4 ms·
The complexity of many file formats is staggering and I try (usually with no success) to convince people to rely only on simpler formats that can be audited eas
by makecheck 9y ago
The complexity of many file formats is staggering and I try (usually with no success) to convince people to rely only on simpler formats that can be audited easily.
Another example: I seem to recall a case awhile back where Word change-tracking contained sensitive information even though “the document” didn’t seem to.
Sadly it used to be easy to rely on plain text implicitly but then we made Unicode so complicated that you have to be careful there too. Fingerprinting through zero-width sequences, etc. is essentially unnoticeable if you do not actively look for it.
- cpeterso 9y agoWord docs used to contain a UUID of the variety that included the MAC address of the machine that created, allow a doc to be traced back to the machine on which it was created. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-04-12/entertainment/9904120227_1_melissa-richard-smith-microsoft-word http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-04-12/entertainment/99...
- stevenwoo 9y agoThey caught the BTK killer because law enforcement told him he would be anonymous if he simply sent them a word doc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader