A real case of malicious steganography in the wild?

[Jerry Leichter]

On Jun 29, 2010, at 3:33 AM, Steven Bellovin wrote:

> For years, there have been unverifiable statements in the press  
> about assorted hostile parties using steganography.  There may now  
> be a real incident -- or at least, the FBI has stated in court  
> documents that it happened.
>
> According to the Justice Department (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-nsd-753.html 
> ), 11 Russian nationals have been operating as deep cover agents in  
> the US for many years.  According to Complaint #2 (link at the  
> bottom of the page), a steganographic program was used.  Other  
> Internet-era techniques allegedly employed include ad hoc WiFi  
> networks.  (To be sure, the FBI could be wrong.  In the past, I've  
> seen them make mistakes about that, but they're *much* more  
> experienced now.)
>
> It will be interesting to see how this develops in court.
Unfortunately (from a particular point of view), we'll probably never  
find it:  It looks as if these agents will be swapped for various  
Americans held by the Russians.
                                                         -- Jerry


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