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Reminder to never use pixellation to obfuscate sensitive data: https://github.com/bishopfox/unredacter https://github.com/bishopfox/unredacter

by shrx 4y ago

simooooo 4y ago
Someone reversing that out of this stupid article would be more interesting
Proven 4y ago
[dead]
IshKebab 4y ago
That would be a lot more convincing if they had a blind demonstration. As noted in the readme, getting the CSS exactly right is both critical to making it work and extremely difficult. I'd wait until someone actually uses that software successfully in anger before we declare that you should never use pixelation. Obviously black bars are better but sometimes you don't care that much about keeping the data secret.
- crazygringo 4y ago
  If it's a pixel-perfect screenshot, getting the CSS right is actually extremely easy as long as there's surrounding text. It's easy to recognize a font, easy to figure out its size, and easy to figure out the coordinates. No more than a couple minutes of trial and error. It's only difficult if it's been resized+compressed lossily, if it's a photograph of a screen, etc. And since font rendering can be different between Windows and Mac, you might have to try it on each one for a perfect match.
  - IshKebab 4y ago
    This screenshot looks pretty pixel perfect. Maybe have a go if it's so easy!
ziml77 4y ago
I wish image editors would come with tools specifically for redaction. A solid colored box works but it's ugly or makes it hard to tell that there was anything written there at all. What could be better is adding noise that matches the dominant 2 colors of the selection and focuses near areas of contrast. Then you can apply the pixellation on top of that and get something that's tougher to reverse. Alternatively, it could try to recognize where the text and replace it with a string of random characters that are around the same size. In that case there would be absolutely no way to get back the original text since it's gone before the pixellation is even applied.
paulpauper 4y ago
funny when people use burring to hide twitter usernames. its like you know you can just search twitter for the tweet verbatim and it will show the user, right?

Reminder to never use pixellation to obfuscate sensitive data: https://github.com/bishopfox/unredacter https://github.com/bishopfox/unredacter

by shrx 4y ago

Reminder to never use pixellation to obfuscate sensitive data: https://github.com/bishopfox/unredacter https://github.com/bishopfox/unredacter

simooooo 4y ago

Someone reversing that out of this stupid article would be more interesting

Proven 4y ago

[dead]

IshKebab 4y ago

That would be a lot more convincing if they had a blind demonstration. As noted in the readme, getting the CSS exactly right is both critical to making it work and extremely difficult. I'd wait until someone actually uses that software successfully in anger before we declare that you should never use pixelation. Obviously black bars are better but sometimes you don't care that much about keeping the data secret.

crazygringo 4y ago
If it's a pixel-perfect screenshot, getting the CSS right is actually extremely easy as long as there's surrounding text. It's easy to recognize a font, easy to figure out its size, and easy to figure out the coordinates. No more than a couple minutes of trial and error. It's only difficult if it's been resized+compressed lossily, if it's a photograph of a screen, etc. And since font rendering can be different between Windows and Mac, you might have to try it on each one for a perfect match.
- IshKebab 4y ago
  This screenshot looks pretty pixel perfect. Maybe have a go if it's so easy!

ziml77 4y ago

I wish image editors would come with tools specifically for redaction. A solid colored box works but it's ugly or makes it hard to tell that there was anything written there at all. What could be better is adding noise that matches the dominant 2 colors of the selection and focuses near areas of contrast. Then you can apply the pixellation on top of that and get something that's tougher to reverse. Alternatively, it could try to recognize where the text and replace it with a string of random characters that are around the same size. In that case there would be absolutely no way to get back the original text since it's gone before the pixellation is even applied.

paulpauper 4y ago

funny when people use burring to hide twitter usernames. its like you know you can just search twitter for the tweet verbatim and it will show the user, right?