docs/known_issues.rst: Add section on traffic analysis. Fix URL for current version of file.

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david-sarah 2010-10-24 16:42:59 -07:00
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commit 5528af0524

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@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Overview
Below is a list of known issues in recent releases of Tahoe-LAFS, and how to
manage them. The current version of this file can be found at
http://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/trunk/docs/known_issues.txt
http://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/trunk/docs/known_issues.rst
If you've been using Tahoe-LAFS since v1.1 (released 2008-06-11) or if you're
just curious about what sort of mistakes we've made in the past, then you might
@ -200,3 +200,30 @@ Known issues in the FTP and SFTP frontends
These are documented in docs/frontends/FTP-and-SFTP.txt and at
<http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/SftpFrontend>.
Traffic analysis based on sizes of files/directories, storage indices, and timing
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Files and directories stored by Tahoe-LAFS are encrypted, but the ciphertext
reveals the exact size of the original file or directory representation.
This information is available to passive eavesdroppers and to server operators.
For example, a large data set with known file sizes could probably be
identified with a high degree of confidence.
Uploads and downloads of the same file or directory can be linked by server
operators, even without making assumptions based on file size. Anyone who
knows the introducer furl for a grid may be able to act as a server operator.
This implies that if such an attacker knows which file/directory is being
accessed in a particular request (by some other form of surveillance, say),
then they can identify later or earlier accesses of the same file/directory.
Observing requests during a directory traversal (such as a deep-check
operation) could reveal information about the directory structure, i.e.
which files and subdirectories are linked from a given directory.
Attackers can combine the above information with inferences based on timing
correlations. For instance, two files that are accessed close together in
time are likely to be related even if they are not linked in the directory
structure. Also, users that access the same files may be related to each other.