Survey on anonymous communications in computer networks

0140-3664/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. A doi:10.1016/j.comcom.2009.11.009 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 353 4379. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Ren), jie Anonymous communications aim to preserve communications privacy within the shared public network environment. It can provide security well beyond content privacy and integrity. The scientific studies of anonymous communications are largely originated from Chaum’s two seminal approaches: mixnet and DC-net. In this paper, we present an overview of the research in this field. We start with the basic definitions of anonymous communications. We then describe the cryptographic primitives, the network protocols, and some of the representative anonymous communication systems. We also describe verifiable mixnets and their applications to electronic voting. Finally, we briefly cite some other anonymous systems. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.