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19 January 2016
etc Venues Bishopsgate
Europe/London timezone

Network Attachment Privacy

19 Jan 2016, 10:00
30m
etc Venues Bishopsgate

etc Venues Bishopsgate

155 Bishopsgate Liverpool Street London EC2M 3YD
Main Session

Speaker

Mr Piers O'Hanlon (University of Oxford)

Description

In the process of network attachment to IEEE 802 networks a mobile device can potentially reveal a lot about where its user has been and when. The current use of an immutable link-layer address also facilitates persistent tracking. These privacy issues are firstly down to the design of the link layer addressing and protocols, and secondly due to protocols used in IP address acquisition or reacquisition (e.g. DHCP, DNA). The current situation is now starting to change, with some devices beginning to use ephemeral link-layer addressing and also improving their implementation of address acquisition protocols. Furthermore a number of standards bodies are starting to take privacy more seriously and have begun various efforts to address it.

Summary

In this talk I will go over the current situation with respect to network attachment protocols (e.g. 802.11, DHCP, DNA) and their implications for privacy. I will then detail some new measures that are being taken to attempt to improve the situation.

Primary author

Mr Piers O'Hanlon (University of Oxford)

Presentation materials