Classic Rotary Phones Forum

Telephone Talk => Forum News => How To Post Photos on CRPF => Topic started by: electric al on March 27, 2015, 08:49:58 AM

Title: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: electric al on March 27, 2015, 08:49:58 AM
 Why can I not post pictures of my Polish phone.

I have tried  , and it says to check with administrator !

???
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on March 27, 2015, 09:07:13 AM
In the complete error message, does it mention "security" problems?

This appears to be a software bug that we have been discussing recently.  Typically the resolution is to slightly resize or edit the picture with a photo editor program and try again.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on March 27, 2015, 07:37:16 PM
I've been able to post pictures by resizing them to a smaller size before posting.  I've been using my camera to resize them.  Have you tried doing that?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: electric al on March 31, 2015, 11:56:55 AM
Classic Rotary Phones Forum » Telephone Talk » Flea Market/Yard Sale Finds
An Error Has Occurred!
Your attachment has failed security checks and cannot be uploaded. Please consult the forum administrator.

Why do I get this message when I try to send pictures ?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on March 31, 2015, 12:06:17 PM
I do know the technical reason. The forum software uses a very primitive algorithm to check the meta data (but only the meta data) in images for potential security issues. Only certain cameras or image editors insert specific text strings into the meta data, and albeit harmless, they are flagged and the image is rejected with this error message.

The trick often is to resize the image with an image editor. In the process the meta information is changed  and the offending tag is removed, or the image data itself is changed sufficiently in the resize operation.

I do have a software fix for this: it simply eliminates certain code words from the test. Something more sophisticated is needed though.

It's highly user-unfriendly, even for an experienced user. If it were up to me, I would simply remove the test for now, because this is a closed forum where only registered users can post images and nobody has ever had any malicious intent.

Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: electric al on March 31, 2015, 01:27:24 PM
  The problem is , I have posted  pictures before , taken with the same camera , and not had a problem.

This is only since yesterday  !
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: LarryInMichigan on March 31, 2015, 01:40:29 PM
Can someone let me know what words or codes the system is detecting?  Nearly all of the image files I have posted were written with software that I wrote and which uses the open source JPEG library. 

Thank You


Larry
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: twocvbloke on March 31, 2015, 01:44:51 PM
I think it's just that little fella from china, Sum-Tin Wong, causing problems, I had the same issue when trying to upload the picture of the PCB in my MOD Mk.28 (same as a GPO 746, and was wired as a 2-wire phone) and took a few attempts to get past that and the picture came off my Galaxy S3 which pretty much all of my pictures have done so, I'm guessing that the forum software either has a bug or has been unofficially fiddled with...  :-\
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on March 31, 2015, 01:50:28 PM
Here is the critical code.  The forum administration menus have a setting for "extensive checks", which only adds a few more regular expression patterns to the "security" check.  So in the code excerpt this is the first conditional clause, the regular check the second.


                if (!empty($extensiveCheck)) {
                        // Paranoid check. Some like it that way.
                        if (preg_match('~(iframe|\\<\\?|\\<%|html|eval|body|script\W|[CF]WS[\x01-\x0C])~i', $prev_chunk . $cur_chunk) === 1) {
                                fclose($fp);
                                return false;
                        }
                } else {
                        // Check for potential infection
                        if (preg_match('~(iframe|html|eval|body|script\W|[CF]WS[\x01-\x0C])~i', $prev_chunk . $cur_chunk) === 1) {
                                fclose($fp);
                                return false;
                        }
                }
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on March 31, 2015, 02:09:12 PM
Here is a stand-alone test program to perform the same test on an image file without having to upload it to the forum.

From a shell, run:

./test.sh  image.jpg

It prints the offending tags, and the result of the test, either OK or ERROR.

It only performs the less severe test, the modification for extensive test is obvious.


