Re: NSA issues guidance on redacting Word, PDF

[John LaCour <johnlacour () gmail com>]

And a some what related story about the CIA:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43014

CIA Realizes It's Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years

November 30, 2005 | Issue 41•48

LANGLEY, VA—A report released Tuesday by the CIA's Office of the
Inspector General revealed that the CIA has mistakenly obscured
hundreds of thousands of pages of critical intelligence information
with black highlighters.

-J

On 1/24/06, Richard M. Smith <rms () computerbytesman com> wrote:
> FYI
>
>
>
>
> NSA issues guidance on redacting Word, PDF
> By SHAUN WATERMAN
> UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
>
> WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The National Security Agency has issued
> technical guidance for U.S. officials on redacting or editing sensitive
> documents for release following a series of embarrassing incidents in
> which so-called metadata stored in electronic formats like Microsoft
> Word or Adobe PDF files has been accidentally exposed.
>
> Both types of files are "complex, sophisticated computer data formats,"
> reads the guidance document produced by the NSA's Information Assurance
> Division, which is responsible for the integrity of U.S. government
> computer networks.
>
> The document, called "Redacting with confidence: How to safely publish
> sanitized reports converted from Word to PDF," says that these files can
> "contain many kinds of information, such as text, graphics, tables,
> images, (and) meta-data."
>
> Metadata is information associated with the file, like a note of the
> author and the date the file was created.
>
> This "complexity makes (documents in these and other formats) potential
> vehicles for exposing information unintentionally, especially when
> downgrading or sanitizing classified materials," the NSA concludes.
>
> Although the document, dated December 2005 and posted on the Web site of
> the Federation of American Scientists last week, provides no concrete
> illustrations, there were at least two occasions last year when exactly
> such unintentional exposure of U.S. official documents took place.
>
>  ...
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