Chien-Chung Shen, University of Delaware, USA
Alireza Shojaifar, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland
Frederic Tronnier, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Manfred Vielberth, University of Regensburg, Germany
Suné von Solms, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Susanne Wetzel, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA
Stephen Wolthusen, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Schedule
Schedule
| Wednesday, 21 May 2025 | |
| Time | |
| 08:00-09:00 | Registration |
| 09:00-09:30 | IFIP SEC Conference Opening |
| 09:30-10:30 | Invited Speaker (Nastja Cepak, CREAPLUS, Slovenia) |
| 10:30-11:00 | Coffee break ☕ |
| 11:00-12:40 | WISE session 1: Workforce and Curriculum Development (Session chair: Tejay Gurvirender) |
| WISE Opening Remarks | |
| Paper 18 Expanding the Cybersecurity Workforce: Challenges, Current Practices and Future Directions in Attracting and Cultivating Multidisciplinary Talent - Christos Kallonas; Eliana Stavrou | |
| Paper 26 INFER: Enhancing Digital Forensics Education through Ready-to-Use Hands-on Labs with Portable Operating Environments - Tran Ngoc Bao Huynh; Haowen Xu; Brian Almaguer; Jun Dai; Xiaoyan Sun | |
| Paper 27 An Evaluation Process for Tools that Build or Evidence Competency in Cybersecurity: Development and Lessons Learned - Stephen Miller; Christopher Simpson; Eugene Vasserman; Susanne Wetzel | |
| 12:40-13:40 | Lunch 🍝 |
| 13:40-15:20 | WISE session 2: Innovative Approaches to Cybersecurity Awareness (Session chair: Eliana Stavrou) |
| Paper 12 The Cyber Range Lite - Leonardo Martucci; Jonathan Magnusson; Tobias Vehkajärvi; Jonas Karlsson | |
| Paper 14 A Car Hacking Mini-Unit for High School Cybersecurity Education - Cooper Dean; Brian Almaguer; Timothy Buck; Nichole Kunkle; Christian Nguyen; Preet Patel; Anne Roberts; Marti Shirley; Huirong Fu; Xiaoyan Sun; Jun Dai | |
| Invited talk Cybersecurity Awareness via Physical Games - Steven Furnell et al. | |
| 15:20-15:50 | Cyber Dice game hands-on + Coffee break ☕ |
| 15:50-16:10 | WISE workshop presentation |
| Workshop Intro Advancing Digital Privacy Education: A Global Curriculum Initiative - Gurvirender Tejay; Tamara Bonaci; Travis Breaux; Ümit Cali; Ernesto Cuadros-Vargas; Sara Foresti; Andrew McGettrick; Rajendra Raj; Kai Rannenberg; Andrew Seely | |
| 16:10-17:50 | WISE session 3: Gamification in Cybersecurity Education (Session chair: Leonardo Martucci) |
| Paper 1 Loss Aversion and Fixed Reward in Gamified Cyber Security Training - Nicole Carle; Jacques Ophoff; Lynsay Shepherd | |
| Paper 16 Improving Cyber Security Incident Response: A Collaborative Tabletop Game Approach - Andreas Seiler; Ulrike Lechner | |
| Paper 17 Gamified Defence: Practical Guidelines for Combating Social Engineering Attacks - Amandla Mpanza; Tapiwa Gundu; Lynn Futcher | |
| Paper 20 Lucky the Fish Teaches Children About Phishing - Given Mnisi; Gunther Drevin; Lynette Drevin | |
| 18:00-19:00 | City tour 🏫 |
| 19:00-21:00 | Welcome Reception at the Oldest Vine House – Wine tasting 🍷 |
| Thursday, 22 May 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Time | |
| 08:00-09:00 | Registration |
| 09:00-10:00 | Invited Speaker (Jaideep Vaidya, Rutgers University, USA – KBA award winner) |
| 10:00-10:30 | Coffee Break ☕ |
| 10:30-12:10 | WISE session 4: Workshop |
| Workshop Advancing Digital Privacy Education: A Global Curriculum Initiative - Gurvirender Tejay; Tamara Bonaci; Travis Breaux; Ümit Cali; Ernesto Cuadros-Vargas; Sara Foresti; Andrew McGettrick; Rajendra Raj; Kai Rannenberg; Andrew Seely | |
| 12:10-12:40 | Light lunch 🍝 |
| 12:40-13:30 | WISE session 5: Standards / Regulations (Session chair: Susanne Wetzel) |
| Paper 4 Regulatory Challenges in Cybersecurity – A Critical Analysis of the EU AI Act - Frederic Tronnier; Sascha Löbner; Marie-Hermance Lacombe; Kai Rannenberg | |
| Paper 32 Exposing the Gaps: The State of Supply Chain Coverage in Current Security Standards - Nico Mexis; Bjarne Lill; Yousef Doleh; Stefan Katzenbeisser | |
| 14:00-22:00 | Half-day excursion to Ptuj and conference dinner at the Dominican Monastery in Ptuj 🏰 |
| Friday, 23 May 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Time | |
