Frequently Asked Questions about AntiSteg


This document attempts to answer common questions regarding the anti-steganography tool AntiSteg 
and its uses. 


Q1:	What is AntiSteg, and how can I get it?

A1:	AntiSteg cleans steganographically-infected images of their potentially harmful content.  To get a 
	copy of the software visit

		http://geocities.com/seconserv
		http://seconserv.freewebsitehosting.com

Q2:	What is Steganography?

A2:	Steganography is an age-old means to hide information inconspicuously within data.  In the world 
	of computers, information is often hidden inside of images.  Commonly used image viewers, will 
	display steganographically modified images as they were originally intended, but will not reveal any 
	of the information hidden inside.

Q3:	Why should I be concerned about hidden information in images?  Maybe people simply want to 
	exchange private information without others knowing. Besides, how many Steganography tools are there?

A3:	This may very well be true.  But consider this: People can readily use a wide range of 
	encryption algorithms that allow them to make information unreadable by others.  High bit 
	encryption tools and properly selected passwords, can make most serious attempts to crack
	the encoding futile.  On the other hand, pedophile rings, black-hat hackers and cyber-thieves 
	engaging in the distribution of child pornography, or performing corporate/personal data theft 
	have much to gain by hiding information inside of stegged images.  The Web today contains 
	billions if not trillions of images.  
	Almost every personal or corporate Web site can contain several images, and some sites 
	hort gigantic volumes of potentially very dangerous images, which are made available 
	to anybody in the world with an Internet connection. Even your own personal Web site may contain 
	images you got from an image repository stored on a CD/DVD, or you obtained from the Internet. 
	E-Mails or MMS may also contribute to the spread of these infected images. 
 
	A minimum and very conservative estimate of the number of Steganography tools would tally several dozens.
	AntiSteg attempts to address them all!

Q4:	What does it cost me to use or distribute AntiSteg?

A4:	Nothing! AntiSteg is free for personal and non-commercial use or distribution.

Q5:	Can I receive technical support for AntiSteg?

A5:	Technical support will primarily be handled via this FAQ.  So send in your comments, bug reports, 
	etc. to

			seconserv@yahoo.com

	Alternatively, if you require immediate help, consider making a donation via PayPal (See the Web site
	for more information).

Q6:	I am interested in using AntiSteg for commercial purposes, what are my costs?

A6:	Again, consider making first a donation.  Thereafter, you may apply for and if you so desire, purchase 
	a commercial license.

Q7:	Does AntiSteg attempt to retrieve the content of stegged images?

A7:	No! The amount of time it would take to crack just one properly encrypted hidden message inside 
	of a stegged image would be computationally impractical. AntiSteg simply makes it impossible to read 
	the hidden information stored inside of an image.  After all this is more than sufficient in helping curtail 
	its spread.

Q8:	Can antivirus, antispy, or antimalware tools help in preventing the spread of stegged images and guarantee 
	that my computers are steg-free?

A8:	NO!

Q9:	Do companies that host online image repositories and make them available to the public World wide do anything 
	to prevent stegged images from being spread via their services?

A9:	NO!

Q9:	Do companies that allow image specific searches  - like Google - do anything to prevent stegged images 
	from being spread via their services?

A9:	NO! As a matter of fact: Companies like Google, are a major contributor to the dissemination of dangerous images
	They are widely used as online tools, but provide no security whatsoever!

Q10:	So what should I do? 

A10:	You have three choices: 

		(1) Use antisteg everytime you download, receive by mail, by MMS, or from any form of stored media
		an image.
		(2) Avoid using online image search tools, until they provide the necessary proven security.
		(3) Continue as before and simply don't care.

Q11:	Is it possible to get AntiSteg for other platforms, and for inclusion in already existing products?

A11:	Anything is possible!  Again, consider making a donation and then supply your request for consideration and
	a cost review.

Q12:	On what operating systems does AntiSteg run?

A12:	AntiSteg should work on most windows platforms like 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista and on many Linux distributions that
	have Wine installed on them.

Q13:	Is there a general reason for why AntiSteg may not run on some Linux systems?

A13:	Some versions of Linux do not supply administrator rights to their common shells.  Consider running su with the
	necessary privileges.

Q14:	I am unable to restore the  backup files, because the file as.dat is missing, or lost. 
	I've applied the restore option, but some files still remain in the backup directory.
	What should I do?

A14:	You can restore these files with the asr.exe utility.   Simply, type asr.exe 
	and hit return.  The asr.exe program was not shipped with version 1.0, but is included in 
	all higher versions.

Q15:	Does AntiSteg attempt to clean the audio stream(s) of AVI files?

A15:	No.  Even though it is possible to utilize audio streams to hide information, in most cases is the audio
	stream size only a fraction of the video stream(s).  It would be highly unlikely to hide substanial amounts of
	video data within the audio stream.  Chunking data though may still pose a problem.

Q16:	How is it possible to effectively hide viruses within images?  Is this really useful in helping their distribution
	as opposed to more common dissemination methods?

A16:	Just like in Nature, computer viruses can exist and be extremley effectively spread, when in their crystaline state.
	And just like with their natural counterparts, a simple external event can again reanimate them.  This external event, will 
	most likely NOT be detected by common Anti-virus software.  To summarize: since commonly sold anti-virus tools 
	neither screen for steganoraphical content in images or movies, nor are they prepared in any form or manner to detect and 
	scan for viral reanimation strategies (from crystaline/stasis state), they are utterly useless as effective sentinels in 
	dealing with upcoming computer threats!

Q17:	How can I incorporate AntiSteg in my own applications?

A17:	AntiSteg is a command line driven executable.  Controlling it from your own application 
	is trivial.  A very small amount of programming ability is of course required.

Q18:	Will there be an SDK?

A18:	An SDK is being considered.

Q19:	What abount anti-stegging images or movies packed within archives?

A19:	Has been added with Release v1.2.

Q20:	Are steganographical tools widely spread among the computing community?

A20:	There are no known numbers. But you can take the following observation into account:
	Until a few years ago, most common computer users where not aware of these tools.  
	In the last year, or two these tools have cropped up in numerous CD/DVD distributions as
	put forth by various computer magazines (some with global reach).  With no doubt, 
	steganographic tools have arrived in the mainstream computing community.

Q21:	I think I've found an image that AntiSteg is unable to handle. What should I do?

A21:	Send it in!  See the main page for Upload of Samples instructions.

Q22:	Are JPEG and GIF formated images really suitable for hidding information?  Is there
	enough space to hide a complete image within them?

A22:	YES! There are two very obvious solutions: 

	-- 	A JPEG or GIF can always be sized such that enough space is created 
		to hide a smaller image.
	-- 	It is trivial to chunk the payload and hide the chunk(s) within 
		a series of images. Animated GIF's are especially suitable for this.

Q23:	Besides the so far mentioned methods to hide information inside of images, are there
	other's I should be concerned about?

A23:	Absolutely!  As resources permit, new releases of AntiSteg will address them in due time.
	So stay tuned...


