Method and a system for embedding textual forensic information

• US 8,635,458 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2011
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Forcepoint LLC
• Original Assignee: PortAuthority Technologies, Inc. (Forcepoint LLC)
• Inventors: Troyansky, Lidror, Carny, Ofir, Peled, Ariel
• Primary Examiner(s): LANIER, BENJAMIN E
• Application Number:
  US13/187,560
• Publication Number:
  US 20110276877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

A method for automatically embedding information in a digital text, said method comprising: identifying a plurality of positions, in said digital text, that are suitable for introducing modifications into said digital text; identifying modifications suitable for introduction into at least some of said suitable positions in said digital text; selecting at least some of said identified modifications for introduction into said digital text, said selection of said modifications being operable to represent said information; and performing said selected modifications on said digital text, thereby to embed said information.

Claims

1. A method for automatically embedding information in a digital text, said method comprising:

classifying a type of said digital text;

identifying a plurality of portions of said digital text that are suitable for introducing modifications into said portions of said digital text;

identifying respective textual modifications suitable for introduction into at least some of said suitable portions of said digital text, wherein a textual modification comprises replacing a portion of digital text with a specified alternate portion of digital text, said identifying respective textual modifications being in accordance with said classified type of said digital text;

selecting at least some of said identified modifications for introduction into said digital text, said selection of said modifications being operable to represent said information; and

performing said selected modifications on said digital text, thereby to embed said information.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said specified alternate portion of digital text comprises a digital text having an alternate spelling from said replaced portion of digital text.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identified modifications further include at least one of the following:

replacing a character with a substantially similar looking character;

replacing a character with a similarly looking character, wherein said characters only differ in their Unicode representation; and

replacing an unprintable character.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identified modifications further include at least one of the following:

modifying the number of spaces between paragraphs;

modifying the number of spaces between lines;

modifying the number of tabs at a line ending;

modifying the size of spaces between words;

modifying the size of spaces between paragraphs;

modifying the size of spaces between lines;

modifying the number of spaces representing a tab character;

modifying the place of a tab;

replacing a tab character with at least one space; and

replacing at least one space with a tab character.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identified modifications further include at least one of the following:

modifying the font of at least one character;

modifying the color of at least one character;

modifying the size of at least one character;

modifying the background of said digital text;

modifying the background of at least one character;

modifying the internal logical division in the digital representation of said digital content;

modifying the classification of a unit in the internal logical division in the digital representation of said digital content;

modifying a property of a unit in the internal logical division in the digital representation of said digital content; and

modifying the classification of a paragraph.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identified modifications further include at least one of the following:

exchanging between an acronym and full verbatim versions of said acronym; and

exchanging between at least one shortened version of a word and the full version of said word;

exchanging between a correct version of a word and at least one other word, said other words have similar pronunciation to said correct word;

exchanges between synonyms;

modifications that effect an order of words; and

modifications that effect an order of paragraphs.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identified modifications further include at least one of the following:

removing at least one word;

adding at least one word;

modifications to diagrams embedded in said digital text;

removal of diagrams embedded in said digital text;

exchanging between at least two different grammatical structures; and

modifying the phrasing of at least a part of said digital text such that the modified phrasing remains similar to the original version.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said embedded information comprises information for identifying at least one entry in a database, said database entry comprising additional information.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein said embedded information comprises information for identifying at least one user of said digital text.

10. A method according to claim 1, comprising selecting different combinations of said modifications to form differing respective copies of said digital text for a plurality of users of said digital text, said different combinations of embedded information uniquely identifying a respective user of each copy.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identifying positions in said digital text distributes said selected modifications such that all portions of said digital text larger than a predetermined size comprise sufficient embedded information to reconstruct a predetermined subset of said embedded information.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identifying positions in said digital text distributes said selected modifications such that removal of a predetermined number of said positions from said digital text results in significant degradation of the value of said digital text.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein said selecting of identified modifications groups a plurality of said identified modifications together, said group of modifications being performed in unison to obtain a version of said digital text.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least part of said embedded information is encoded using at least one of the following:

error detection code, error correction code, cryptographic signature and cryptographic encryption.

