Breaching IM session privacy using causality

Saad Saleh; Mamoon Raja; Muhammad Shahnawaz; Muhammad U. Ilyas; Khawar Khurshid; M. Zubair Shafiq; Alex X. Liu; Hayder Radha; Shirish S. Karande

doi:10.1109/GLOCOM.2014.7036887

Breaching IM session privacy using causality

Saad Saleh
, Mamoon Raja
, Muhammad Shahnawaz
, Muhammad U. Ilyas
, Khawar Khurshid
, M. Zubair Shafiq
, Alex X. Liu
, Hayder Radha
, Shirish S. Karande

Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

The breach of privacy in encrypted instant messenger (IM) service is a serious threat to user anonymity. Performance of previous de-anonymization strategies was limited to 65%. We perform network de-anonymization by taking advantage of the cause-effect relationship between sent and received packet streams and demonstrate this approach on a data set of Yahoo! IM service traffic traces. An investigation of various measures of causality shows that IM networks can be breached with a hit rate of 99%. A KCI Causality based approach alone can provide a true positive rate of about 97%. Individual performances of Granger, Zhang and IGCI causality are limited owing to the very low SNR of packet traces and variable network delays.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages	686-691
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Print)	978-1-4799-3512-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/GLOCOM.2014.7036887
Publication status	Published - 12 Dec 2014
Event	2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference - Austin, TX, USA Duration: 8 Dec 2014 → 12 Dec 2014

Conference

Conference	2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference
Period	8/12/14 → 12/12/14

Keywords

Servers
Signal to noise ratio
Delays
Correlation
Educational institutions
IP networks

Access to Document

10.1109/GLOCOM.2014.7036887

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7036887

Cite this

@inproceedings{aec9e420ebf24a7c9145384c36fa4a16,

title = "Breaching IM session privacy using causality",

abstract = "The breach of privacy in encrypted instant messenger (IM) service is a serious threat to user anonymity. Performance of previous de-anonymization strategies was limited to 65\%. We perform network de-anonymization by taking advantage of the cause-effect relationship between sent and received packet streams and demonstrate this approach on a data set of Yahoo! IM service traffic traces. An investigation of various measures of causality shows that IM networks can be breached with a hit rate of 99\%. A KCI Causality based approach alone can provide a true positive rate of about 97\%. Individual performances of Granger, Zhang and IGCI causality are limited owing to the very low SNR of packet traces and variable network delays.",

keywords = "Servers, Signal to noise ratio, Delays, Correlation, Educational institutions, IP networks",

author = "Saad Saleh and Mamoon Raja and Muhammad Shahnawaz and Ilyas, \{Muhammad U.\} and Khawar Khurshid and Shafiq, \{M. Zubair\} and Liu, \{Alex X.\} and Hayder Radha and Karande, \{Shirish S.\}",

year = "2014",

month = dec,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1109/GLOCOM.2014.7036887",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-4799-3512-3",

pages = "686--691",

booktitle = "2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)",

note = "2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference ; Conference date: 08-12-2014 Through 12-12-2014",

}

Saleh, S, Raja, M, Shahnawaz, M, Ilyas, MU, Khurshid, K, Shafiq, MZ, Liu, AX, Radha, H & Karande, SS 2014, Breaching IM session privacy using causality. in 2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference., 7036887, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 686-691, 2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference, 8/12/14. https://doi.org/10.1109/GLOCOM.2014.7036887

TY - GEN

T1 - Breaching IM session privacy using causality

AU - Saleh, Saad

AU - Raja, Mamoon

AU - Shahnawaz, Muhammad

AU - Ilyas, Muhammad U.

AU - Khurshid, Khawar

AU - Shafiq, M. Zubair

AU - Liu, Alex X.

AU - Radha, Hayder

AU - Karande, Shirish S.

PY - 2014/12/12

Y1 - 2014/12/12

N2 - The breach of privacy in encrypted instant messenger (IM) service is a serious threat to user anonymity. Performance of previous de-anonymization strategies was limited to 65%. We perform network de-anonymization by taking advantage of the cause-effect relationship between sent and received packet streams and demonstrate this approach on a data set of Yahoo! IM service traffic traces. An investigation of various measures of causality shows that IM networks can be breached with a hit rate of 99%. A KCI Causality based approach alone can provide a true positive rate of about 97%. Individual performances of Granger, Zhang and IGCI causality are limited owing to the very low SNR of packet traces and variable network delays.

AB - The breach of privacy in encrypted instant messenger (IM) service is a serious threat to user anonymity. Performance of previous de-anonymization strategies was limited to 65%. We perform network de-anonymization by taking advantage of the cause-effect relationship between sent and received packet streams and demonstrate this approach on a data set of Yahoo! IM service traffic traces. An investigation of various measures of causality shows that IM networks can be breached with a hit rate of 99%. A KCI Causality based approach alone can provide a true positive rate of about 97%. Individual performances of Granger, Zhang and IGCI causality are limited owing to the very low SNR of packet traces and variable network delays.

KW - Servers

KW - Signal to noise ratio

KW - Delays

KW - Correlation

KW - Educational institutions

KW - IP networks

UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7036887/

U2 - 10.1109/GLOCOM.2014.7036887

DO - 10.1109/GLOCOM.2014.7036887

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 978-1-4799-3512-3

SP - 686

EP - 691

BT - 2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

T2 - 2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference

Y2 - 8 December 2014 through 12 December 2014

ER -

Breaching IM session privacy using causality

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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