Student Uncovers US Military Secrets

Student Uncovers US Military Secrets 484

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday May 16, 2004 @11:57AM from the magic-market-don't-cut-it-no-more dept.

karthik_r085 writes "According to The Register, An Irish graduate student has uncovered words blacked-out of declassified US military documents using nothing more than a dictionary and text analysis software. Claire Whelan, a computer science student at Dublin City University was given the problems by her PhD supervisor as a diversion. David Naccache, a cryptographer with Gemplus, challenged her to discover the words missing from two documents: one was a memo to George Bush, and another concerned military modifications to civilian helicopters."

Student Uncovers US Military Secrets

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WMD!! (Score:5, Funny)

by AmigaAvenger ( 210519 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:00PM (#9167261) Journal

Oh OH, i can see it coming already, text analysis and dictionary software declared as Weapons of Mass Destruction! That, and Ireland is going to become the next member of the "axis of evil"

The one to Bush.... (Score:5, Funny)

by Pranjal ( 624521 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:01PM (#9167273)

...said
"Please please please let the army attack Iraq"

Apparently the word that was blacked out was please.

What happens to here research? (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:03PM (#9167291)

Can gov stop her research on National Security grounds.

An example of the program in use.

G.W Bush is the ____________ of the United States of America.

After the program

G.W Bush is the idiot of the United States of America.

Text message lingo (Score:5, Funny)

by doria13 ( 779114 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:13PM (#9167370) Homepage Journal

Perhaps the US government should start using text message lingo in their memos.

"An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an Egyptian srvic @ d sAm tym dat bn l@n wz plnin 2 exploit d operatives acces 2 d us 2 mount a terrorist strike"*

Could make decoding sensitive documents much more difficult and at the same time provide jobs for teenage cryptologists.

*lingo courtesy of transl8it.com [transl8it.com]

Other Secrets (Score:3, Funny)

by clonan ( 64380 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:22PM (#9167420)

So...can they now tell us how REALLY killed Kennedy?

Re:wake-up call (Score:3, Funny)

by b!arg ( 622192 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:25PM (#9167446) Homepage Journal

Before they release it they should convert the blacked out parts to 1337 speak...

Number one redaction (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:25PM (#9167448)

Nuculer.

Dictionary-based approaches seem to miss this one for some reason.

Re:...obligatory Irish joke... (Score:2, Funny)

by Prod_Deity ( 686460 ) writes: <satanic.redneck@NoSpAm.gmail.com> on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:26PM (#9167453)

I personally think she discovered it while her computer was infected with the Irish Virus [symantec.com]

Re:wake-up call (Score:3, Funny)

by Jon Kent ( 777707 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:27PM (#9167468)

MEMORANDUM TO ALL EMPLOYEES OF THE DHS AND US INTELLIGENCE SERVICES:

So as to counter the terrorists' latest methods for conducting espionage against our great nation, all official documents will now be composed in a combination of Wingdings 3 [identifont.com] and MS Comic Sans [help4web.net].

Sincerely, The Management

Re:Text message lingo (Score:5, Funny)

by Patrik_AKA_RedX ( 624423 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:29PM (#9167480) Journal

Nah, I think the US gov should employ more people who can barely write. Misspelled words won't match the word lenght of the correctly spelled word. Using creative grammar would make it harder to find the right word type. And random punctuation would make it harder to find seperate sentences.
Combined we get security through ignorance.

What would have been funnier... (Score:3, Funny)

by Black Rabbit ( 236299 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:43PM (#9167556)

...would have been if the censored bits were revealed by running the document through the spelling and grammar check in Word!

----- Post! (Score:3, Funny)

by jdkane ( 588293 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:51PM (#9167605)

they won't know to mod this down

Re:old news (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @12:59PM (#9167658)

Le Pedant has spoken.

Re: Text message lingo (Score:3, Funny)

by dswartze ( 737703 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:07PM (#9167719) Homepage

You fail to realise who the current administration is. When would they ever want to invade only two

Re:Other Secrets (Score:3, Funny)

by Da Fokka ( 94074 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:10PM (#9167731) Homepage

So...can they now tell us how REALLY killed Kennedy?
You're getting it all wrong... it's spelled OSWALD...

Source? (Score:3, Funny)

by beforewisdom ( 729725 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:10PM (#9167733)

She didn't get these US Military secrects off of a BDSM site with pictures of women dragging men around on a leash did she?

Ooops, never mind

Steve

Re:old news (Score:2, Funny)

by theaphila ( 56090 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:17PM (#9167779)

or "the la brea tar pits" ("the 'the tar' tar pits")

Re:WMD!! (Score:5, Funny)

by FyRE666 ( 263011 ) * writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:19PM (#9167797) Homepage

Next stop for her: Guantanemo Bay...

Re:Perfect. (Score:3, Funny)

by KnightStalker ( 1929 ) writes: <map_sort_map@yahoo.com> on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:50PM (#9167954) Homepage

No, that would be security through bureaucracy, a highly effective method.

Re:wake-up call (Score:3, Funny)

by ejaw5 ( 570071 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:51PM (#9167960)

I don' think that would work. Didn't SCO already try this already?

