Defeating Spy Nodes on the Monero Network
According to recent analysis by the Monero Research Lab, one or more anti-privacy adversaries have set up many spy nodes on the Monero network, composing up to 40 percent of reachable node addresses. Connections to these spy nodes would make up an estimated 15 percent of the privacy-sensitive outbound connections established by honest nodes that use the default configuration. This talk will quantitatively estimate the privacy impact of spy nodes even when Monero's Dandelion++ protocol is used. The following countermeasures will be evaluated: opt-in IP address ban lists, anonymity networks like Tor and I2P, a Dandelion++ alternative called Clover, subnet deduplication, and protocols that verify that an internet address is really operating a distinct node. The Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability triad in information security will guide comparisons of these countermeasures.