A portal to cutting edge research into the cyber security of cyber-physical critical systems

RITICS FEST is the annual workshop organised by the Research Institute in Trustworthy Inter-Connected Cyber-Physical Systems (RITICS). The aim of the workshop is to act as a forum for presenting and discussing the latest advances in the security of Industrial Control and Cyber Physical Systems in the UK. In contrast to the RITICS showcase event, which focuses on RITICS sponsored and aligned projects, our aim is to enable the presentation and dissemination of the “best” and newest developments in the UK in cyber security of cyber-physical systems regardless of how they were funded. The workshop will be a two-day event and the programme will include keynote addresses, invited talks, presentations and panel discussions from industry, academia and government. The first day will emphasise the latest development and challenges in industry, whilst the second one will emphasise the latest results and challenges in academic research. For this workshop we solicit proposals for presentations from across the industry and academic research communities in the UK.

Topics of interest:

Submissions for presentation are sought in, but not limited to, in the areas below. We welcome presentations on ICS and CPS in all sectors including but not limited to: space, power generation and distribution, transport, infrastructures in urban and national environments, and health. Additionally, aspects of control in autonomous systems are also in scope. General aspects of IoT environments that do not relate to controlling operation are outside of the scope of the workshop.

– Cryptography and key-management in the context of CPS and ICS.
– Threat intelligence, malware and attacks against ICS and CPS.
– Impact analysis of cyber-attacks in CPS and ICS.
– Usable Security and Privacy in Cyber-Physical Systems.
– Anomaly detection in ICS/CPS specific environments.
– Forensics techniques specific to ICS/CPS environments.
– Software Security in ICS/CPS specific environments.
– Design, Operation and Analysis of Systems for both Security and Safety.
– Assurance for both security and safety in ICS/CPS including the application of formal methods to CPS.
– Retrofitting Security to legacy systems.
– Resilience of ICS/CPS to adversarial attacks including system recovery and adaptation.
– Combined aspects of Physical, Cyber and Human security in ICS and CPS.
– AI applied to the security of ICS and CPS.
– AI vulnerabilities in ICS, CPS and control aspects of autonomy.
– Building testbeds for ICS/CPS cyber-security research and testing.
– Emerging technologies in ICS and CPS. Impact on security and use for security.
– Economic aspects of security in ICS and CPS.
– The use of Digital Twins in ICS/CPS research, development, operation and testing.
– Legal and Regulatory aspects in CPS.
– Sectoral specific considerations e.g. transport, infrastructures, autonomy.

Please note the focus is on technical presentations. Descriptions and advertisement of products and services are strictly out of scope.

Workshop dates: 2nd & 3rd September 2025

Alongside presentations for the main sessions, we also invite PhD students and Early Career Researchers to propose short, 5 min, presentations to be given as part of a special “5-min madness” session. Presentations can be on any research topic on the cybersecurity of Industrial Control and Cyber-Physical systems and can be on work in progress or early investigations.

As well as presenter details, please include in the form below a summary of the presentation (e.g. about 1 page) as well as any references to any relevant publications. Presentations relating to already published work are permitted. 

Deadline for Submission: 12:00 (noon) 27th June 2025

Submission Web-Site: https://forms.gle/3WuBPkmLoUBdo1Jd8

The Research Institute in Trustworthy Inter-Connected Cyber-Physical Systems (RITICS) was thrilled to announce the launch of an annual workshop series. The event offers a unique platform to showcase and discuss the latest advancements in the security of Industrial Control and Cyber-Physical Systems across the UK.

Critical systems are those that provide critical services, such as transport, energy, water and telecommunications. Underpinning services, such as high-value manufacturing, are also considered critical systems.

These critical systems can be described as being cyber-physical, in that they contain networked computers which can control physical parameters.

This opens them up to cyber security threats, which can have physical consequences.