| layout | page |
|---|---|
| title | Comparisons |
| permalink | /comparisons.html |
| nav_order | 1 |
We evaluate WATER against other pluggable transport designs in terms of the following features:
- Hot-swappable: Can the transport be loaded and unloaded without recompling the host application?
- Host Isolation: Does the transport execute in an isolated environment (e.g., a sandbox) and with limited access to the host resources?
- Compatibility Guarantee: Can the host application be transport-agnostic and still work with any transport that implements the interface?
- Cross-language Deployment: Can the transport be implemented in a different programming language than the host application?
| Feature | PTs | Marionette | Proteus | WATER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot-swappable | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Host Isolation | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Compatibility Guarantee | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Cross-language Deployment | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
- PTs (pluggabletransports.info)
- Marionette: A Programmable Network Traffic Obfuscation System (USENIX Security'15)
- Proteus: Programmable Protocols for Censorship Circumvention (FOCI 2023)