System and method for evaluating and enhancing source anonymity for encrypted web traffic

Abstract

A system and method is provided for evaluating the effectiveness of data encryption for hiding the identity of the source of Web traffic. A signature is constructed from encrypted Web traffic for a Web page sent by a target Web site, and the signature is compared with archived traffic signatures obtained by accessing various Web pages of interest in advance. If the signature of the detected encrypted Web traffic matches a stored traffic signature beyond a pre-set statistical threshold, a positive match is found, and the source of the traffic is identified. Countermeasures for reducing the reliability of source identification based on traffic signature matching are provided.

1 - 18 . (canceled)  
   
   
       19 . A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps by an Internet client to access Web pages, the steps comprising: 
 sending a request to access a target Web page;    receiving a list of objects in the target Web page;    identifying advertisement objects in the list of objects in the target Web page;    selecting randomly a subset of the identified advertisement objects; and    downloading, in an encrypted form, the objects in the target Web page except the subset of identified advertisement objects.    
   
   
       20 . A computer-readable medium as in  claim 19 , wherein the step of identifying compares the list of objects in the target Web page with a list of advertisement sites in a name resolution file.  
   
   
       21 . A method for an Internet client to access Web pages, comprising: 
 sending a request to access a target Web page;    receiving a list of objects in the target Web page;    identifying advertisement objects in the list of objects in the target Web page;    selecting randomly a subset of the identified advertisement objects; and    downloading, in an encrypted form, the objects in the target Web page except the subset of identified advertisement objects.    
   
   
       22 - 25 . (canceled)  
   
   
       26 . A computer-readable medium as in  claim 19 , wherein receiving receives a Hypertext Transport Protocol document including the list of objects.  
   
   
       27 . A computer-readable medium as in  claim 19 , further comprising issuing a Hypertext Transport Protocol GET request for downloading objects in the target Web page.  
   
   
       28 . A computer-readable medium as in  claim 19 , further comprising referencing a file of unwanted advertisement sites to identify objects associated with the unwanted advertisement sites that may not be downloaded.  
   
   
       29 . A Web advertisement blocker resident on a computer-readable medium, the Web advertisement blocker comprising the computer-executable instructions according to  claim 19 .  
   
   
       30 . A method according to  claim 21 , wherein identifying includes comparing the list of objects in the target Web page with a list of advertisement sites.  
   
   
       31 . A method according to  claim 30 , wherein a name resolution file includes the list of advertisement sites.  
   
   
       32 . A method according to  claim 21 , wherein receiving receives a Hypertext Transport Protocol document including the list of objects.  
   
   
       33 . A method according to  claim 21 , further comprising issuing a Hypertext Transport Protocol GET request for downloading objects in the target Web page.  
   
   
       34 . A method according to  claim 21 , further comprising referencing a file of unwanted advertisement sites to identify objects associated with the unwanted advertisement sites that may not be downloaded.  
   
   
       35 . A Web advertisement blocker comprising computer-executable instructions implementing the method of  claim 21 .  
   
   
       36 . A Web advertisement blocker, comprising: 
 computer-executable instructions embodied on computer-readable media, and when executed, the computer-executable instructions facilitate, 
 sending a request to access a target Web page;  
 receiving a list of objects in the target Web page;  
 identifying advertisement objects in the list of objects in the target Web page;  
 selecting randomly a subset of the identified advertisement objects; and  
 downloading, in an encrypted form, the objects in the target Web page except the subset of identified advertisement objects.  
   
   
   
       37 . A Web advertisement blocker according to  claim 36 , wherein receiving receives a Hypertext Transport Protocol document including the list of objects.  
   
   
       38 . A Web advertisement blocker according to  claim 36 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further facilitate issuing a Hypertext Transport Protocol GET request for downloading objects in the target Web page.  
   
   
       39 . A Web advertisement blocker according to  claim 36 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further facilitate referencing a file of unwanted advertisement sites to identify objects associated with the unwanted advertisement sites that may not be downloaded.  
   
   
       40 . A Web advertisement blocker according to  claim 36 , wherein identifying includes comparing the list of objects in the target Web page with a list of advertisement sites.  
   
   
       41 . A Web advertisement blocker according to  claim 40 , wherein a name resolution file includes the list of advertisement sites.  
   
   
       42 . A Web advertisement blocker according to  claim 36 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are embodied on computer-readable media associated with an Internet client computer.