The 2026 Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime 2026) in
Lisbon examines essential factors for managing the impacts of the
global cybercrime plexus to secure IT users, commercial enterprises,
governments, national infrastructures, and operational
technologies. eCrime 2026 on November 2-6 will be the 21st annual
peer-reviewed, publishing symposium hosted by APWG.
https://apwg.org/events/ecrime2026
APWG eCrime 2026 Lisboa is a uniquely constructed symposium designed
to to examine responses to cybercrime as well as to showcase the very
latest research into counter-cybercrime techniques and
technologies. As the only peer-reviewed, publishing research
conference focused exclusively on cybercrime, APWG eCrime is also the
most important venue for discovering those path-finding,
thought-leading managers and investigators whom your organization has
yet to hire - and needs to meet.
Call for Papers
Beyond soliciting research into cybercrime that inflicts financial
losses, as the symposium has since 2006, eCrime 2026's chairs are
particularly interested in papers that address challenges in:
cyber-physical systems and operational technologies; artificial
intelligence; and the interaction between different system layers
(such as socio-technical systems) that are employed or abused by
cybercriminals for profit - and for advancement of larger criminal
enterprises.
Solicited Topics Consonant With eCrime 2026's Theme Include:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) as criminal co-conspirator and defensive
collaborator, such as:
Malicious AI agents employed to perform enhanced malware
polymorphism, agentic spearphishing, reconnaissance, etc.
Development and maintenance of criminal co-pilots and the future
of human-machine teaming, including hybridized human-crimebot
cyber gangs.
Are malicious AI tools lowering the skills barrier to commit more
advanced cybercrimes?
Adversarial AI (attacks directly against AIs and machine learning
systems) as it relates to the furtherance of cybercrime or
cyber-physical cybercrime - especially agents employed in security
operations
Defensive AI Agents deployed as cybersecurity operations managers
and (autonomous and semi-autonomous) counter-cybercrime managers
Design, deployment and assessment of multi-agent environments
(MAEs) for enhancing resilience of infrastructure and systems to
cybercrime
Design, deployment and assessment of defences related to AI
systems themselves (jailbreaks, injections, etc.)
Actual, emerging or potential risks from AI systems deployed to
animate cybercrimes against people, operational systems, IoT
technologies, or physical spaces and objects
Abuse of cyber-physical systems and operational technologies and
downstream manipulation (extant, emerging or potential) for
furtherance of crimes with physical manifestations, including:
Drone and robot hijacking and weaponization;
Criminal abuses and weaponization of medical and surgical systems;
Criminal abuses and weaponization of IoT for domestic and
commercial targeting;
Criminal abuses and weaponization of autonomous vehicles and
delivery robots
AI and machine-learning system security to mitigate threats
posed by advanced cybercriminal algorithms - and to guard
against strategically misinforming and abusing them for
criminal enterprises
New research on policy, regulation, and law as they pertain to
cybercrime of all types
AI and machine-learning system security to mitigate threats posed by
advanced cybercriminal algorithms - and to guard against strategically
misinforming and abusing them for criminal enterprises
New research on policy, regulation, and law as they pertain to
cybercrime of all types
Topics of general interest for submissions to eCrime 2026 are listed
below, under the heading "Solicited Research Topics for APWG eCrime
2026."
Important Dates (papers):
Full Paper Registration / Submission of full draft due: 12 June
Training Session Proposals / full draft due: 15 June 2026
Notification of Acceptance / Shepherding decisions: 20 July 2026
Shepherding: 20 July to 31 August
Conference: November: 2 – 6, 2026
Camera-ready paper due: November 30th, 2026
The selected peer-reviewed papers will be presented at the eCrime
symposium along with panels and talks in General Sessions from other
researchers selected from industrial and academic research centers
correspondent with the APWG.
General Information
eCrime sessions and proceedings are in English.
The Lisbon venue is the Intercontinental Lisbon. Room reservation link
to come in a later edition of this CFP:
Please contact the APWG eCrime organizers for any other details via
email at apwg_events@apwg.org.
Discounts
Students requiring discounts should contact symposium managers at
apwg_events@apwg.org
IEEE members and partners requiring discounts should contact symposium
managers at apwg_events@apwg.org
Discount codes are also available for university researchers,
government personnel and law enforcement professionals from
pubic-sector agencies as well as for IEEE members.
Please contact the APWG eCrime organizers for details via email at:
apwg_events@apwg.org.
Solicited Research Topics for APWG eCrime 2026
Since 2006, APWG eCrime has cast its call for papers in relevant
research disciplines, focusing in large part on financial crimes that
abuse Internet technologies and IT to victimize users, enterprises and
their brands.
APWG eCrime also specifically solicits original research on
cyber-physical systems and operational technologies abused in the
furtherance of any kind of crime: cyber (digital) or manifested in
physical spaces, such as homes, enterprises, roadways, public spaces
and critical infrastructure.
eCrime's curators define these cybercrimes as those that exploit,
disrupt, or manipulate cyber-physical systems or operational
technologies - systems that integrate control, feedback, and
communication mechanisms across digital, mechanical, and biological
domains.
The selected peer-reviewed papers will be presented at the eCrime
symposium along with panels and talks in General Sessions from other
researchers selected from industrial and academic research centers
correspondent with the APWG.
