Stealth tool makes big entrance

The internet underground is warming up for hackfest H2K2, which will take place next weekend (13 July) in New York.

One of the most eagerly awaited features of the event will be the launch of a steganography tool that will allow information to be shared across the internet without fear of perusal from unauthorised eyes.

Hacktivismo, the hacker group behind the stealth tool - which is known as Camera/Shy - also has ties to the infamous Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) organisation, which has had a similar controversial tool in the pipeline for well over a year now.

Camera/Shy claims to be a tool "developed for democracy activists operating from behind national firewalls. It allows users to trade in banned content across the internet".

Like cDc's sister project, Peekabooty, Camera/Shy will no doubt come under fire from governments for offering terrorists a secure way to communicate electronically.

Steganography allows data to be encrypted and hidden within an image file, which will appear unmodified to the naked eye. As a further security measure the decryption key is needed to unlock the data, so even if an image falls into the wrong hands, retrieval of the data is still no mean feat.

Camera/Shy will be released under the open source licence at next week's hackfest.

Similarly, the code for Peekabooty - which cDc put on the backburner last year - is nearing its long-awaited debut, although a date has yet to be set.

Hacktivismo founder Oxblood Ruffin said the group had "made a commitment to bringing a Constitutional Toolkit to the internet... although not all of us are Americans, we share the fundamental ideals of the Constitution of the United States, especially freedom of speech. Camera/Shy is a small first step in sharing that privilege."

See also:

IT managers get hacker tool warning

Unscrupulous use of Camera/Shy must be stopped  18 Jul 2002

Peekabooty comes out of hiding

Anti-censorship software makes an appearance  18 Feb 2002

Peekabooty goes into hiding

The Cult of the Dead Cow, which gained notoriety for its Back Orifice tool, has put its latest project, an anti-censorship file sharing system, on the back burner in the interests of "end user safety".  28 Jun 2001

Hackers launch anti-censorship browser

The Cult of the Dead Cow, a group best known for its creation of the Back Orifice tool which has gained notoriety over the last few years, is working on an anti-censorship web browsing system.  29 Apr 2001

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