| 08:00-09:00 | Registration |
| 09:00-10:40 | WISE session 6: Curriculum and Research Development (Session chair: Lynn Futcher) |
| Paper 5 A Transdisciplinary Approach to Embedding Cybersecurity Across the Curriculum of an Undergraduate Computing Degree Program in South Africa - Michael De Jager; Reolyn Heymann; Japie Greeff | |
| Paper 19 Using Attack Trees for Security Education and Training: Simplifying Threat Analysis - Aliyu Tanko Ali; Damas Gruska | |
| Paper 33 Integrating Security Concepts into Introductory Programming Courses - Alina Torbunova; Ivan Porres | |
| Paper 7 CSEC Foundations Guidelines - Matt Bishop; Philip Huff; Jun Dai; Melissa Dark | |
| 10:40-11:10 | Coffee break ☕ |
| 11:10-12:10 | Invited Speaker (Reinhard Posch, Institute of Applied Information Processing and Communications at Graz University of Techology, Austria) |
| 12:10-13:10 | Lunch 🍝 |
| 13:10-14:50 | WISE session 7: IFIP 11.8 WG AGM and closing session |
| Annual working group AGM open to all members and WISE participants | |
| 14:50-15:20 | Yves Deswarte Best Student Paper Award IFIP SEC Closing session IFIP SEC 2026 |
| 15:20-15:50 | Farewell refreshments and last chats 🥪 |
Registration
Registration
Registration will be processed via IFIP SEC 2025. Registration for WISE2025 will give participants full access to the IFIP SEC event (and vice versa). Confirmation of fees, deadlines, and cancellation policy can be found at: https://sec2025.um.si/conference-fees/
Conference Fees
| Regular attendee / presenting author (non-IFIP member) | 690,00 € |
| Regular attendee / presenting author (IFIP Member) | 620,00 € |
| Student – presenting author | 620,00 € |
| Student – not presenting author | 550,00 € |
Location & Venue
Location & Venue
For details please visit: https://sec2025.um.si/venue/
The conference will be hosted in hotel City in the heart of Maribor. The district of Lent is the centre of social life in Maribor, including restaurants, cafes, stunning architecture and a myriad of ways to relax with well-known spas scattered around the city.
Maribor is a beautiful city with the oldest vine in the world. It was voted third in the list of best places to travel in Europe in 2023 and was chosen as the best European destination to visit in autumn 2024. Visiting the city will give you a great opportunity to enjoy Slovenia, one of the top 5 countries of the most desirable destinations for 2014 and the best European region of gastronomy in 2021.
Maribor is the capital of the Štajerska region and the second-largest city in Slovenia. At the same time, it is pleasantly small and lodged in the wonderful nature of Pohorje on the one side and wine-growing hills on the other, with the river Drava wending its way through it. It has one of the largest and oldest classic wine cellars in Europe – it boasts an area of 20,000 m2 and 2.5 kilometres long underground tunnels, which lead you into a wonderful world full of the tastes of wine! It was the European capital of culture in 2012. Maribor hosts FIS ski world cup for women, known as Golden Fox.
Conference venue
The conference venue, hotel City in Maribor, is situated in the city centre, with excellent conference facilities. It offers two conference rooms with a capacity of 120 and 150 participants and featuring all the necessary equipment, like projectors and screens. The hotel is located in the city centre and offers the possibility of reaching almost everything on foot. The hotel offers guests access to a private parking lot. Cars that run on LPG gas are not permitted in the parking lot. More info about the venue location can be found at http://www.hotelcitymb.si/en/
Travel & Accomodation
Travel & Accomodation
For details please visit: https://sec2025.um.si/travel-info/
By Air
To Graz Airport
Graz Airport (60 km) is only 1 hour away by car from Maribor and it has good flight connections from Munich, Frankfurt, Wien, Zurich, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart.
You have several options for coming from Graz Airport to Maribor:
- Shared transfer from Graz Airport to Maribor with other participants: You can search for shared transfer on GoOpti. You have to order this transfer in advance.
