P2P protocol analysis and blocking algorithm

Abstract

P2P (Peer to Peer) technology provides methods for overcoming many weak points of conventional client-server mechanism, and consequently, many efforts in many fields are made to apply it. On the other side of the coin, these strong points of the P2P technology have been used for bad purposes, causing many problems and concerns. This paper proposes a method to block P2P applications fundamentally in order to eliminate illegal data or files. We use Ethereal, a reliable network packet analysis tool, and analyze the packets receive and send when P2P applications run. Then, in this paper we examine the packet architecture and characteristics of each P2P application, and propose the algorithms that can block P2P applications. When being used for blocking up P2P applications, these proposed algorithms can play important roles in reducing excessive P2P traffic and illegal data sharing. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.