On the effectiveness of continuous-time mixes under flow-correlation based anonymity attacks Academic Article

abstract

• In flow-based mix networks, flow correlation attacks have been proposed earlier and have been shown empirically to seriously degrade mix-based anonymous communication systems. In this paper, we theoretically analyze the effectiveness of a mix network under flow correlation attacks. Our formulae clearly show how a mix network will ultimately fail when an adversary has access to sufficiently long flow samples, independently of the type of flows (TCP or UDP).We illustrate the analysis methodology by modelling a continuous-time mix, which randomly delays each incoming packet. Our queuing-model-based analysis can provide useful guidelines for designers who develop and deploy anonymity systems.

authors

• Bettati, Riccardo

published proceedings

• International Journal of Network Security

author list (cited authors)

• Zhu, Y., Fu, X., & Bettati, R.

complete list of authors

• Zhu, Y||Fu, X||Bettati, R

publication date

• December 2007

published in

• International Journal of Network Security  Journal

start page

• 130

end page

• 140

volume

• 7

issue

• 1