Security News > 2022 > February > Researcher 'reverses' redaction, extracts words from pixelated image
A researcher has demonstrated how he was able to successfully recover text that had been redacted using the pixelation technique.
Further, the researcher has released a GitHub tool that can be used by anyone to reconstruct text from obscure, pixelated images.
This week, Dan Petro, Lead Researcher at offensive security firm Bishop Fox has demonstrated how he was able to completely recover text from an image redacted via the pixelation method.
Although similar solutions have existed for enhancing pixelated photos of people or landscapes, no concrete real-world solutions released thus far promised accurate recovery of text present in pixelated images, while simultaneously cutting out the noise.
Existing tools like Depix do provide similar functionality for pixelated text blocks, but fall short in real-world scenarios, according to the researcher.
"The last thing you need after making a great technical document is to accidentally leak sensitive information because of an insecure redaction technique," concludes the researcher.