#!/usr/bin/php
<?php

$f = $argv[1];
$r = checkImageContents($f, false);
echo $r ? "OK\n" : "ERROR\n";
exit;

function checkImageContents($fileName, $extensiveCheck = false) {
        $fp = fopen($fileName, 'rb');

        $prev_chunk = '';
        while (!feof($fp)) {
                $cur_chunk = fread($fp, 8192);

                // Though not exhaustive lists, better safe than sorry.
                if (!empty($extensiveCheck)) {
                        // Paranoid check. Some like it that way.
                        if (preg_match('~(iframe|\\<\\?|\\<%|html|eval|body|script\W|[CF]WS[\x01-\x0C])~i', $prev_chunk . $cur_chunk) === 1) {
                                fclose($fp);
                                return false;
                        }
                } else {
                        // Check for potential infection
                        $matches = array();
                        if (preg_match('~(iframe|html|eval|body|script\W|[CF]WS[\x01-\x0C])~i', $prev_chunk . $cur_chunk, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 5) === 1) {
                        print_r($matches);
                                fclose($fp);
                                return false;
                        }
                }
                $prev_chunk = $cur_chunk;
        }
        fclose($fp);
        return true;
}
?>

Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: electric al on March 31, 2015, 02:24:48 PM
 I tried posting a picture one more time , and this time it worked !  :o
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: DavePEI on May 12, 2015, 10:22:26 AM
Quote from: electric al on March 31, 2015, 02:24:48 PM
I tried posting a picture one more time , and this time it worked !  :o
There you go. Proof of the pudding. The moral is don't blind yourself toother possibilities.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: dsk on May 12, 2015, 12:17:24 PM
I really dont understand how to use a program like that. But I really have had problems uploading during the last days. I use to use IrfanView and may try to resize to smaller images. 

dsk
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: dsk on May 12, 2015, 12:26:42 PM
Tried to post pictures re-sized to max length/with (the greatest side) to 1000PX 45 PX/inch.
Works, but is it permanent or just luck?

dsk
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on May 13, 2015, 12:33:33 PM
My experience has been that re-sizing pictures to a smaller size seems to insure that they will be posted.  The new system seems to like small pictures.  That is what I have found out.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Greg G. on August 18, 2015, 12:11:15 PM
Quote from: andre_janew on May 13, 2015, 12:33:33 PM
My experience has been that re-sizing pictures to a smaller size seems to insure that they will be posted.  The new system seems to like small pictures.  That is what I have found out.

I just found that out too.  Even though I always sized my pics down, if I forgot, it would still take them, but it just took longer.  I take all my pics at full size and resolution settings, then size them down to 1/3 of the original size and that usually worked, except for now.  I brought them up in my graphics processor and checked the size, 1000 X 1333, so I sized it down again to the standard internet posting size of about 600 X 800, that worked.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on August 18, 2015, 12:18:22 PM
Quote from: Brinybay on August 18, 2015, 12:11:15 PM
Quote from: andre_janew on May 13, 2015, 12:33:33 PM
My experience has been that re-sizing pictures to a smaller size seems to insure that they will be posted.  The new system seems to like small pictures.  That is what I have found out.

I just found that out too.  Even though I always sized my pics down, if I forgot, it would still take them, but it just took longer.  I take all my pics at full size and resolution settings, then size them down to 1/3 of the original size and that usually worked, except for now.  I brought them up in my graphics processor and checked the size, 1000 X 1333, so I sized it down again to the standard internet posting size of about 600 X 800, that worked.

Resizing is no guarantee as you found out.  It is only by chance.  The 'security' feature of the forum checks for certain character strings in the entire image, not only the meta information, and there is no way to prevent these character strings from appearing by random chance in the bit sequence of image pixels.  Sometimes it is just sufficient to resize an image by one pixel to destroy these random sequences, sometimes it takes more.  Size is really not the cause, I have uploaded very large pictures without problems, several megabytes in size with resolutions of 2 or 3 thousand pixels on each side.

Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: compubit on August 18, 2015, 09:55:11 PM
I ended up converting to PNG format to upload, after spending about an hour of "upload", error, resize, error, crop, error, resize, error, save as PNG, upload successful...

Jim
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on August 18, 2015, 10:12:12 PM
Quote from: compubit on August 18, 2015, 09:55:11 PM
I ended up converting to PNG format to upload, after spending about an hour of "upload", error, resize, error, crop, error, resize, error, save as PNG, upload successful...

