Show IH: LeaksID - online converter that protects private docs with dynamic invisible anti-leak marks against photo and illegal publishing
Hi everyone!
I’m excited to introduce you to our product, LeaksID: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/leaksid
⌛ Background
Several years ago, I was confronted with a leak of a confidential document. Although the document was stored in secure file storage and a minimal circle of people had access, someone took a photo of it and put it on the network. Unfortunately, I never found out who did it. But this failure led me to the idea of creating a solution that could protect other people (and me) from such leaks. I wanted this solution to be able to keep my documents confidential and prevent the spread of my trade secrets and intellectual property beyond the circle to which I entrusted them.
💡 Solution
We have created a solution called LeaksID that converts any document to PDF format, enriching it with invisible steganographic marks. Absolutely everything that is on the document will be marked with the LeaksID system!
🧘🏽♀️ How does LeaksID work?
Every time someone opens a confidential document, they will receive a unique copy of it. Then, if someone leaks even a small fragment of it, even one drawing or table, even a paper version, even a photograph of it on a smartphone, then upon discovering such a leak, LeaksID will unambiguously determine the identity of the offender.
😎Why are we here?
We understand that such a solution is more interesting for large corporations and government organizations. However, we know that small startups also have something to protect from leaks: your inventions, financial statements, and other sensitive documents. Therefore, we made it possible for everyone to use our fully functional version of LeaksID for free. 👈
🕵️♂️ Store your documents in the systems you’re used to, use mail systems and instant messengers that you trust, but before sending documents to someone, run them through LeaksID, enrich them with anti-leak marks, and prevent illegal publication of your trade secrets.
We would be happy to receive any feedback from you to improve LeaksID!
I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Can you share more about how do you stop picture of picture leak? And what do you mean by identity of the offender?
The curiosity got the best of me and I signed up to LeaksID to see how it works.
I tested it with a PNG with a paragraph of text on it. The "watermarked" version had lines of text and individual words shifted around. The shifts were quite noticeable when comparing to original – I can see how they would survive printing, photocopying, scanning etc. You can however trivially defeat the protection by running the to-be-leaked copy through OCR first ;-)
Thank you for that you tested our system. Can I find out your feedback? It is very important for us to improve LeaksID.
Concerning this method of bypassing protection, you can not use the OCR document, but simply retype it in a new document. However, this is already a story about fake documents. Please note that protecting information and protecting a document from leakage are not the same thing. If I know some information, then only a lobotomy can make me forget it.
Our technology protects the original document from illegal publication.
The technology does not directly stop the leak. However, it makes it possible to reliably determine whose copy was leaked. And this fact will stop the offender from such actions, otherwise, it will be forced to bear responsibility for such a violation.