'Hacktivists' to release covert communications tool

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992506

18:43 04 July 02 
Will Knight
NewScientist.com news service 
  
An international group of "hacktivists" says it is about to release a
computer program designed to let political dissidents communicate via
the internet without fear of government eavesdropping.

Hacktivismo, an international group of programmers and activists, says
the program, named Camera/Shy, will make it simple to bury encrypted
information in innocuous-looking images that can then be shared over
the internet. Those with the same program will then be able to
automatically detect and extract concealed information.

Anyone monitoring the internet for subversive activity will only see
apparently ordinary images. Hacktivismo says Camera/Shy will also use
encryption, suggesting keys will be needed to reveal secret
information in full.

Founder Hacktivismo member, Oxblood Ruffin says: "Although not all of
us are Americans, we share the fundamental ideals of the Constitution
of the United States, especially freedom of speech. Camera/Shy is a
small first step in sharing that privilege."


Keeping quiet

A technology called steganography allows data to be embedded in the
digital information comprising an image file. This is accomplished by
altering relatively unimportant bits so that the changed image remains
identical to the naked eye.

The information is concealed using a key. While it may be possible to
detect that an image has been modified to contain information, without
the key it is impossible to extract that information.

Hacktivismo says Camera/Shy has been designed for "non-technical
users" and will be similar to any normal internet browser. But it will
automatically scan web pages for images containing steganographic
data. The program has been designed to work with any Microsoft
operating system running Internet Explorer 5 or later. It should also
leave no trace of browsing activity on a user's computer, according to
Hacktivismo.

Peter Honeyman, an expert in image steganography at the University of
Michigan, says steganography offers an alternative to encryption. The
latter also keeps the contents of a message private, but does not try
to hide its existence.

"If you want the contents of a message to be private, you just use
cryptography," he told New Scientist. "If you want the container of a
message to also be unknown you use steganography."

Honeyman says existing steganography cannot be completely undetectable
and adds that the key used to hide messages in images can be revealed
with brute force computing power. But he adds that communications
could be made more secure by creating images that appear to contain
steganographic data, but which in fact contain no information.

Hacktivismo says Camera/Shy will be released at the computer security
convention H2K2 in New York City, on 13 July. The group is sponsored
by the US computer hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow, which has
previewed another program designed to beat government surveillance,
called Peek-a-booty.
 


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