Jim

Ah, that indicates that the offending strings were in the metadata, and since you used the same program always probably that didn't change.  But when changing image format, the meta data probably got rewriten differently.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: stub on August 23, 2015, 07:18:42 PM
Test Post
                 One made it and one didn't pass security check and both have been posted in the past with no problem?  Pics were taken in 2012 with same camera that I post everything .    stub
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on August 23, 2015, 08:05:32 PM
I've had that experience. And another one I had was a photo that would not upload did two days later without having done anything to it. Failed one day, uploaded two days later. There's no pattern to this problem, this happening.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Babybearjs on November 24, 2015, 11:48:46 PM
I was trying to post some photos of a oak switchbox and the board kept coming back that the photos had failed security checks.... has anyone else had this problem??
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on November 25, 2015, 01:11:19 PM
I've been resizing and posting smaller pictures.  That seems to work for me.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: dsk on November 25, 2015, 02:18:17 PM
That is my experience too.  I use to set the max with and maximum height to be 1000 pixels. That are good enough for the most of my jpg pictures.

dsk
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Ktownphoneco on November 25, 2015, 10:34:11 PM
I'm far from being an expert on this sort of issue, however I read some information on a web site which dealt with security error issues when uploading pictures to web sites.     There were a number of issues discussed, and one suggestion that was put forward, was changing the way that the "jpeg" picture color was created,  from "RGB", to "CMYK".     Several comments on the site, indicated that as soon as they made that change, the upload security issues stopped occurring.    Perhaps that change may help the situation here on CRPF.     I've yet to experience a problem myself when uploading a "jpeg" using "RGB", so I can't test the theory myself.
Here's a shortened  link explaining the difference between  "RGB" and "CMYK" :  http://bit.ly/1Ohu0lp

Jeff Lamb
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on November 26, 2015, 11:37:43 AM
Is that what is causing the security issues?  Is it really color?  Could it be that the new system doesn't like certain colors?  If that is the case, then some members might consider the new system to be racist.  They might even petition to get rid of such a system.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on November 26, 2015, 12:03:14 PM
Quote from: andre_janew on November 26, 2015, 11:37:43 AM
Is that what is causing the security issues?  Is it really color?  Could it be that the new system doesn't like certain colors?  If that is the case, then some members might consider the new system to be racist.  They might even petition to get rid of such a system.

I explained exactly what is causing the "security" failures in the topic that Terri linked to and provided a software tool to test for it, as well as a permanent solution to get rid of it.  Recoding an image in a different color system would not always, perhaps sometimes, remove offending tags in meta data, but certainly it would destroy random bit sequences that happen to be identical, but so does simple resizing (with resampling) in most cases, but not just cropping.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Jack Ryan on November 26, 2015, 05:28:39 PM
Quote from: unbeldi on November 26, 2015, 12:03:14 PM
I explained exactly what is causing the "security" failures in the topic that Terri linked to and provided a software tool to test for it, as well as a permanent solution to get rid of it.

What is the offending tag/data? I had a quick look at your posts and didn't see it. Next time I have the problem I'll edit the metadata to remove the offending data.

Jack
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on November 26, 2015, 10:09:54 PM
Quote from: Jack Ryan on November 26, 2015, 05:28:39 PM
Quote from: unbeldi on November 26, 2015, 12:03:14 PM
I explained exactly what is causing the "security" failures in the topic that Terri linked to and provided a software tool to test for it, as well as a permanent solution to get rid of it.

What is the offending tag/data? I had a quick look at your posts and didn't see it. Next time I have the problem I'll edit the metadata to remove the offending data.

Jack

Offending data is anything that matches this regular expression (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression):

'~(iframe|\\<\\?|\\<%|html|eval|body|script\W|[CF]WS[\x01-\x0C])~i'

This could be in metadata or by random occurrence any bit sequence in the image data.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Jack Ryan on November 26, 2015, 11:08:36 PM
OK, thanks for that.

I can edit the metadata but fixing random occurrences would be as random as the occurrence itself.

