> 'Hacktivists' to release covert communications tool
> 18:43 04 July 02
> 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.
>
>
> Will Knight
>
>
>
>
>