Nonce injection and observation system for detecting eavesdroppers

Abstract

An entity can disseminate nonces by introducing them into various aspects of network traffic, and then listening for them, thereby detecting eavesdroppers on the Internet. A nonce may be numeric, alphanumeric, or otherwise; nonces are contextually appropriate to how they are disseminated. Preferably, a nonce is disseminated by incorporating it into some aspect of network traffic. For example, a nonce can be placed in a network identifier such as an IP address or domain name label. Correlating the circumstances under which the nonce was disseminated and under which it was observed to 'propagate', intelligence about who is eavesdropping on what portions of the Internet can be derived. Such intelligence can be put to many uses, including reporting on eavesdroppers, routing traffic around eavesdroppers, developing reputation scores, and adopting enhanced obfuscation/privacy/security techniques.