Skip to main content

Measuring Client-Server Anonymity

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Computer Networks (CN 2016)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 608))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The primary intent of clients performing anonymous online tasks is to conceal the extent of their already encrypted communication with sensitive servers. We present an accurate method for evaluating the amount of anonymity still available to such clients in the aftermath of an attack. Our method is based upon probabilities arrived at by the attack of possible client-server association levels for being the real one, along with the correctness levels of those associations. We demonstrate how additionally taking correctness levels into account results in more accurate anonymity measurement than the customary approach of just computing the Shannon entropy of the probabilities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Edman, M., Sivrikaya, F., Yener, B.: A combinatorial approach to measuring anonymity. In: IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security, pp. 356–363. Informatics, New Brunswick, USA (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Serjantov, A., Danezis, G.: Towards an information theoretic metric for anonymity. In: Dingledine, R., Syverson, P.F. (eds.) PET 2002. LNCS, vol. 2482, pp. 41–53. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Shubina, A.M., Smith, S.W.: Using caching for browsing anonymity. ACM SIGEcom Exch. 4(2), 11–20 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bagai, R., Tang, B.: Data caching for enhancing anonymity. In: 25th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA), pp. 135–142. Singapore (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Gierlichs, B., Troncoso, C., Diaz, C., Preneel, B., Verbauwhede, I.: Revisiting a combinatorial approach toward measuring anonymity. In: 7th ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society, pp. 111–116. Alexandria, VA, USA (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bagai, R., Tang, B., Khan, A., Ahmed, A.: A system-wide anonymity metric with message multiplicities. Int. J. Secur. Network. 10(1), 20–31 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Shannon, C.: A mathematical theory of communication. Bell Syst. Tech. J. 27, 379, 623–423, 656 (1948)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Díaz, C., Seys, S., Claessens, J., Preneel, B.: Towards measuring anonymity. In: Dingledine, R., Syverson, P.F. (eds.) PET 2002. LNCS, vol. 2482, pp. 54–68. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Dyer, M., Kannan, R., Mount, J.: Sampling contingency tables. Random Struct. Algorithms 10(4), 487–506 (1997)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Greselin, F.: Counting and enumerating frequency tables with given margins. Statistica Applicazioni 1(2), 87–104 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Asratian, A., Denley, T., Häggkvist, R.: Bipartite Graphs and Their Applications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1998)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  12. Kelly, D., Raines, R., Baldwin, R., Grimaila, M., Mullins, B.: Exploring extant and emerging issues in anonymous networks: a taxonomy and survey of protocols and metrics. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutorials 14(2), 579–606 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bagai, R., Jiang, N.: Measuring anonymity by profiling probability distributions. In: 11th IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications (TRUSTCOM), pp. 366–374. Liverpool, UK (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Valiant, L.: The complexity of computing the permanent. Theoret. Comput. Sci. 8(2), 189–201 (1979)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the United States Navy Engineering Logistics Office contract number N41756-08-C-3077.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rajiv Bagai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Bagai, R., Lu, H. (2016). Measuring Client-Server Anonymity. In: Gaj, P., Kwiecień, A., Stera, P. (eds) Computer Networks. CN 2016. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 608. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39207-3_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39207-3_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39206-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39207-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics