Photos
There may be a message hidden in this picture. Or not. Flickr photo by John C Abell
‘This project offers a possible next step in the censorship arms race’
The tool, which is implemented in Python and uses the OutGuess framework, relies on a technique known as steganography to weave hidden messages into an image file. It uses an automated testing tool called Selenium to facilitate the deployment of the messages. The researchers believe that hiding subversive messages inside content that is indistinguishable from legitimate social network activity will reduce the chances of detection.“This project offers a possible next step in the censorship arms race: rather than relying on a single system or set of proxies to circumvent censorship firewalls, we explore whether the vast deployment of sites that host user-generated content can breach these firewalls,” the project’s website explains. “We have developed Collage, which allows users to exchange messages through hidden channels in sites that host user-generated content.”
It’s worth noting that steganography is one method that was used by the Russian spy ring that was recently detected operating within the United States. As we noted last month, a lot of government surveillance is driven by automated keyword-matching and pattern analysis methods that do broad sweeps, but are blind to simple tricks like steganography. Obscuring the substance of a message in an image and deploying it in a nonthreatening and high-volume medium like a social network would make it harder to find.
The Collage software will be released soon and will be published on the Georgia Tech Network Operations and Internet Security (GTNoise) website.
link: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/beat-censorship-by-hiding-secret-messages-in-flickr-photos/
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