Date: 20 February 2020

The Network and Distributed System Security Symposium and the co-located workshops WILL take place as planned, 23 – 26 February in San Diego, CA.

NDSS staff are closely monitoring the situation for potential impacts for our attendees. We are following the guidance from worldwide health organizations and experts. We are fully committed to taking appropriate precautions to provide a safe and healthy environment for attendees. We encourage our attendees to work with us to help make this happen.

NDSS staff will be doing the following to help manage the situation.

  • Provide sanitizing and disinfection materials for general attendee use
  • Increase cleaning and disinfection across high-volume common areas
  • Monitor recommendations from the relevant health authorities including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the local government and city officials
  • Encourage attendees to adopt some best practices in order to act in their own best interest and in the best interest of their fellow attendees.

Attendees are asked to manage their own preparedness and behavior as well:

  • Please bring any additional protective gear you feel appropriate with you to San Diego. Supplies in San Diego are rumored to be running low, and you may not be able to find any around town.
  • Bring any additional supplies for your own personal disinfection needs.
  • You may also want to:
    • Consider the adoption of a no-handshake policy
    • Reduce or eliminate business card exchanges
  • Be considerate of fellow attendees and exercise good judgement.
  • And most of all, if you are feverish or coughing, please stay in your room.

NDSS staff understand that individuals who have been in China (originating or visiting) within 14 calendar days, will be unable to attend NDSS 2020 due to travel restrictions barring entry to the U.S. We also understand that some individuals from countries surrounding China are prohibiting their staff from travel. Any registered attendee who finds they are unable to travel to NDSS should contact NDSS staff ([email protected]) for a refund of registration fees.

Travel safe, stay healthy, and we look forward to seeing you soon in San Diego.

Links and Resources:

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/novel-coronavirus-hubei-province–china.html