Taxonomy for and Analysis of Anonymous Communications Networks
Abstract
Any entity operating in cyberspace is susceptible to debilitating attacks. With cyber attacks intended to gather intelligence and disrupt communications rapidly replacing the threat of conventional and nuclear attacks, a new age of warfare is at hand. In 2003, the United States acknowledged that the speed and anonymity of cyber attacks makes distinguishing among the actions of terrorists, criminals, and nation states difficult. Even President Obama's Cybersecurity Chief-elect feels challenged by the increasing sophistication of cyber attacks. Indeed, the rising quantity and ubiquity of new surveillance technologies in cyberspace enables instant, undetectable, and unsolicited information collection about entities. Hence, anonymity and privacy are becoming increasingly important issues. Anonymization enables entities to protect their data and systems from a diverse set of cyber attacks and preserve privacy. This research provides a systematic analysis of anonymity degradation, preservation and elimination in cyberspace to enchance the security of information assets. This includes discovery/obfuscation of identities and actions of/from potential adversaries. First, novel taxonomies are developed for classifying and comparing the wide variety of well-established and state-of-the-art anonymous networking protocols. These expand the classical definition of anonymity and are the first known to capture the peer-to-peer and mobile ad hoc anonymous protocol family relationships. Second, a unique synthesis of state-of-the-art anonymity metrics is provided. This significantly aids an entities ability to reliably measure changing anonymity levels; thereby, increasing their ability to defend against cyber attacks. Finally, a novel epistemic-based model is created to characterize how an adversary reasons with knowledge to degrade anonymity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA495688
Entities
People
- Douglas Kelly
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology