Chaum's protocol for detecting man-in-the-middle: Explanation, demonstration, and timing studies for a text-messaging scenario

Abstract

This article explains, demonstrates, and evaluates Chaum's protocol for detecting a man-in-the-middle (MitM) of textmessaging network communications. MitM attacks pose serious risks to many network communications. Networks often mitigate these risks with robust protocols, such as TLS, which assume some type of public-key infrastructure that provides a mechanism for the authenticated exchange of public keys. By contrast, Chaum's protocol aims to detect a MitM with minimal assumptions and technology, and in particular without assuming the authenticated exchange of public keys. Chaum assumes that the eavesdropper can "sound like" the communicants but that the eavesdropper cannot fabricate sensible conversations.