The Nym mixnet
The Nym mixnet is a free and open-source software designed to ensure a high level of privacy in all online communications. It is an implementation of a mix network devised by David Chaum in 1981.[1]
History
[edit]The research that led to the design of the Nym mixnet was carried out as part of various European Commission projects, including Panoramix[2] and NextLeap.[3] The Nym mixnet directs Internet traffic through a worldwide multi-layered network (an overlay network) consisting of hundreds of nodes, where the source and destination IP addresses are decoupled.[4]
Harry Halpin, Claudia Diaz from KU Leuven University and Aggelos Kiayias, wrote the Nym white paper in February 2021.[5] The latter two also wrote the document "Reward Sharing for Mixnets" describing the token economy on which the Nym mixnet is based.
Anna Piotrowska from University College London and some of the founders of the startup Chainspace,Co-founders of startup Chainspace which was acquired by Meta (as Facebook) to design for Libra, also collaborated in the design.[6][7]
Chelsea Manning , a whistleblower and former intelligence analyst in the US army , was recruited to audit the Nym mixnet for vulnerabilities.[8] She then joined the team as a security expert in January 2022.[9][10]
Operation
[edit]The Nym mixnet masks metadata using three main techniques: fundamental actions: inserting dummy packets, modifying packet´s transfer times and standardising packet size.[11][12] These three strategies make it extremely difficult to analyze data patterns and prevent the implementation of computer surveillance devices designed for spying, monitoring or commercial exploitation of data by government or private institutions.[13] The Nym mixnet directs Internet traffic through a worldwide multi-layered network (an overlay network) consisting of hundreds of nodes, where the source and destination IP addresses are decoupled.It is similar to the Tor network or VPNs in that it allows the IP address to be camouflaged, obscuring the location of the user. The main difference is that the Nym mixnet also hides metadata. According to security experts today, metadata can be used for mass surveillance and traffic analysis.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ Chaum, David L. (1981-02-01). "Untraceable electronic mail, return addresses, and digital pseudonyms". Commun. ACM. 24 (2): 84–90. doi:10.1145/358549.358563. ISSN 0001-0782.
- ^ "Consortium - H2020 | Panoramix". 2015-11-30. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "home | NEXTLEAP". nextleap.eu. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Dingledine, Roger, ed. (2003). Privacy enhancing technologies: third international workshop, Dresden, Germany, March 26 - 28, 2003 ; revised papers. Lecture notes in computer science. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-20610-1.
- ^ "The Nym NetworkThe Next Generation of Privacy Infrastructure". Feb 2021.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Kim, Christine (2019-08-21). "Crypto Asset NYM to Fuel Test of Tokenized Facebook Login Alternative". www.coindesk.com. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Volpicelli, Gian M. "The obscure London startup that made Facebook's Libra possible". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Powers, Benjamin (2021-08-25). "Privacy Startup Nym Hires Whistleblower Chelsea Manning to Audit Mixnet". www.coindesk.com. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Privacy Startup Nym Hires Whistleblower Chelsea Manning to Audit Mixnet. Retrieved 2024-07-24 – via www.coindesk.com.
- ^ "Chelsea Manning dances with the crypto devil". POLITICO. 2022-05-31. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Ben Guirat, Iness; Diaz, Claudia (2022-07-01). "Mixnet optimization methods". Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies. 2022 (3): 456–477. doi:10.56553/popets-2022-0081. ISSN 2299-0984.
- ^ Diaz, Claudia; Halpin, Harry; Kiayias, Aggelos (2022-06-13). "Reward Sharing for Mixnets". Cryptoeconomic Systems. 2 (1). doi:10.21428/58320208.00acf460. ISSN 2767-4207.
- ^ "The Differences Between Onion Routing and Mix Networks - ritter.vg". ritter.vg. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Szoldra, Paul. "Leaked NSA document says metadata collection is one of agency's 'most useful tools'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