[irrelevant interjection]

A company I do a lot of work for has changed firewall/virus checking so that now all sorts of attachments are stripped off and file transfers interrupted based on type and random occurrences of byte sequences within the data. A similar high level of thinking seems to have been involved.

I took immediate steps to ensure that any data with a tag of "invoice" was unmolested.

[/irrelevant interjection]

Jack

Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on November 28, 2015, 05:39:00 PM
Now that the problem has been identified, how do we get the offending data out of our pictures so they can be uploaded?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on November 28, 2015, 06:41:54 PM
Quote from: andre_janew on November 28, 2015, 05:39:00 PM
Now that the problem has been identified, how do we get the offending data out of our pictures so they can be uploaded?

I perform two operations.
-Strip meta data with a special program
-Resize the picture just slightly.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Babybearjs on November 29, 2015, 03:26:50 AM
at least I'm not the only one having trouble posting pictures.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on November 29, 2015, 10:12:10 AM
Quote from: Babybearjs on November 29, 2015, 03:26:50 AM
at least I'm not the only one having trouble posting pictures.

And, it's spotty. I upload a lot of pictures and for the past month, had no problems. But, within the past few days, I've had a half dozen such rejections. Funny thing about it is when a group of images uploaded at once is rejected, I then upload one at a time and they load just fine, and if they don't, I find out which of the group is causing the problem. Sometimes when they didn't load all at once, they uploaded just fine one at a time without problems. Then, there are times when uploading one image, it fails but if I simply reload it right away without changes, it goes through. And, of course, then there are those images that won't load at all and need to be processed with image software that strips out the meta data done by resizing it a bit and saving it with a different file name before trying to upload it. Just my experience.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Tech&Music on November 29, 2015, 01:41:03 PM
I've had it once. I run all my pictures through the same resizing software (my Asus ZenFone 2 shoots 4128 x 3096 pixel photos, too heavy to just dump on the forum, I always moderately aim for around 700 pixels max width, with fitting height), and I did once run into a security error, despite it working every other time, and with no changes in the progress. Seems like the security software is a bit confused at times, and I wonder what causes that.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Babybearjs on January 16, 2016, 03:10:33 AM
its doing it again.... my pictures won't post.... security check it says.... it was working fine.... until now...... am I doing something wrong?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on January 16, 2016, 12:42:28 PM
I don't know.  Did you do what Unbeldi said to do in Reply #32?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: stub on December 19, 2016, 12:55:08 AM
 It's started again just before Christmas - "Your attachment has failed security checks and cannot be uploaded. Please consult the forum administrator." Same two pics ,1 will go and the other won't . I fixed once but can't what I did?   stub
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on December 19, 2016, 07:44:40 AM
IIRC, the way that seemed to work all of the time with others using a smart phone was to save it as a *.png image and upload that image.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Slal on December 23, 2016, 02:20:58 PM
Quote from: stub on December 19, 2016, 12:55:08 AM
It's started again just before Christmas - "Your attachment has failed security checks and cannot be uploaded. Please consult the forum administrator." Same two pics ,1 will go and the other won't . I fixed once but can't what I did?   stub

I keep getting that too.  Resize only seems to work half the time in Apple, GIMP, MS Paint & Photoshop.  The only thing that seems to work is creating a new file via select all, cut-n-paste.

Quote from: TelePlay on December 19, 2016, 07:44:40 AM
IIRC, the way that seemed to work all of the time with others using a smart phone was to save it as a *.png image and upload that image.

I tried that, but 'save as' still yields error.  Can create new file, but is any other approach possible?  Perhaps a captcha or something?

Unless my system is infected, the security algorithm appears to be yielding 100% false positives.   :o

PS:  If sig (borne of getting a bit frustrated with it) is inappropriate, let know & will delete.  : )
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on December 23, 2016, 03:17:31 PM
Quote from: Slal on December 23, 2016, 02:20:58 PM
I keep getting that too.  Resize only seems to work half the time in Apple, GIMP, MS Paint & Photoshop.  The only thing that seems to work is creating a new file via select all, cut-n-paste.

I tried that, but 'save as' still yields error.  Can create new file, but is any other approach possible?  Perhaps a captcha or something?

