AntiSteg is a command line tool that checks images and AVI files for any harmful steganographical content. It supports popular image formats and AVI movie files to help users clean these files more effectively.
Steganography is a technique where information is hidden inside images using high-grade encryption algorithms, making them invisible to standard image viewers. Stegged images can be loaded with potentially harmful payloads, such as viruses, Trojans, Spyware, Spamware, malware, snuff movies, child pornography, and sensitive data, both personal and corporate.
AntiSteg does not attempt to retrieve the hidden information, but instead "antistegs" the content. This move ensures that the hidden information is impossible to retrieve at any point in time. This particular feature also lets the software clean a computer with ease, even if several hundreds of thousands of images are stored on it. It can clean dozens of AVI files simultaneously. In contrast, cleaning just one image that uses high encryption encoding and properly selected passwords is computationally nearly infeasible.
The challenge posed by the prevalence of images on the web in sync with the sheer threat of sensitive data being traded, viruses being distributed, or child pornography and snuff movies being sold ought to be addressed. The availability of tools like AntiSteg means preventive action taken to protect your system when working with images. It also can prevent anybody who might unwittingly be helping black-hat hackers, pedophiles, or data spies in their operations.
In essence, when it comes to preventing malicious activities such as steganography, currently available antivirus, antispyware, and antimalware tools do not offer adequate coverage. Companies that allow image-specific searches, such as Google, do nothing to prevent stegged images from being distributed via their services. Using AntiSteg can keep such malpractices at bay.
Version 2.00: Added support for cleaning images/AVIs packed inside Windows resource files.