Hypertext Identity Deception and Anonymization (HIDA)

ABSTRACT: The tracking of identities, online fingerprints, trends, and interests on the web is widespread due in part to the multi-billion dollar online advertising industry. This practice and the resulting technology has significant privacy, intellectual property, and national security implications. Current approaches such as Tor,"private browsing,"and proxies only address parts of the problem and are not in line with OPSEC goals. To address this, IAI proposes to investigate and develop a system that meets the needs of users with a desire to fully anonymize their identities and actions in order to avoid these practices. The proposed solution, Hypertext Identity Deception and Anonymization (HIDA) addresses the various layers involved in this problem to significantly reduce the possibility of inadvertent disclosure, monitoring, and analysis. As a result, traffic originating from a HIDA-protected enterprise lacks direct association to the originating organization, software versions, and user. At the same time, HIDA retains compatibility with existing web applications and can be easily deployed in an enterprise network. BENEFIT: While the current cost of the problem is difficult to measure, it is clear that proper OPSEC practices must be followed by DoD users and are likely to be adopted by many corporate users with proper education. It is clear that the DoD is unlikely to continue down a path where a known solution exists, driving significant adoption. The ability to eliminate even 1% of the US"s current $300 billion annual intellectual property theft cost would be a significant benefit. In particular, time-sensitive information leaks have the potential to reveal DoD operations in advance, effectively leading to casualties. Similarly, the impact within the financial sector of timely information about a competitor during an acquisition or other large financial transaction can lead to millions or billions of dollars in impact. The cost of implementing a solution which anonymizes individual users as well as organizations is estimated to be very low, meaning that the risk/reward profile will drive significant adoption.