On Precisely Detecting Censorship Circumvention in Real-World Networks
Ryan Wails
Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2024 · Day 1 · Censorship
This talk, presented by Ryan Wails at the NDSS Symposium, addresses a critical and often underestimated challenge in the cat-and-mouse game of internet censorship: the precise detection of **censorship circumvention systems (CRSes)** in real-world networks. The core motivation stems from the widespread use of internet censorship by over 60 countries, impacting fundamental human rights and freedom of communication, as evidenced by recent events in China, Iran, and Ukraine. The research aims to advance a free and open internet by providing a deeper understanding of how sophisticated censors can effectively identify and block circumvention traffic, thus enabling the design of more resilient CRSes.