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posted by martyb on Thursday June 28 2018, @07:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the measures-and-countermeasures dept.

The Register reports

Beating the unique identifiers that printers can add to documents for security purposes is possible: you just need to add extra dots beyond those that security tools already add. The trick is knowing where to add them.

[...] researchers from the Technical University of Dresden [...] Timo Richter, Stephan Escher, Dagmar Schönfeld, and Thorsten Strufe reckon they've cracked the challenge of knowing how to anonymise printed documents, and presented their work to the Association of Computer Machinery's 6th ACM Workshop on Information Hiding and Multimedia Security in Innsbruck, Austria [the week of June 22].

In this paper, the TU Dresden researchers explain that they tested 1,286 documents printed on machines from 18 manufacturers, creating an extraction algorithm to identify well-known dot-patterns--and at the same time, discovering four previously undiscovered patterns coding at 48, 64, 69, and 98 bits.

Identifying new patterns is important, from a privacy point of view, since as the authors points out, an activist in a dictatorship could easily be unmasked by their printer (unless they happen to use a Brother, Samsung, or Tektronix printer, none of which seemed to carry tracking codes, the researchers said).

[...] The group has published [a] toolkit that automates the obfuscation workflow, here.

Previous: "Printer Dot Sanitisation" Software Seeks to Cleanse Yellow-Dot Watermarks


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @07:40PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @07:40PM (#699946)

    I have put an malvware (virus) on a porn site (site with adult videos) and
    you accessed it to have some fun (you know what i mean)

    While you were watching the adult videos the system began to work as a RDP
    (Remote Desktop) with a keylogger and i had access to device screen and
    your camera.

    After that my malvware collected all your messengers, emails and social
    networks contacts.

    Then what did i do? i just created an double screen video (the first part
    is your screen record, the second part is the recording of your camera
    (yes, record of yourself while watching the porn video, i must admit you
    have a nice taste 🙂 )

    I guess isnt good news, right?

    But dont worry, there´s a way to fix all this mess. What you have to do is
    just pay me U$360,00, this is a fair value to keep our little secret.
    You will make this payment through Bitcoin (If you dont know how to do this
    just search google “how to buy bitcoin” or “localbitcoins, its pretty easy
    to buy it).
    My Bitcoin address is: 14AXbqCfLBh6MQzbA6VB7aM49Rsq8GigT6

    If you decide not to make my payment i will send your double-screen video
    to all your contacts (yes this includes co-workers, friends, family, etc…)
    and of course make the video public available on internet.

    If i receive my payment all the material will be destroyed and you will
    never hear from me again.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Troll=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Snow on Thursday June 28 2018, @08:22PM (4 children)

    by Snow (1601) on Thursday June 28 2018, @08:22PM (#699959) Journal

    OMG. I get messages exactly like this about twice a week.

    It's always the same. I've put a virus on your computer and caught your wanking on webcam. I'm going to share it with all your contacts unless you send me $$ in bitcoin. The last one was for $500 worth.

    I've never been complimented on my choice of wanking material however. Martyb, what have you been watching...

    • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by takyon on Thursday June 28 2018, @09:04PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday June 28 2018, @09:04PM (#699977) Journal

      False alarm, it was just videos censored from YouTube. :/

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by edIII on Thursday June 28 2018, @10:48PM (2 children)

      by edIII (791) on Thursday June 28 2018, @10:48PM (#700017)

      I haven't yet, but I would laugh my fucking ass off.

      1. The webcam inside the laptop has a small piece of thick colored construction paper taped over it (SOP)
      2. The drivers for the webcam are not even installed
      3. During normal operation, the laptop lid is closed further complicating recording
      4. During normal operation, the laptop is at the level of my crotch. Which admittedly works in the attackers favor if the latop lid were not closed
      5. I pirate all my porn and refuse to visit any pornographic website. Not worth the chance of downloading the malware :)
      6. I don't run Microsoft anymore, so go deep in the toolkit to find exploits against well patched and upgraded Linux/BSD distros...

      The major point being, we already know martyb is a dirty fucking pervert that gets home, drops hit pants, and whacks it furiously. Ever see bandwidth graphs from the major porn providers? Looks very similar to peak electricity usage graphs, with one part of the day being extremely active. Reminds of the Johnson & Johnson study. 99% of men and boys admitted to masturbation. The other 1% lied :)

      At this point in our society, who even cares about who watches porn? Some religious fundamentalists that are quickly becoming irrelevant? What would hurt Martyb more is if he came out as an Alt-right supporter and loudly claimed support for incarcerating children in concentration camps. They're would be pitchforks and torches handed out by the Left with calls to get him fired, evicted, .etc. That's not a barb thrown at the Left either, but just an observation that people live annihilating people these days with no mercy. Where's Roseanne now? I loved that whacky bitch. She's funny and the show was watchable.

      Anyhoo, nobody cares about that shit anymore, and most adults are not even embarrassed about it.

      Tell them to release all the data, and not to get your name wrong for the history books :)

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
      • (Score: 2, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Friday June 29 2018, @04:02AM (1 child)

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday June 29 2018, @04:02AM (#700108) Homepage Journal

        So many guys can thank Johnson & Johnson for studying that. Because their Johnson's baby lotion is PERFECTO. No more blindness, no more hairy palms!!

        • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 29 2018, @04:24AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 29 2018, @04:24AM (#700115)

          Hemp seed oil is better

  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by pkrasimirov on Thursday June 28 2018, @10:08PM

    by pkrasimirov (3358) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 28 2018, @10:08PM (#700003)