VeraSel: Verifiable Random Selection for Mixnets Construction

TL;DR

VeraSel introduces a distributed, verifiable method for selecting Mixnodes in Mixnets using VRFs, enhancing security by removing reliance on a trusted third party and ensuring unbiased, transparent node selection.

Contribution

The paper presents VeraSel, a novel scheme that allows for distributed, unbiased, and verifiable selection of Mixnodes using Verifiable Random Functions, improving security and trustworthiness.

Findings

VeraSel enables verifiable node selection in Mixnets.

The scheme ensures unbiased and distributed Mixnode selection.

It enhances security by removing the need for a trusted party.

Abstract

The security and performance of Mixnets depends on the trustworthiness of the Mixnodes in the network. The challenge is to limit the adversary's influence on which Mixnodes operate in the network. A trusted party (such as the Mixnet operator) may ensure this, however, it is a single point of failure in the event of corruption or coercion. Therefore, we study the problem of how to select a subset of Mixnodes in a distributed way for Mixnet construction. We present VeraSel, a scheme that enables Mixnodes to be chosen according to their weights in a distributed, unbiased, and verifiable fashion using Verifiable Random Functions (VRFs). It is shown that VeraSel enables any party to learn and verify which nodes has been selected based on the commitments and proofs generated by each Mixnode with VRF.