Analysing the MUTE Anonymous File-Sharing System Using the Pi-Calculus

This paper gives details of a formal analysis of the MUTE system for anonymous file-sharing. We build pi-calculus models of a node that is innocent of sharing files, a node that is guilty of file-sharing and of the network environment. We then test to see if an attacker can distinguish between a connection to a guilty node and a connection to an innocent node. A weak bi-simulation between every guilty network and an innocent network would be required to show possible innocence. We find that such a bi-simulation cannot exist. The point at which the bi-simulation fails leads directly to a previously undiscovered attack on MUTE. We describe a fix for the MUTE system that involves using authentication keys as the nodes’ pseudo identities and give details of its addition to the MUTE system.

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