Alongside this expanded topic spectrum, eCrime 2026 Lisbon is also
soliciting papers that speak to the following topics and issues:
Economic foundations of: cybercrime cyber-physical crimes; and other
abuses of IT for criminal enterprise
Behavioural and psychosocial aspects of cybercrime; and
cyber-physical system victimization and prevention
Emerging technological exposures, vulnerabilities, and risks
Architectural vulnerabilities (of products, operational
technologies, infrastructures and cyber-physical systems) that
advantage criminal actors
New or improved techniques to detect and respond to cybercrime and
cyber-physical crimes of all types
How to accurately measure and understand the health and resilience
of systems, networks, infrastructures and users against cybercrime
Addressing challenges of cybercrime's increasing complexity
(e.g. digital infrastructures, crime-fighting/forensic techniques,
and the structure of the crimes themselves)
Measuring and modelling of cybercrime/cyber-physical system crimes
and related criminal enterprises for operational protection
routines
Measuring and modelling of cybercrime/cyber-physical system crimes
and related criminal enterprises for informing rational
underwriting instrumentation developed by commercial insurers
Analysis and modelling of the cybercrime and abuse risk landscape
Cybercrime/cyber-physical system crime payload delivery strategies
and countermeasures (e.g. spam, mobile apps, social engineering,
etc.)
Application of public policy and law for the programmatic
suppression of common cybercrimes; crimes against or involving
cyber-physical systems and related abuses
Policy and legal challenges as they relate to actually developing
and sustaining anti-cybercrime practices and policies
Cryptocurrency crimes and related cybercrimes, and the forensic
tools and techniques required to measure, prevent, and counter
these crimes
Case studies of current cybercrime/cyber-physical system attack
methods (e.g. phishing, malware, rogue antivirus programs,
pharming, ransomware, crimeware, botnets, and emerging techniques)
Detecting and preventing abuse of internet infrastructure to
neutralize cybercrimes/cyber-physical system crimes and abuses
Detecting and isolating cybercriminal gangs and their money
laundering routines and enterprises
Cybercrime's evolution in specific verticals (e.g. financial
services, e-commerce, health and energy, etc.)
Cybercriminal cloaking techniques, and counter-cloaking tools and approaches
Design and evaluation of UI/UXs to neutralize fraud and enhance
user security and cybercrime awareness
Novel methods for measuring cybercrime and related abuses for
development of defensive routines and programs
Guidance for Authors
Submit papers here: https://ecrime2026.hotcrp.com
eCrime has adopted the IEEE publication format. Submissions should be
in English, in PDF format with all fonts embedded, and formatted using
the IEEE conference template, which can be found at:
https://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html
Submissions must include author names and affiliations, but should
otherwise be anonymized. Authors' own work should be referred to in
the third person.
Papers should not exceed 12 letter-sized pages, excluding the
bibliography and appendices. Committee members are not required to
read appendices, so ensure that the main paper is intelligible without
them.
Submitted papers that do not adhere to all the above guidelines may be
rejected without consideration of their merits.
Authors of accepted papers must register for the event and present in
person. Remote presentations delivered live and/or pre-recorded
presentations will be considered in limited circumstances (e.g. where
the lead author presents remotely and a co-author attends in person).
Authors will be asked to indicate whether they would like their
submissions to be considered for the Best Student Paper Award. Any
paper co-authored by a full-time student is eligible for this award.
Authors of accepted papers must guarantee that their paper will be
presented at the conference. APWG eCrime understands that some authors
may face difficulties in obtaining funding to attend the conference.
Therefore, a limited number of stipends are available for those who
are unable to secure departmental or institutional underwriting for
their travel. Students who will present their accepted papers
themselves will be given priority in receiving this assistance.
Please contact the APWG eCrime organizers for details via email at: apwg_events@apwg.org.
Call for Training Day Proposals
Are you an expert in a cybercrime research, cyber forensics or related
investigation methods? Do you use a specialised resource/repository
and want to show others how to use it too (or use it better)? Have you
authored a new framework or modelling technique that you think more
people should know about?
At eCrime 2026 Lisbon, APWG will feature a pre-conference eCrime
Training Day for researchers and industry practitioners. Trainers will
have the opportunity to discuss their areas of expertise with
attendees on Monday, November 2, the day before the conference begins
(on 3 November). These longer sessions, more directly personal
instructional programs are aimed at transferring skills and passing
the torch to a new generation of researchers and practitioners.
Sessions could focus on a variety of relevant topics, such as:
How to collect, use, and analyse cybercrime data in investigations
and/or research projects
How to investigate key data repositories, such as the DNS
ecosystem, for research and investigations
New modelling methods for cyber threats, risks, and vulnerabilities
How to engage with policymakers as a cyber researcher or industry expert
An intro session for cybercrime researchers/investigators focusing
on relevant security frameworks, standards, and best practices
Training session proposals should include:
Training session titleTrainer/artisan biographic description 3-6
sentences of direct relevance to topic space covered in the
proposed session
Topic description of 3-6 sentences describing what the training
session will cover and competencies it will cultivate
Audience: eCrime prefers sessions that any eCrime attendee could
benefit from; however, please note if your session would
especially benefit a specific audience (e.g. threat intelligence
researcher)
Prerequisites: eCrime prefers training sessions that do not
require any prerequisites; however, we may make an exception for a
topic of particular merit or interest
Session length minimum of 1 hour, maximum of 3 hours. Please also
indicate whether your session length is strict (i.e. if we receive
many session proposals, or if a trainer drops out, would you be
able to make your session longer or shorter)
Include all the information above in a Word or PDF document and upload
to https://ecrime2026.hotcrp.com and title your submission with
"TRAINING DAY PROPOSAL" followed by your session title (for example
"TRAINING DAY PROPOSAL Using the OWASP model in SMEs".)
A maximum of 4 training sessions will be offered.
Important Dates (eCrime Training Day proposals)
Deadline for Proposals: June 15th 2026
Notification of Acceptance: July 15th 2026
Anticipated time for each training session: 1 to 3 hours, with a
preference for longer, in-depth sessions that afford ample time for
peer-to-peer and instructor-to-trainees dialog. If there is sufficient
interest, APWG eCrime 2026 will consider running parallel sessions.