University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Departmental Papers (CIS) Department of Computer & Information Science January 2006 On the Reliability of Current Generation Network Eavesdropping Tools Eric Cronin University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Micah Sherr University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Matthew A. Blaze University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/cis_papers Recommended Citation Eric Cronin, Micah Sherr, and Matthew A. Blaze, "On the Reliability of Current Generation Network Eavesdropping Tools", . January 2006. Postprint version. Published in International Federation for Information Processing, Volume 222, Advances in Digital Forensics II, edited by Martin S. Olivier, Sujeet Shenoi (Boston: Springer, 2006), pages 199-214. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/cis_papers/303 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. On the Reliability of Current Generation Network Eavesdropping Tools Abstract This paper analyzes the problem of interception of Internet traffic omfr the eavesdropper's point of view. We examine the reliability and accuracy of transcripts, and show that obtaining "high fidelity" transcripts is harder than previously assumed. Even in highly favorable situations, such as capturing unencrypted traffic using standard protocols, simple -- and entirely unilateral -- countermeasures are shown to be sufficiento t prevent accurate traffic analysis in many Internet interception configurations. In particular, these countermeasures were successful against every available eavesdropping system we tested. Central to our approach is a new class of techniques that we call confusion, which, unlike cryptography or steganography, does not require cooperation by the communicating parties and, in some case, can be employed entirely by a third party not involved in the communication at all.