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Real World Patterns of Failure in Anonymity Systems

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Information Hiding (IH 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2137))

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Abstract

We present attacks on the anonymity and pseudonymity provided by a “lonely hearts” dating service and by the HushMail encrypted email system. We move on to discuss some generic attacks upon anonymous systems based on the engineering reality of these systems rather than the theoretical foundations on which they are based. However, for less sophisticated users it is social engineering attacks, owing nothing to computer science, that pose the biggest day-to-day danger. This practical experience then permits a start to be made on developing a security policy model for pseudonymous communications.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Gates Building JJ Thompson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FD, UK

    Richard Clayton, George Danezis & Markus G. Kuhn

Authors
  1. Richard Clayton
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  2. George Danezis
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  3. Markus G. Kuhn
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, 20375, USA

    Ira S. Moskowitz

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Clayton, R., Danezis, G., Kuhn, M.G. (2001). Real World Patterns of Failure in Anonymity Systems. In: Moskowitz, I.S. (eds) Information Hiding. IH 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2137. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45496-9_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45496-9_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42733-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45496-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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