Unless my system is infected, the security algorithm appears to be yielding 100% false positives.   :o

What are you using to take the pictures, what camera or phone?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andy1702 on December 24, 2016, 11:00:26 AM
I still say the admins ned to just disable the security checking for the photos. It's obviously way over the top.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on December 24, 2016, 11:20:48 AM
It'll happen when an administrator trues to post some photos and he (or she) can't no matter what. 
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andy1702 on December 24, 2016, 01:19:34 PM
Actually I just tried to post some and they went through ok, even one I accidentally forgot to resize down.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on December 24, 2016, 01:24:12 PM
Quote from: andre_janew on December 24, 2016, 11:20:48 AM
It'll happen when an administrator trues to post some photos and he (or she) can't no matter what.

Never happens.

Admins have read the topics associated with this, know the two main reasons that cause the software to raise the flag, correct the images using any and/or all of the 4 known fixes posted in those topics and post the cleaned image.

Have an image to be cleaned, one that won't load no matter what? Send it to my email address in my profile and I will return a cleaned and otherwise unchanged image that will pass security.

Offer open to anyone. No charge no matter how many images are sent.

No need to complain, just send the image(s) and they will be returned. For faster turn around, send me a PM saying they were sent - I check my forum PMs much more often than my email.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Slal on December 24, 2016, 08:27:50 PM
Quote from: TelePlay on December 23, 2016, 03:17:31 PM
What are you using to take the pictures, what camera or phone?

Both actually.  One is a DSLR camera.  It saves as a 'NEF' or 'raw' file + tiff or jpg.  These are large files & need to be resized anyway.  The other is an Apple iPad.  Again, these are kind of large for HTML forums, so out of consideration to those with slower internet speeds, I resize them to 72PPI and 600 width.

To test resizing, I played around with images in last post at my 'phone gallery' topic.  Simply resizing yielded security flag.

Selecting the entire image and pasting it into a new file seems to work every time.  I'm not a programmer, but suspect this approach might be the same as stripping extra embedded data out of a file.  Only thing in there is probably just the app that was used and date of creation, etc.  Maybe it removes other stuff security is programmed to reject: copyright, web addresses to Apple, Adobe, Nikon, etc., and personal info.  "Sent from Bruce's iPad" whatever.

As for the security itself, I'm for leaving it in there.  Spoke with a friend who works as IT security specialist for a major insurance company here in San Antonio.  He's paranoid, but he's paid to be paranoid!   I guess his attitude is "better safe than sorry." 

According to him:  'Professional' hackers aren't going to bother with HTML sites like this one-- they're after banks, insurance companies-- most any place they can get personal information. 

"Wanna-be" hackers might try their stuff on HTML sites to see if malicious code works or not.  CRPF is kind of an exception though.  It is closed and requires members be 'validated.'  Anyone who posts something inappropriate or damaging would likely get banned.  So they probably wouldn't bother, but again-- "Better safe than sorry."

Making a 'new' file (using whatever method works, and is easiest) might require a little more time, but is probably in everyone's best interest imo.

Thanks for reading & Merry Christmas!

--Bruce
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on December 27, 2016, 12:54:55 PM
Thanks to a tip from a member, I looked at another software program that strips meta data et. al. from jpg images. BatchPurifier Lite is a free download at CNET. The free version only works with jpg images, which is all that is needed to get around the security issue with an image.

     http://download.cnet.com/BatchPurifier-Lite/3000-2144_4-10908843.html

I installed it on a laptop last night and it work great. Produces stripped jpg images just like my old software does. This, as my old software did, will remove all of the jpg header info (when you get to the screen asking which jpg data to delete, click on the jpg box and all boxes below it will be automatically included - checked).

NOTE:  The free Lite version only works with jpg images, you can not strip meta data from any other type of image.

You can then save the file as an over write or it will save it as a new file. The stripped image file will then upload to the forum without security issues (unless of course there is a string of code within the image itself that raises the flag and if that happens, resizing the image should shuffle the code enough to get rid of the internal string - rarely happens but it can happen on larger images)

XP users: As an extra exciting event, I had to first download the latest version of Microsoft .NET 4.0 software (for XP, Win7/10 uses 4.5)  before I could install BatchPurifier on my XP machine. Once .NET was up to date, BatchPurifier Lite was installed.

