[Remops] Comparison between two practical mix designs (Mixmaster vs. Reliable)

[Peter Palfrader]

Hi,

you may be interested in a paper by Claudia Diaz, Len Sassaman, and
Evelyne Dewitte.  Evelyne is a statistician and Claudia an anonymity
researcher, both at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Abstract:

We evaluate the anonymity provided by two popular email mix implementations,
Mixmaster and Reliable, and compare their effectiveness through the use of
simulations which model the algorithms used by these mixing applications. In
order to draw accurate conclusions about the operation of these mixes, we use
as our input to these simulations actual traffic data obtained from a public
anonymous remailer (mix node). We determine that assumptions made in previous
literature about the distribution of mix input traffic are incorrect, and our
analysis of the input traffic shows that it follows no known distribution. We
establish for the first time that a lower bound exists on the anonymity of
Mixmaster, and discover that under certain circumstances the algorithm used
by
Reliable provides no anonymity. We find that the upper bound on anonymity
provided by Mixmaster is slightly higher than that provided by Reliable. We
identify flaws in the software code in Reliable that further compromise its
ability to provide anonymity, and review key areas which are necessary for
the
security of a mix in addition to a sound algorithm. Our analysis can be used
to
evaluate under which circumstances the two mixing algorithms should be
utilized
to best achieve anonymity and satisfy their purpose. Our work can also be
used
as a framework for establishing a security review process for mix node
deployments.

The full paper can be found at http://www.abditum.com/~rabbi/mixvreliable.pdf
Note that this is still a draft.

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