Strong Accountability for Network Storage

This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of CATS, a network storage service with strong accountability properties. A CATS server annotates read and write responses with evidence of correct execution, and offers audit and challenge interfaces that enable clients to verify that the server is faithful. A faulty server cannot conceal its misbehavior, and evidence of misbehavior is independently verifiable by any participant. CATS clients are also accountable for their actions on the service. A client cannot deny its actions, and the server can prove the impact of those actions on the state views it presented to other clients.

Experiments with a CATS prototype evaluate the cost of accountability under a range of conditions and expose the primary factors influencing the level of assurance and the performance of a strongly accountable storage server. The results show that strong accountability is practical for network storage systems in settings with strong identity andmodest degrees of write-sharing. The accountability concepts and techniques used in CATS generalize to a broader class of network services.