{NetShaper}: A Differentially Private Network {Side-Channel} Mitigation System

A Sabzi, R Vora, S Goswami, M Seltzer… - 33rd USENIX Security …, 2024 - usenix.org
A Sabzi, R Vora, S Goswami, M Seltzer, M Lécuyer, A Mehta
33rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 24), 2024usenix.org
The widespread adoption of encryption in network protocols has significantly improved the
overall security of many Internet applications. However, these protocols cannot prevent
network side-channel leaks—leaks of sensitive information through the sizes and timing of
network packets. We present NetShaper, a system that mitigates such leaks based on the
principle of traffic shaping. NetShaper's traffic shaping provides differential privacy
guarantees while adapting to the prevailing workload and congestion condition, and allows …
Abstract
The widespread adoption of encryption in network protocols has significantly improved the overall security of many Internet applications. However, these protocols cannot prevent network side-channel leaks—leaks of sensitive information through the sizes and timing of network packets. We present NetShaper, a system that mitigates such leaks based on the principle of traffic shaping. NetShaper's traffic shaping provides differential privacy guarantees while adapting to the prevailing workload and congestion condition, and allows configuring a tradeoff between privacy guarantees, bandwidth and latency overheads. Furthermore, NetShaper provides a modular and portable tunnel endpoint design that can support diverse applications. We present a middlebox-based implementation of NetShaper and demonstrate its applicability in a video streaming and a web service application.
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