On Effectiveness of Hopping-Based Spread Spectrum Techniques for Network Forensic Traceback

Network-based crime has been increasing in both extent and severity and network-based forensics encapsulates an essential part of legal surveillance. A key network forensics tool is trace back, which can be used to identify true sources of suspects. Both accuracy and secrecy are essential attributes of a successful forensic trace back. In this paper, we present a class of hopping based spread-spectrum techniques for forensic trace back, which fully use the benefits of the spread spectrum approach and preserves a greater degree of secrecy. Our proposed techniques, including Code Hopping-Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (CHDSSS), Frequency Hopping-Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (FH-DSSS), and Time Hopping-Spread Spectrum (TH-DSSS), operate to randomize the effects of marking traffic through both the time and frequency domains. Our simulation study validates these techniques in terms of accuracy and secrecy.