Passive IP Traceback

IP traceback can be used to find the origin of anonymous traffic; however, Internet-scale IP traceback systems have not been deployed due to a need for cooperation between Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This article presents an Internet-scale Passive IP Trackback (PIT) mechanism that does not require ISP deployment. PIT analyzes the ICMP messages that may scattered to a network telescope as spoofed packets travel from attacker to victim. An Internet route model is then used to help re-construct the attack path. Applying this mechanism to data collected by Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), we found PIT can construct a trace tree from at least one intermediate router in 55.4% the fiercest packet spoofing attacks, and can construct a tree from at least 10 routers in 23.4% of attacks. This initial result shows PIT is a promising mechanism.