Abstract
A random beacon periodically outputs a random number and was introduced by Rabin [12] to secure remote transaction. We consider a random beacon that is pervasive in the sense that, it is available everywhere, and accesses to the beacon blends with normal activities. With a pervasive beacon, it is difficult to disrupt the beacon and detect accesses to it. As a result, the pervasiveness of the beacon can facilitate covert coordination, whereby a large collection of agents covertly decide on a common action. In this paper, we discuss the desirable properties of a pervasive random beacon which can be used for covert coordination, and describe how such a beacon can be found in the Internet based on major stock market indices closing values. We also investigate how such a covert coordination can be used, in particular, in coordinating distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Finally, we explore ways to, in a limited manner, disrupt the beacon.
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Lee, H.H., Chang, EC., Chan, M.C. (2005). Pervasive Random Beacon in the Internet for Covert Coordination. In: Barni, M., Herrera-Joancomartí, J., Katzenbeisser, S., Pérez-González, F. (eds) Information Hiding. IH 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3727. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11558859_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11558859_5
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