Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Predecessor Attack: An Analysis Of A Threat To Anonymous Communications Systems, Matthew K. Wright, Micah Adler, Brian Neil Levine, Clay Sheilds

Computer Science Department Faculty Publication Series

There have been a number of protocols proposed for anonymous network communication. In this paper we investigate attacks by corrupt group members that degrade the anonymity of each protocol over time. We prove that when a particular initiator continues communication with a particular responder across path reformations, existing protocols are subject to the attack. We use this result to place an upper bound on how long existing protocols, including Crowds, Onion Routing, Hordes, Web Mixes, and DC-Net, can maintain anonymity in the face of the attacks described. This provides a basis for comparing these protocols against each other. Our results …