  We introduce the first known mechanism providing realtime server location
verification. Its uses include enhancing server authentication (e.g.,
augmenting TLS) by enabling browsers to automatically interpret server location
information. We describe the design of this new measurement-based technique,
Server Location Verification (SLV), and evaluate it using PlanetLab. We explain
how SLV is compatible with the increasing trends of geographically distributed
content dissemination over the Internet, without causing any new
interoperability conflicts. Additionally, we introduce the notion of
(verifiable) "server location pinning" within TLS (conceptually similar to
certificate pinning) to support SLV, and evaluate their combined impact using a
server-authentication evaluation framework. The results affirm the addition of
new security benefits to the existing SSL/TLS-based authentication mechanisms.
We implement SLV through a location verification service, the simplest version
of which requires no server-side changes. We also implement a simple browser
extension that interacts seamlessly with the verification infrastructure to
obtain realtime server location-verification results.
