Book excerpt: Database and Application Security XV provides a forum for original research results, practical experiences, and innovative ideas in database and application security. With the rapid growth of large databases and the application systems that manage them, security issues have become a primary concern in business, industry, government and society. These concerns are compounded by the expanding use of the Internet and wireless communication technologies. This volume covers a wide variety of topics related to security and privacy of information in systems and applications, including: Access control models; Role and constraint-based access control; Distributed systems; Information warfare and intrusion detection; Relational databases; Implementation issues; Multilevel systems; New application areas including XML. Database and Application Security XV contains papers, keynote addresses, and panel discussions from the Fifteenth Annual Working Conference on Database and Application Security, organized by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 11.3 and held July 15-18, 2001 in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada.