In these summer doldrums we have a Cipher issue with two reader contributed articles, a conference review, three book reviews, an NSF Cyber Trust announcement, and a hefty calendar of events. As always, the efforts of Cipher contributors are central to its success and greatly appreciated.

If you are organizing an event or publication of interest to security researchers, consider advertising it in Cipher. We welcome announcements of academic events, particularly calls-for-papers, and most especially those with peer-reviewed publications. In order to make it easy for our volunteer staff to deal with the announcements, we ask that you send the announcement to us with minimal html formatting, and with the dates, place, url, email address, and topics of interest clearly marked. A pointer to an html page with heavy use of graphics is difficult for us to deal with and increases the chances of a transcription error.

Consider writing a conference review or technology overview article for Cipher next time you are stuck at an airport waiting for your flight home. We have thousands of readers eagerly awaiting your insights.