The first Annual Working Conference ofWG11.4oftheInter nationalFederationforInformation Processing (IFIP),focuseson variousstate of the art concepts in the field of Network and Dis tributedSystemsSecurity. Oursocietyisrapidly evolvingand irreversibly set onacourse governedby electronicinteractions. Wehave seen thebirthofe mail in the early seventies, and are now facing new challenging applicationssuchase commerce, e government,...Themoreour societyrelies on electronicforms ofcommunication,themorethe securityofthesecommunicationnetworks isessentialforitswell functioning. Asaconsequence,researchonmethodsandtechniques toimprove network security iso fparam ount importance. ThisWorking Conference bringstogetherresearchersandprac tionersofvariousdisciplines,organisationsandcountries,todiscuss thelatestdevelopmentsinsecurity protocols, secure software engin eering,mobileagentsecurity,e commercesecurityandsecurityfor distributedcomputing.
Wearealsopleasedtohaveattractedtwointernationalspeakers topresenttwo case studies,one dealing withBelgium'sintentionto replacetheidentity card ofitscitizensbyanelectronicversion,and theotherdiscussingtheimplicationsofthesecuritycertificationin amultinationalcorporation. ThisWorking Conference s houldalsobeconsideredasthekick off activity ofWG11.4, the aimsof which can be summarizedas follows: topromoteresearch on technical measures forsecuringcom puternetworks, including bothhardware andsoftware based techniques. to promote dissemination of research results in the field of network security in real lifenetworks in industry, academia and administrative ins titutions. viii topromoteeducationintheapplicationofsecuritytechniques, andtopromotegeneral awarenessa boutsecurityproblems in thebroadfieldofinformationtechnology. Researchers and practioners who want to get involved in this Working Group, are kindlyrequestedtocontactthechairman. MoreinformationontheworkingsofWG11.4isavailable from the officialIFIP website:http://www.ifip.at.org/. Finally,wewish toexpressour gratitudetoallthosewho have contributedtothisconference in one wayoranother.
Wearegr ate fultothe internationalrefereeboard whoreviewedallthe papers andtotheauthorsandinvitedspeakers,whosecontributionswere essential to the successof the conference. We would alsoliketo thanktheparticipantswhosepresenceand interest, togetherwith thechangingimperativesofsociety,willprovea drivingforce for futureconferencestocome.