Tor and I2P are well-known anonymity networks used by many individuals to protect their online privacy and anonymity. Tor's centralized directory services facilitate the understanding of the Tor network, as well as the measurement and visualization of its structure through the Tor Metrics project. In contrast, I2P does not rely on centralized directory servers, and thus obtaining a complete view of the network is challenging. In this work, we conduct an empirical study of the I2P network, in which we measure properties including population, churn rate, router type, and the geographic distribution of I2P peers. We find that there are currently around 32K active I2P peers in the network on a daily basis. Of these peers, 14K are located behind NAT or firewalls.Using the collected network data, we examine the blocking resistance of I2P against a censor that wants to prevent access to I2P using address-based blocking techniques. Despite the decentralized characteristics of I2P, we discover that a censor can block more than 95% of peer IP addresses known by a stable I2P client by operating only 10 routers in the network. This amounts to severe network impairment: a blocking rate of more than 70% is enough to cause significant latency in web browsing activities, while blocking more than 90% of peer IP addresses can make the network unusable. Finally, we discuss the security consequences of the network being blocked, and directions for potential approaches to make I2P more resistant to blocking.
The Domain Name System (DNS) is fundamental to communication on the Internet. Therefore, any proposed changes or extensions to DNS can have profound consequences on network communications. In this paper, we explore the implications of a recent extension to DNS called EDNS Client Subnet (ECS). This extension extends the visibility of client information to more domain operators by providing a prefix of a client's IP address to DNS nameservers above the recursive nameserver. This raises numerous questions about the impact of such changes on network communications that rely on DNS. In this paper, we present the results of a longitudinal study that measures the deployment of ECS using several DNS vantage points. We show that, despite being an optional extension, ECS has seen steady adoption over time-even for sites that do not benefit from its use. Additionally, we observe that the client subnet provided by ECS may provide less privacy than originally thought, with most subnets corresponding to a /24 CIDR or smaller. Lastly, we observe several positive and negative consequences resulting from the introduction of DNS. For example, DNS can help aid security efforts when analyzing DNS data above the recursive due to the addition of client network information. However, that same client information has the potential to exacerbate existing security issues like DNS leakage. Ultimately, this paper discusses how small changes to fundamental protocols can result in unintended consequences that can be both positive and negative.
Domain squatting is a common adversarial practice where attackers register domain names that are purposefully similar to popular domains. In this work, we study a specific type of domain squatting called "combosquatting, " in which attackers register domains that combine a popular trademark with one or more phrases (e.g., betterfacebook[.]com, youtube-live[.]com). We perform the first largescale, empirical study of combosquatting by analyzing more than 468 billion DNS records-collected from passive and active DNS data sources over almost six years. We find that almost 60% of abusive combosquatting domains live for more than 1,000 days, and even worse, we observe increased activity associated with combosquatting year over year. Moreover, we show that combosquatting is used to perform a spectrum of different types of abuse including phishing, social engineering, affiliate abuse, trademark abuse, and even advanced persistent threats. Our results suggest that combosquatting is a real problem that requires increased scrutiny by the security community.
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