A protocol for file sharing, anonymous and confidential, adapted to P2P networks

Peer-To-Peer networks have become increasingly common as a means of transferring files over Internet. However, user anonymity and privacy are not typically protected in such peer-to-peer systems. An adversary can gain knowledge about not only the content of the files being transferred but also the senders and receivers of the files. In this paper, we describe the design and experimentation of AnonymP2P a new Anonymous and confidential P2P system. AnonymP2P works on the principle of social networks with nodes identified by virtual addresses where each node can change randomly its neighbors to avoid an attacker to surround it. AnonymP2P uses also a process of data request and file sharing that differs from that found in other P2P networks; indeed the “path” of the file transfer is not necessary the reverse “path” of the data request but a set of “paths” built by a set of control message. The “path” of the data request and the “paths” of the file transfer are used by sender and receiver to exchange a secret by the Diffie-Helman protocol and thus reduce the probability of success of Man-In-The-Middle attack. We show that our protocol presents a good trade-off between efficiency on the side and anonymous and confidential communications on the other side.