The Impact of Partial Packet Recovery on the Inherent Secrecy of Random Linear Coding

Abstract: This paper considers a source, which employs random linear coding (RLC) to encode a message, a legitimate destination, which can recover the message if it gathers a sufficient number of coded packets, and an eavesdropper. The probability of the eavesdropper accumulating enough coded packets to recover the message, known as the intercept probability, has been studied in the literature. In our work, the eavesdropper does not abandon its efforts to obtain the source message if RLC decoding has been unsuccessful; instead, it employs partial packet recovery (PPR) offline in an effort to repair erroneously received coded packets before it attempts RLC decoding again. Results show that PPR-assisted RLC decoding marginally increases the intercept probability, compared to RLC decoding, when the channel conditions are good. However, as the channel conditions deteriorate, PPR-assisted RLC decoding significantly improves the chances of the eavesdropper recovering the source message, even if the eavesdropper experiences similar or worse channel conditions than the destination.