Mutual Anonymous Communications: A New Covert Channel Based on Splitting Tree MAC

—Known covert channel based on splitting algorithms in Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols requires the receiver’s knowledge of the sender’s identity. In this paper we present a new covert channel that does not have this restriction. In such a channel, multiple senders may operate independently without knowing each other, and the receiver can learn the transmitted information without knowing the identity of any covert sender a priori. These properties make the channel robust to malfunctioning senders, and more importantly help protect the secrecy of senders’ identity which is essential for covert communications. We also analyze the capacity of our proposed covert channel. Keywords—security; covert channels; Medium Access Control.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: Zhenghong Wang, Jing Deng, Ruby B. Lee
• Keywords: Communications, Covert Channels, Covert Sender, INFOCOM 2007, Medium Access Control