Journal of Privacy Technology 20060701001 A Survey of Anonymous Communication Channels George Danezis
[email protected] K.U. Leuven, ESAT/COSIC, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, B-3001 Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium. Claudia Diaz
[email protected] K.U. Leuven, ESAT/COSIC, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, B-3001 Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium. Abstract We present an overview of the field of anonymous communications, from its establishment in 1981 from David Chaum to today. Key systems are presented categorized according to their underlying principles: semi-trusted relays, mix systems, remailers, onion routing, and systems to provide robust mixing. We include extended discussions of the threat models and usage models that different schemes provide, and the trade-offs between the security properties offered and the communication characteristics different systems support. Keywords: Anonymous communications, Mix systems, Traffic analysis, Privacy. 1. Introducing Anonymous Communications Research on anonymous communications started in 1981 with Chaum’s seminal paper “Untrace- able electronic mail, return addresses, and digital pseudonyms” (Chaum (1981)). Since then, a body of research has concentrated on building, analyzing and attacking anonymous communica- tion systems. In this survey we look at the definition of anonymous communications and the major anonymous communication systems grouped in families according to the key design decisions they are based on. Data communication networks use addresses to perform routing which are, as a rule, visible to anyone observing the network. Often addresses (such as IP addresses, or Ethernet MACs) are a unique identifier which appear in all communication of a user, linking of all the user’s transactions. Furthermore these persistent addresses can be linked to physical persons, seriously compromis- ing their privacy.