Base communication model of IP covert timing channels

Abstract

IP covert timing channel (IPCTC) is an unconventional communication channel which attaches time information to the packets of an overt channel as messages carriers, e.g., using different inter-packet delays to transmit messages in a packet-switched network. Although the IPCTCs have many different communication methods, based on the concept of time, we categorized the base communication model of the IPCTCs into three types and then utilized the signal processing theory to build their mathematical models. As a result, the basic characteristics of the IPCTCs' base model were formally derived. Hence, the characteristics of any IPCTC can be derived from the base models that consist of the IPCTC. Furthermore, a set of approaches was devised to implement the base model of the IPCTCs in a TCP/IP network. Experimental results show the correctness of the proposed base model of the IPCTCs in this paper.