I learned from working in the Casino and in the Military to
black out with permanent marker then photo copy prior to scanning or
faxing.
It seems like an extra physical step in today’s age, but
if people depend on a digital techniques to mask or encrypt, there is always someone
with the knowledge to decrypt and undo.
So I always stick to my guns and mark the original or a copy of
the original prior to digitization and transmission of sensitive information.
On a side note, I am still amazed that people still try to add
data to image files and get them through email protection measures…
Timo.
From: MSU Network
Administrators Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard
Wiggins
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MSUNAG] Reconstructing images blurred in Photoshop
Recently police in Thailand arrested an accused pedophile
after German detectives reconstructed an image of the suspect's face that had
been distorted using image editing software.
Clever work on the part of the German detectives. This
got me to thinking about managing sensitive data implications. If you
distribute an image, part of which you've blacked out -- say, a name or an SSN
-- unless the transformation is truly one-way, someone could do the same thing.
This could be in a PowerPoint presentation or any document.
I'm thinking the only really safe way to do this would be to
blacken a printed copy (or better yet cut out the sensitive info) and scan it
back in.
Food for thought...
/rich