The SPHERE team recently participated in the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC), held two weeks ago in Honolulu, Hawaii. ACSAC is one of the premier international forums for applied cybersecurity research and practice, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and industry and government stakeholders to advance the state of computer security.

SPHERE was represented by Jelena Mirkovic, SPHERE Principal Investigator, and David Balenson, SPHERE Community Outreach Director. Their participation spanned the main conference as well as several co-located workshops, reflecting SPHERE’s ongoing commitment to community engagement, collaboration, and impact.

Technical Contributions and Workshops

Jelena and David actively contributed to multiple ACSAC co-located workshops:

• Industrial Control Systems Security (ICSS)

Jelena participated in a panel titled *Beyond Automation: How Secure Automation Empowers ICS Operators?* During the panel, she highlighted SPHERE’s cyber-physical systems enclave and discussed how it supports cybersecurity and privacy research and development for CPS and industrial control systems.

• Learning from Authoritative Security Experiment Results (LASER)

David organized the LASER workshop and delivered a talk on SPHERE, focusing on how the platform supports artifact evaluation, reproducible experimentation, and community-driven validation of security research results.

• Cyber Security Evaluation and Test (CSET)

Both Jelena and David helped organize CSET and served as session chairs, supporting discussions around rigorous evaluation and testing methodologies for cybersecurity systems and experiments.

ACSAC Poster and Conference Roles

As part of the main ACSAC program, David presented a poster on SPHERE during the poster session, providing attendees with an overview of SPHERE’s goals, capabilities, and opportunities for community use. The poster session offered valuable opportunities to engage directly with researchers and practitioners interested in reproducible cybersecurity and privacy experimentation.

In addition to his SPHERE-related activities, David played a broader role in ACSAC by moderating a panel on trust and assurance in AI systems, serving on a panel on cybersecurity research funding challenges, chairing a technical session, and serving as one of the key organizers of the conference. These roles further strengthened SPHERE’s visibility and connections within the applied security community.

Community Building and Sponsorship

SPHERE and USC Information Sciences Institute were proud sponsors of the prize giveaway during the ACSAC closing session. Together, they donated ISI tote bags, coffee mugs, and pens, along with SPHERE t-shirts and stickers. The giveaway helped close the conference on a high note while increasing awareness of SPHERE and ISI among attendees.

Advancing SPHERE’s Community Outreach Mission

Participation in ACSAC and its co-located workshops is a core component of SPHERE’s community outreach strategy. Through conferences like ACSAC, the SPHERE team works to promote awareness and adoption of the platform, engage with diverse research communities, and learn directly from researchers and practitioners about emerging needs and requirements. These interactions play a critical role in shaping SPHERE’s evolving capabilities and ensuring that the infrastructure continues to support impactful, real-world cybersecurity and privacy research.

We thank the ACSAC organizers, workshop chairs, and participants for a vibrant and productive conference, and we look forward to continuing these conversations with the community in future events.