
Microdots in the Intercept NSA leaks expose printer serial and timestamp - ryanlol
https://twitter.com/flashman/status/871896475902631936
======
ryanlol
This seems like incredibly bad OPSEC from The Intercept.

It's obvious that the leaker fucked up big time here and would most likely
been caught just based on her own mistakes, but you'd hope that a publication
with such a track record of publishing high profile leaks would make a better
effort to protect its sources than sending watermarked documents directly to
other government employees to confirm.

Really not sure if they'll be able to recover from this.

~~~
PietdeVries
So I've been strugling a bit with how this went...

She downloaded/retrieved a document, then printed it, then scanned it again
and mailed it to The Intercept? Some stories claim she was caught because
access to the document was logged, others point to the dots and printer
logging. But printing a document and then scanning it again would not make
sense, would it?

~~~
ryanlol
>She downloaded/retrieved a document, then printed it, then scanned it again
and mailed it to The Intercept?

I think that's just people misunderstanding the "mailed", it really means
physical mail here.

>Some stories claim she was caught because access to the document was logged,
others point to the dots and printer logging.

The legal paperwork claims that she was caught due to the audit logs and her
previous unrelated communications with The Intercept. I don't believe there's
any reason to doubt that, the dots probably didn't play a part there.

>But printing a document and then scanning it again would not make sense,
would it?

The document was probably just printed and mailed.

------
flashman
More on the method: [http://blog.erratasec.com/2017/06/how-intercept-outed-
realit...](http://blog.erratasec.com/2017/06/how-intercept-outed-reality-
winner.html)

------
NamTaf
Per the other discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14494818](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14494818)

She was 1 of 6 to print it, and emailed the Intercept from her own work email
address. Forensic dots weren't needed, she was just incompetent at covering
her tracks.

------
RichardHeart
I wonder how many other places in life have little yellow dots we haven't been
told about.

~~~
mr_overalls
Manufacturers who insert a RFID tag inside tires:

Michelin and its brand BF Goodrich:
[http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?269](http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?269)

Goodyear tires: [http://www.rfid-ready.com/201202156319/goodyear-
integrates-r...](http://www.rfid-ready.com/201202156319/goodyear-integrates-
rfid-tags-in-truck-tires.html)

Bridgestone tires: [http://www.tirereview.com/rfid-today-tomorrow-
yesterday/](http://www.tirereview.com/rfid-today-tomorrow-yesterday/)

Komho tires manufactured in Korea:
[http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10880/2](http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10880/2)

Cooper tires:
[http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8231060.html](http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8231060.html)
[http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7443301.html](http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7443301.html)

Continental tires:
[http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?8338](http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?8338)

Pirelli tires: [http://www.cnet.com/news/pirelli-microchipped-cyber-tyre-
imp...](http://www.cnet.com/news/pirelli-microchipped-cyber-tyre-improves-
safety-performance/#)!

