Using Deception to Hide Things from Hackers: Processes, Principles, and Techniques

Abstract

Deception offers one means of hiding things from an adversary. This paper introduces a model for understanding, comparing, and developing methods of deceptive hiding. The model characterizes deceptive hiding in terms of how it defeats the underlying processes that an adversary uses to discover the hidden thing. An adversary’s process of discovery can take three forms: direct observation (sensing and recognizing), investigation (evidence collection and hypothesis formation), and learning from other people or agents. Deceptive hiding works by defeating one or more elements of these processes. The model is applied to computer security, and it is also applicable to other domains.