15. A method according to claim 1, wherein said identifying suitable modifications comprises maintaining a required quality of said digital text and a resemblance of said modified text to an original version of said digital text.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein said embedded information contains at least one of the following:

versioning information, editing history information, forensics information, transfer history information and information operable to identify and categorize said digital text.

26. A method according to claim 1, wherein said specified alternate portion of digital text comprises a digital text having an alternate punctuation from said replaced portion of digital text.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein said alternate punctuation comprises at least one of the following:

i. inserting a comma within said portion;

ii. deleting a comma from said portion;

iii. replacing a comma within said portion with a semi-colon; and

iv. concatenating a plurality of sentences within said portion, said sentences being separated by a punctuation mark.

28. A method according to claim 2, wherein said alternate spelling comprises at least one of the following:

exchanging a word within said portion of said digital text with a word having different valid spelling of the same word;

exchanging a word within said portion of said digital text with a word having an invalid spelling of said word; and

exchanging between versions of a word within said portion of said digital text, wherein said word is built from at least two words, said versions comprising a concatenated version, a version that uses a hyphen for separation and a version separated by a space.

17. A method for automatically embedding information in a digital text, said method comprising:

classifying a type of said digital text;

identifying a plurality of portions of said digital text, that are suitable for introducing textual modifications into said portions of said digital text;

identifying respective textual modifications suitable for introduction into at least some of said suitable portions of said digital text, wherein said identified modifications comprise replacing a text of at least one word within a specified one of said portions with a text of at least one specified replacement word, said identifying respective textual modifications being in accordance with said classified type of said digital text;

selecting at least some of said identified modifications for introduction into said digital text, said selection of said modifications being operable to represent said information, selected modifications comprising at least one of said identified word replacement modification; and

performing said selected modifications on said digital text, thereby to embed said information,

and wherein said selected modifications maintain a meaning of said digital text.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein said replacement words have a substantially equivalent meaning to said respective replaced words.

19. A method according to claim 17, wherein said identifying positions in said digital text distributes said selected modifications such that all portions of said digital text larger than a predetermined size comprise sufficient embedded information to reconstruct a predetermined subset of said embedded information.

20. A method according to claim 17, wherein said identifying positions in said digital text distributes said selected modifications such that removal of a predetermined number of said positions from said digital text results in significant degradation of the value of said digital text.

21. A method for providing identifiable copies of a digital text, said method comprising:

classifying a type of said digital text;

identifying a plurality of portions of said digital text suitable for introducing textual modifications into said digital text;

identifying respective textual modifications suitable for introduction into at least some of said suitable portions of said digital text, wherein a textual modification comprises replacing a portion of digital text with a specified alternate portion of digital text, said identifying respective textual modifications being in accordance with said classified type of said digital text;

selecting different combinations of said modifications to form different copies of said digital text, said different combinations of modifications being operable to uniquely identify a respective copy;

selecting one of said combinations of modifications for introduction into said digital text; and

performing said selected modifications to obtain an identifiable copy of said digital text.

22. A method according to claim 21, further comprising providing an identifiable copy of said digital text to a respective user, thereby to enable identification of a respective user from a provided copy of said digital text.

23. A method according to claim 21, further comprising associating an identifier with each of said combinations of modifications.

24. A method according to claim 21, wherein said selected modifications represent information for embedding in said digital text and said identifying positions in said digital text distributes said selected modifications such that all portions of said digital text larger than a predetermined size comprise sufficient embedded information to reconstruct a predetermined subset of said embedded information.

25. A method according to claim 21, wherein said selected modifications represent information for embedding in said digital text and said embedded information is substantially imperceptible.