RE: CRIME More on terrorist use of Stegonography

From: George Heuston (GeorgeH@private)
Date: Fri Jul 12 2002 - 06:45:31 PDT

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    The conclusion reached--or assumed--that stego is not used by terrorists is
    bogus.  It is not only bogus, but incredibly naieve.  Stego, being easy to
    use, and easy to train people to use, is most certainly being used. E-bay
    and news groups (IRC being notably absent from the scrutiny of this
    purported study), though 2 logical places to look, are vast in themselves,
    and I would argue that a 'scientific analysis' of 2 million images would be
    little more effective or comprehensive than a random Internet-wide search.  
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: Alan
    To: 'crime@private'
    Sent: 7/11/02 10:40 PM
    Subject: CRIME More on terrorist use of Stegonography
    
    Forward from the politech list.
    
    
    From: "Quinn, SallyAnn" <SallyAnn.Quinn@private>
    To: "'declan@private'" <declan@private>
    Subject: RE: Politech challenge: Decode Al Qaeda stego-communications!
    Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 17:23:56 -0500
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    
    I can't believe this is back.  Niels Provos and Peter Honeyman
    at the Center for Information Technology integration at U Mich drove a
    stake
    through the heart of this rumor last fall by scientifically
    analyzing 2 million images from e-Bay and 1 million images from USENET.
    Their conclusion is:  "...we are unable to report
    finding a single hidden message."
    
    The study can be viewed at:
    http://www.citi.umich.edu/u/provos/papers/detecting.pdf
    
    Oh, Gina Kolata's stories are highly suspect.    She interviewed PGP's
    author Phillip Zimmerman after 9-11, and wrote an article
    insinuating the the algorithm was somehow the terrorists' best friend
    and that Phil was quite happy about it.
    
    
    Sally Ann Quinn, Software Test Engineer
    West
    50 East Broad St., Rochester, NY  14694
    Mail Drop A1-N135
    Tel (585) 546-5530 x3243
    



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