Realizing and evaluating mutual anonymity in P2P networks

In this paper we propose a mutually anonymous protocol for decentralized Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks. The protocol is a combination between the Secret-Sharing-Based Mutual Anonymity Protocol (SSMP) and the information slicing technique. The proposed protocol realizes the initiator´s and responder´s anonymity by using the SSMP in which the complete reply-confirm interaction between responders and initiators is realized using the information slicing algorithm. Employing the concept of secret sharing schemes plays an essential role for the protection of the transmitted information between the initiator and responder, and using the information slicing technique the proposed protocol is churn resilient and can be realized with lower cryptographic cost. Moreover, we evaluate the anonymity in the P2P system from probability point of view. The results show that the proposed mutual anonymity protocol provides higher anonymity than the conventional methods.