AntiSteg is a command line tool for cleaning images and AVI files of potentially harmful
steganographical content. Many popular image formats (especially those used
on the Web) are handled by the tool. Archive support has been added.
Steganography is a means by which information is hidden inside of images
(often via high-encryption algorithms), making them completely invisible to
all standard image viewers. Stegged images can carry extremely harmful payloads,
which include, but are not limited to:
Child pornography/Snuff movies
Viruses, Trojans, Spyware, Spamware, and other Malware
Sensitive personal/corporate Data
AntiSteg does not attempt to extract the actual hidden data, but simply antistegs
the content, making it impossible to be retrieved at a later point in time.
This approach allows it to quickly clean a computer, even if 100,000s of images
are stored on it. Dozens of AVI files can also be cleaned. In contrast, trying to
desteg just one image which uses a high encryption encoding (256 bit or higher),
and a properly selected password is computationally nearly infeasible. Trying the same
just one AVI file is not even worth considering!
Since the amount of images stored on the Web approaches staggering numbers
(anywhere from 100s of billions to trillions), the possibility to successfully
store and trade/sell child pornography, snuff movies,, distribute viruses, or exchange sensitive
information is very high. Even worse, anybody who operates a web site (personal
or corporate) that contains images, may unwittingly be helping pedophiles,
black-hat hackers, or data spies in their operations. Of course, the same holds
true for any e-mail attachment, or MMS being sent!
Currently available antivirus, antispyware, and antimalware tools do NOT address
this problem!
Companies that allow image specific searches - like Google - do NOTHING to prevent
stegged images from being spread via their services!