Re:WMD!! (Score:5, Funny)

by SlowMovingTarget ( 550823 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:54PM (#9167977) Homepage

We must liberate all of that innocent Guinness from the oppressive Irish regime.

Re:More examples (Score:3, Funny)

by jafuser ( 112236 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @01:58PM (#9168003)

Another great one that's been in the news lately is doing redaction by drawing black squares over the top of words in a PDF document. The words are still there beneath the black rectangles, sort of like redacting a paper document by using electrical tape. =P

Any photos of this lass? (Score:3, Funny)

by cerberusss ( 660701 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @02:10PM (#9168053) Journal

Has anyone any photos of this geek girl? Yes, I tried Google images, but I don't think she looks like a puppy [google.com].

The Super Important Message (Score:5, Funny)

by Ieshan ( 409693 ) writes: <ieshan@@@gmail...com> on Sunday May 16, 2004 @02:17PM (#9168092) Homepage Journal

The Memo Went like this:

URGENT: MSG from GEORGE W. BUSH
TO: JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

1. ATTACK IRAQ
2. ____???____
3. PROFIT!!!

Claire has finally revealed the second step!

Read the article to find out.

Re:Any photos of this lass? (Score:2, Funny)

by t_allardyce ( 48447 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @02:26PM (#9168138) Journal

[insert compulsory goats.cx link here]

Re:Ingenious... (Score:5, Funny)

by Trurl's Machine ( 651488 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @02:33PM (#9168175) Journal

It sems that |CLASSIFIED| wishes us to bomb the hell out of iraq. He's |CLASSIFIED| that saddam wanted to |CLASSIFIED|. also there's the |CLASSIFIED| the |CLASSIFIED|, and |CLASSIFIED|. god forbid |CLASSIFIED| thinks that |CLASSIFIED| are the |CLASSIFIED| |CLASSIFIED| |CLASSIFIED| |CLASSIFIED|.

Sounds quite like the Nixon transcrpits released during the Watergate investigation, but instead of "classified" there was "expletive deleted" back then.

Re:Other Secrets (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @03:12PM (#9168358)

Oh my God, they killed Kennedy! Those bastards!

Are these WMDs? (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @04:26PM (#9168727)

Weapons of Mass Disclosure?

So what you're saying is... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @05:30PM (#9169016)

my tragically bad spelling is a security feature?

Re:Text message lingo (Score:2, Funny)

by mousse-man ( 632412 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @06:21PM (#9169318) Homepage

I think using ebonics could provide an additional layer of cover.

Re:Ingenious... (Score:5, Funny)

by wideBlueSkies ( 618979 ) writes: on Sunday May 16, 2004 @08:38PM (#9169891) Journal

OK, it's been a few hours. Here's how I fill in the blanks:

It seems that |cheeney| wishes us to bomb the hell out of iraq. He's |not convinced| that saddam wanted to |give up all wmd's|. also there's the |belief in the cabinet that| the |american people will fall for the wmd story and never look back|, and |will even go for a cooked up al queda link as well|. god forbid |the UN security council| thinks that |our phony iraq facts| are the |crap that they are| |or else we're going to have to go in there even though we're going to piss off every enemy and friend we have| |lose all integrity as a nation| |and give the whacko terrorists even more popular support in the arab world and more of a reason to set off bombs inside the continental united states|.

wbs.

Re:Ingenious... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday May 17, 2004 @02:00AM (#9171059)

Oooh! Mad libs!

It seems that |Cthluhu| wishes us to bomb the hell out of iraq. He's |insinuated| that saddam wanted to |'get busy' with a monkey|. also there's the |weird recurring dream| the |druggies in the apartment across from me keep having|, and |angsty teen shows|. god forbid |if that Illuminati guy from Deus Ex| thinks that |potato chips with Olestra| are the |'bomb'| |all your| |base are| |... ah, you get the picture|.

--
"Rather makes the Creator look like a sadistic ten-year-old, doesn't it?"

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Student Uncovers US Military Secrets 484

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Student Uncovers US Military Secrets

WMD!! (Score:5, Funny)

The one to Bush.... (Score:5, Funny)

What happens to here research? (Score:2, Funny)

Text message lingo (Score:5, Funny)

Other Secrets (Score:3, Funny)

Re:wake-up call (Score:3, Funny)

Number one redaction (Score:5, Funny)

Re:...obligatory Irish joke... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:wake-up call (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Text message lingo (Score:5, Funny)

What would have been funnier... (Score:3, Funny)

----- Post! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:old news (Score:1, Funny)

Re: Text message lingo (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Other Secrets (Score:3, Funny)

Source? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:old news (Score:2, Funny)

Re:WMD!! (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Perfect. (Score:3, Funny)

Re:wake-up call (Score:3, Funny)

Re:WMD!! (Score:5, Funny)

Re:More examples (Score:3, Funny)

Any photos of this lass? (Score:3, Funny)

The Super Important Message (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Any photos of this lass? (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Ingenious... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Other Secrets (Score:1, Funny)

Are these WMDs? (Score:1, Funny)

So what you're saying is... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Text message lingo (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Ingenious... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Ingenious... (Score:1, Funny)

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