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Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

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Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#71

Post by LeonM »

jacquesm wrote: post #17
retSava wrote: post #8

Semi-related tip: I despise protected pdfs with a passion. Especially when you download a datasheet and you can't add annotations or highlights to it. So, how to remove this protection? One way is to print to postscript and convert back to pdf, but then you can't copy text from it. Here's how (on windows): download qpdf ( http://qpdf.sourceforge.net/ ) and run qpdf.exe -decrypt encrypted.pdf woho.pdf I made a small b…

It's funny how this isn't even about encrypted pdfs but plain ones.

They are actually encrypted, but with an empty string as the (read) password.

Since this is a common 'technique' to 'protect' PDF documents, as some PDF viewers (such as Adobe reader) won't allow selecting text on these 'protected' PDF's. It's so common that most PDF tools assume an empty string if no password is explicitly supplied.

Source: I run a SaaS that converts PDF invoices to structured data, so I've examined quite a few PDF files the last couple of years.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#72

Post by shoover »

lisper wrote: post #4

Nixon was caught because he taped himself obstructing justice. Manafort was caught because he emailed incriminating documents in the clear. How the hell are we going to catch criminals who somehow avoid doing monumentally stupid things?

Well, that's one piece of information the investigators got somehow, but we don't know where the evidence started (I hope we find out if it goes to trial). Anti-money laundering laws and foreign bank account reporting requirements must be a big help for the feds to notice things and provide a basis to subpoena records for further investigation. Those laws seem to be ratcheting up lately.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#73

Post by platz »

jmull wrote: post #59
lisper wrote: post #4

Nixon was caught because he taped himself obstructing justice. Manafort was caught because he emailed incriminating documents in the clear. How the hell are we going to catch criminals who somehow avoid doing monumentally stupid things?

I think a significant part of it is that, at least in the US, it takes a loosey-goosey though-process to follow Manafort's path. To have the analytical bent to think through all the risks you're exposed to in your criminal financial dealings and to take steps to reduce those risks probably also means you're able to realize (1) you can only reduce the risks so much so that a substantial possibility that you'll lose ev…

I think this is right. This is just one instance of a whole trove of risks one has to expose themselves to.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#74

Post by weaksauce »

gruez wrote: post #61
mtgx wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sending files, Firefox Send is pretty cool and straightforward. The files are sent P2P and are E2E encrypted. I'm not sure why Mozilla hasn't added a bookmark for it in Firefox yet. https://send.firefox.com/

>The files are sent P2P afaik they're uploaded to s3, not sent p2p.

Correct. Though they are client side encrypted and the key is never sent anywhere.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#75

Post by TD-Linux »

neilsimp1 wrote: post #67
mtgx wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sending files, Firefox Send is pretty cool and straightforward. The files are sent P2P and are E2E encrypted. I'm not sure why Mozilla hasn't added a bookmark for it in Firefox yet. https://send.firefox.com/

They push Pocket more than Send, it seems, and as far as I know Send is actually built by Mozilla, and Pocket isn't. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Both are built and run by Mozilla. (Pocket started out as a separate company, but then the whole company was bought by Mozilla). That said, Send is the right thing to use here, not Pocket.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#76

Post by always_good »

ajross wrote: post #24
twoquestions wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody's stupid sometimes, and it only takes once to do you in.

Mostly true. Hans Reiser and Ross Ulbricht were smart folks who got caught nonetheless. But not always true. No one's figured out Satoshi Nakamoto yet.

> No one's figured out Satoshi Nakamoto yet.

Just because nobody has published it?

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#77

Post by alphabettsy »

stcredzero wrote: post #56
jacquesm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buffet's quote applies to non-criminals as well.

More in the US than elsewhere. In Germany, you obey the speed limit, and only rubes pass on the right. In the US, everyone drives 9 mph above the posted limit if they're being careful, and people pass on the right willy-nilly, regardless of what local laws say. But if the police really want to enforce that on you, they can. There are tons of "blue laws" in the US, some from over a hundred years back. Sometimes the po…

People pass on the right because people block the passing lane. It shouldn’t be possible in most cases to pass on the right.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#78

Post by [deleted] »

lovefromatx wrote: post #32
lisper wrote: post #4

Nixon was caught because he taped himself obstructing justice. Manafort was caught because he emailed incriminating documents in the clear. How the hell are we going to catch criminals who somehow avoid doing monumentally stupid things?

Different context but Buffett's quote “If a cop follows you for 500 miles, you’re going to get a ticket,” applies here. If you are a criminal you don't violate only one law. You tend to violate multiple laws and at some point you are going to be sloppy.

[deleted]

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#79

Post by stordoff »

ajross wrote: post #16
socalnate1 wrote: post #2

This is sort of an aside to the article; but it boggles my mind how many people in the business world view PDF's as secure, unalterable documents.

No, Manafort knew what he was doing here, and was doing it for technically sound (albeit legally fraudulent) reasons: Word documents, unlike PDFs[1], store editting history. Manafort knew this, and wanted to evade that tracking. Where he fell down was in the actual conversion step, and in failing to realize that his email to Gates about the conversion were themselves a history of the edit. But his technical instincts…

I don't think it's necessary to convert to PDF to remove this history (I believe just copying the content to a new document would be sufficient). However, if the recipient is expecting a PDF and gets a Word file, that's going to raise a red flag.

The better (technically, not legally) approach might be to directly edit the PDF, though I'm not sure what the tooling is like there.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#80

Post by [deleted] »

lovefromatx wrote: post #32
lisper wrote: post #4

Nixon was caught because he taped himself obstructing justice. Manafort was caught because he emailed incriminating documents in the clear. How the hell are we going to catch criminals who somehow avoid doing monumentally stupid things?

Different context but Buffett's quote “If a cop follows you for 500 miles, you’re going to get a ticket,” applies here. If you are a criminal you don't violate only one law. You tend to violate multiple laws and at some point you are going to be sloppy.

[deleted]
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