Your Submissions

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Infosec Writers anticipates your papers; this is an opportunity to relay your experiences in the fields of information security & hacking. We emphasize your experiences.

We believe that a security paper should not be a copy and paste of other sites or papers, nor a book report. In other words, we do not advocate the recitation of someone else's work. We embrace and reward quality writers through our publication and monthly contest.

How to submit your paper

To submit a paper, to update or request withdrawal of a previously submitted paper, mail to: submissions@infosecwriters.com N.B. You should always provide your name/handle, e-mail address and the paper title.

Topics that Interest the Community

Papers that discuss/analyze/propose:

1. weaknesses, vulnerabilities, exploits, code, tools, techniques, tactics which lead to the –	2. effective/proper/new: techniques, strategies, practices, procedures, security technologies, tools, products, solutions which can prevent, mitigate or overcome the –
– risk/threat/instability/compromise of applications, servers, services, operating systems, protocols, devices and other technologies of a company’s network and its data.

Subject areas include (but not limited to):

• Network auditing / vulnerability analysis
• Web security – email, web & database servers etc.
• Honeypots
• Intrusion detection
• Firewall, VPN, NAT
• Incident handling
• Forensics
• Risk Management
• Attacks, Malicious code
• Authentication
• Privilege management – security policy etc.
• Operating system security
• Wireless network security
• Cryptography
• Security law - theft, fraud, privacy, etc.

Paper Writing Suggestions & Guidelines

Before submitting your paper, it should more or less reflect suggestions and requirements highlighted below. This is to set a standard that will satisfy even the most technical of people and put Infosec Writers' papers ahead of the rest.

Introducing the topic
Always include a brief synopsis with the objectives. Looking at Charles Hornat’s “A day in the life of Directory Traversal and IIS” paper, in the preface section he states why the paper, what it is about and what the reader is expected to learn. (If the paper contains many subtopics, include a table of contents.)

Explaining the topic
a) A general rule: never take for granted the reader knows the subject area as well as you do. Make an effort to provide the reader with some fundamental or relevant background information. For this example of IIS Hacks, Hornat talks a little about HTTP and port 80 and why this is commonly targeted.
b) Be prepared to define terminologies and acronyms, as well.
c) Properly plan, structure and express your content. Breaking the topic into subtopics will help.

Providing practical examples & illustrations
Rather than tell the reader, *show* the reader - through the use of code, logs, case studies, scenarios, simulations or real-life examples - which will not only get across your point more effectively, but also serve to enrich and bring to life your work. For example, if you focus on a Honeypot and its logging aspects, consider including screen shots and/or actual logs. Pictures, charts, graphs and tables can also help with the analysis and presentation of data.

Providing references
Include at least 2-3 references to sites or books that you may have referenced, or you find relevant to your topic. These references offer the interested reader a pathway to seek further information.

Meeting the recommended length & format
Recommended lengths of all papers are 3 pages plus. It must be produced in an easily legible Microsoft Word, simple HTML or Adobe PDF format.

N.B. Plagiarism is not tolerated and will be grounds for automatic rejection of your paper. (You can quote as long as you give recognition to the source of the quote.)

Apart from these guidelines, we also recommended you read: "A white paper on how to write a white paper" by Stephen Wilbers

Submission & Publication

A paper must be submitted with the idea that Infosec Writers will review and make a decision to accept it as is, recommend edits and improvements (based on above criteria) or, simply reject the paper. You must provide your name/handle and email contact as well.

If accepted for publication, the paper is subjected to minor improvements (e.g. spelling, grammar) and, may be formatted to a standard layout and color scheme. Within a 1-2 week time frame the paper is added to an appropriate section of the library and publicized on the Infosec Writers' main page and through the monthly newsletter.

You are entered into the Infosec Writers’ " Best Security Papers of the Month” contest (i.e. of course, once you meet the eligibility criteria.) For further information see the Contest FAQs.

Any fixes we may later recommend to an already published paper, we expect your cooperation in delivering them as quickly as possible.

Ownership

You the writer retain ownership of your work, meaning:

• You are entitled to submit updated/improved versions of your paper.
• You can request withdrawal of your paper. (Upon request, the paper is removed within 5-7 workdays.)
• Infosec Writers does not attempt to sell or distribute your work.

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