Using a P4 Hardware Switch to Block Trackers and Ads for All Devices on an Edge Network

Shie Yuan Wang*, Jin Ting Li

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nowadays, when a user downloads a web page, many targeted or untargeted advertisements are embedded into the downloaded web page. These advertisements slow down the page download and display and occupy a very large portion of the screen. Besides, they unnecessarily consume more network bandwidth. To solve these problems, in this paper we design and implement a method inside a P4 hardware switch to block trackers and advertisements. Our method successfully blocks their operations by blocking the DNS requests issued by them. Our method is to be deployed at a switch that connects an edge network to the Internet. Using such a configuration, all devices on the edge network will be automatically protected by our method without the need to install a per-device protection software. Experimental results show that our method can block trackers and advertisements for all devices on an edge network, save the network bandwidth consumed by them, and enable a web browser to download and display web pages faster.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium 2023, NOMS 2023
EditorsKemal Akkaya, Olivier Festor, Carol Fung, Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman, Lisandro Zambenedetti Granville, Carlos Raniery Paula dos Santos
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781665477161
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Event36th IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium, NOMS 2023 - Miami, United States
Duration: 8 May 202312 May 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium 2023, NOMS 2023

Conference

Conference36th IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium, NOMS 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMiami
Period8/05/2312/05/23

Keywords

  • advertisement blocking
  • P4
  • privacy protection
  • programmable switches
  • tracker

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