We all take things for granted. For those fortunate enough to have reliable, affordable Internet access, it’s easy to forget that there’s nothing inevitable about being able to FaceTime with a faraway loved one or pay your electricity bill from your phone.
Countless people and choices at every layer of the Internet went into making those interactions possible. And for longer than the Internet has been available to early adopters, the Internet Society has hosted the Network and Distributed Systems Security (NDSS) Symposium to bring some of those people together to help make our online interactions safe and secure.
From how to keep our voices, faces, and thoughts anonymous, to training large language models to detect financially devastating clauses in contracts before we sign them, to stopping phishing scams from reaching us in the first place, the 2025 NDSS Symposium showcased cutting-edge research from across industry and academia.
The Internet Is Probably Resilient Enough to Withstand a Total Interruption
A common theme this year was the importance of resilience. Not just of individual systems or protocols but of the Internet itself. Could the whole Internet break? And if it did, could we get it back up? Those were chilling questions raised by keynote speaker Dr. Kathleen Fisher, director of the Information Innovation Office at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The short answers: Yes, and probably—but fixing it could take a while.
Fisher pointed out that, too often, system failures are responded to after an attack has already happened, allowing vulnerabilities to pile up. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right research investment and focus, resilience can be the bedrock of the Internet. That can be a tough sell in tech, where the industry is driven by market innovation focused on the next big thing. But it’s critical for the future of the Internet.
Internet Technologies Are at the Forefront of Scientific Research
We also heard a keynote from Dr. Johanna Sepúlveda, domain manager for Quantum and Quantum-secure Technologies, Airbus Defence and Space. Sepúlveda gave a lightning tour of quantum science, from Heisenberg to the present day, and outlined the four major areas of quantum technology: communications, sensing, computing, and cryptography, all of which have implications for cyber- and national security. She highlighted the potential of quantum navigation technology to protect against the disruption of current navigation tools, such as GPS, a disruption threat that can be mapped today from the Baltic to Belarus and Ukraine.
Quantum communication, particularly quantum key distribution, is already being demonstrated in national and multi-national deployments, extending terrestrially and into space. Commercial solutions are expected within the next few years, but that depends on rapid progress from proof-of-technology to robust operational systems. And that progress is driven, above all, by research.
Why Should You Care About the NDSS Symposium?
Thankfully, researchers at NDSS are not waiting for individual attacks to occur. They’re leveraging, developing, and probing the latest advances in artificial Intelligence, privacy, and design to ensure that those with Internet access can continue to take it for granted.
The volume of work they’re doing is exceptional. For NDSS 2025, the Program Committee reviewed almost 1,500 papers and posters (for the record, 1397 paper submissions and 94 poster submissions), accepting a record 220 papers—not accounting for the amazing work presented at the eight co-located workshops.
This work is only sustainable with proper support and recognition. No funding = no research = no Internet.
The Internet Society and NDSS Symposium 2025 sponsors recognize this value and welcome others to join us in supporting and appreciating their efforts. NDSS research is also made freely available online to remove barriers to accessing this body of knowledge. The more we can all do to raise the profile of this often unheralded work, the stronger and more secure the Internet will become.
We hope to see you at NDSS Symposium 2026 as an award-winner, an attendee, an author, a session chair, a sponsor, or one of the all-volunteer organizing committees. Your participation helps NDSS grow and thrive, which is so vital for the security and trustworthiness of an open, globally connected Internet.
You can learn more about what was discussed at NDSS Symposium 2025 by reading the research papers and watching recordings of the presentations.
Image © Wes Hardaker