- Train + taxi from Graz Airport to Maribor: Train from Graz Airport – station Graz Feldkirchen (5 minutes on foot from the airport) to Maribor – this train drives every 2-3 hours and you have to change the train in Leibnitz or in Spielfeld. When you arrive in Maribor, you can take a taxi to your hotel (e.g. Taxi Plus – international phone number: +386 2 2517 151, you have to order in advance) or walk.
- Taxi from Graz Airport to Maribor: Taxi Plus – approx. 90 € (International phone number: +386 2 2517 151). You have to order Taxi Plus in advance because this taxi company is from Maribor. The price will be much higher if you take a taxi directly at the airport.
To Zagreb Airport
Airport Zagreb (130 km) is 1.5 hours away by car from Maribor and has regularly scheduled flights to most major European cities (Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, London, Brussels, …). You have several options for coming from Zagreb Airport to Maribor:
- Shared transfer from Zagreb Airport to Maribor with other participants: You can search for shared transfer on GoOpti. You have to order this transfer in advance.
- Shuttle + bus/train from Zagreb Airport to Maribor: There is a shuttle connection from Zagreb Airport to Zagreb bus station. When in Zagreb, you need to take a bus to Maribor. When you arrive in Maribor, you can take a taxi to your hotel (e.g. Taxi Plus – international phone number: +386 2 2517 151, you have to order in advance) or walk.
- Taxi from Zagreb Airport to Maribor: Taxi Plus – approx. 140 € (International phone number: +386 2 2517 151). You have to order Taxi Plus in advance because this taxi company is from Maribor. The price will be much higher if you take a taxi directly at the airport.
To Ljubljana Airport
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (130 km) has regularly scheduled flights to most major European cities (Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, etc.). You have several options for coming from Ljubljana Airport to Maribor:
- Shared transfer from Ljubljana Airport to Maribor with other participants: You can search for shared transfer on GoOpti. You have to order this transfer in advance.
- Bus/shuttle + train/bus from Ljubljana Airport to Maribor: There is a bus or shuttle connection from Ljubljana Airport to Ljubljana city centre. In Ljubljana, you must take a bus or train to Maribor. When you arrive in Maribor, you can take a taxi to your hotel (e.g. Taxi Plus – international phone number: +386 2 2517 151, you have to order in advance) or walk.
- Taxi from Ljubljana Airport to Maribor: Taxi Plus – approx. 140 € (International phone number: +386 2 2517 151). You have to order Taxi Plus in advance because this taxi company is from Maribor. The price will be much higher if you take a taxi directly at the airport.
To Other Airports
Alternatively, you can fly to Vienna/Austria (250 km), Venice/Italy (350 km), or Budapest/Hungary (350 km).
Shared transfers can be booked via GoOpti. We advise checking specific transfers from your arrival airport.
By Train
Maribor can be reached by train as there are direct trains from Austria (Vienna, Graz), Germany (Berlin, Leipzig), Hungary (Budapest) and Croatia (Zagreb). Maribor can also be reached from Venice with one stop in Zidani Most, Slovenia. For booking and timetables in Slovenia see Slovenia Railways. For international transport see Deutsche Bahn.
By Car
By car you can travel to the region of Maribor:
- from the direction of Ljubljana on the A1/E57
- from the direction of Graz on the A9/E57/E59
- from the direction of Zagreb on the E59
- from the direction of Budapest on the E59/E65/E71/M7
- from the direction of Trieste on the E57/E70
- from the direction of Klagenfurt on the road B80/B70
- from the direction of Villach on the B80/B70/E66/B83
In Slovenia, you can borrow cars from rent-a-car agencies and Avis, Hertz, Avantcar and Europcar Slovenija.
Additional information for drivers in Slovenia
- for motorways, a vignette is mandatory,
- seat belt use is compulsory in all seats where they are installed
- use of dipped headlights is compulsory at all times of day and night
- use of fog lamps is permitted only when visibility is reduced to less than 50 meters
- obligatory equipment includes a warning triangle, a spare set of lights, a first aid kit and a reflective vest,
- the maximum permitted blood-alcohol level for drivers is 0.05%, on the condition that no ability is impaired. The police may prohibit you from driving even if the alcohol test shows a lower level. They are especially strict with younger drivers. Alcohol tests for drivers are frequent, and the penalties are very high, so it is not worth the risk if you drink too much.
Once in Maribor
Maribor city centre is fairly small, so one can walk or rent a bike to get around. Public bus timetables and lines are listed on the Marprom website and available as an interactive timetable.