BatchPurifier Lite installed without issue on my Win7 and Win10 machines.

It's really easy to use when needed for one image file or a batch of image files. Basically, after opening the software, select the image(s) you want to clean, click on the jpg box, click on how you want to save it (over write or new file) and finish.

Below is the EXIF information (in pdf format) for an image that would not load.

After that is the EXIF data from the image after BatchPurifier Lite was used to clean out the offending data. The stripped image uploaded to the forum without issue, after using BatchPurifier Lite.

If you look at these pdf images, you can see the data in the image that would not load (some part of which raised the security flag). The second, after, pdf file shows what's left after cleaning allowing it to upload without issue.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Slal on December 27, 2016, 07:53:44 PM
If anyone is interested...

ExifTool by Phil Harvey is a simple stand alone program that makes no changes to your registry.  It's an easy way to check a file, or see 'before & after' results from 'Purifier.'

Available for both PC & Mac.  Simply install & use Windows Explorer (or Mac equivalent) to drag & drop file you want to examine.

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/)

--Bruce
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: jeff1876 on December 28, 2016, 04:17:45 PM
I also had the "Security Error" problem when trying to post my pictures.  I used GIMP software to resize my photos to 1200 pixels (Image, Scale Image).  Then when I export the photo to JPG format (File, Export As ...) I type in the file name and then hit Export.  The next window has an "Advanced Options" selection.  I removed three check boxes to not save EXIF data, thumbnail, and XMP data (see photo) and hit Export again.  I was then able to upload those files.  If you are already using GIMP software this should work.  Otherwise, you might consider a different program.

Jeff
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on December 28, 2016, 05:22:35 PM
No typing needed for BatchPurifier-Lite


Click desktop icon to open BatchPurifier-Lite, click on Add Files, click on file(s) to be cleaned, click Next ( #1)

On the next screen, click the JPEG box and all boxes below are check automatically, click next (#2)

On the next screen, click the destination of the cleaned file(s) (desktop is quick) and click next (#3) and they are cleaned.

The next screen shows the input file name(s) and location along with the cleaned file name(s) and location, click close and you are done.


Took 18 seconds to clean one file and I didn't have to touch the keyboard. Easiest cleaner I've looked at and I check 5 or 6 other programs since this problem surfaced months ago.

These are the screen shots of the 4 steps of BatchPurifier-Lite (click on the image to enlarge).
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: andre_janew on December 28, 2016, 06:27:12 PM
What causes all that dirty data to get in there in the first place?  Is there a way to prevent it from getting in there?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on December 28, 2016, 06:43:49 PM
Quote from: andre_janew on December 28, 2016, 06:27:12 PM
What causes all that dirty data to get in there in the first place?  Is there a way to prevent it from getting in there?

No, it is not dirty data. It is the meta data placed into an image that records information about the photo. Smart Phones that have their GPS Location turned on will show the latitude and longitude of where the photo was taken, the direction in which the phone was pointed, the exact device used to capture the photo, the F-Number, the shutter speed, focal length, sensor chip size, whether or not the flash was used, if the device was rotated (sideways pictures on the forum are thumbnails that will show correctly when the photo is clicked on a rotated by the display software), size of the image, date it was taken, the type of image (jpg), the color code used to capture the colors, resolution and a whole lot of other technical stuff.

It's not dirty in that it is highly technical as related to the image (and if you want to track someone for any reason who is on vacation and posting images to Facebook every hour, easy to do by looking at this information).

Problem is that there is something in all that meta data that has a tendency to raise the SMF security flag and the easiest way to upload the image with that issue is to remove the meta data, the overhead.

The most recent version of SMF is 2.0.12 and the forum is using 2.0.11. The forum is working on getting the latest version installed. We are hoping SMF has resolved the security issue.

If the security issue is fixed and any photo can be uploaded by members, just keep in mind that all of that information will be attached to photos unless stripped before posting. Whether or not that is important to the posting member, it is up to the member. The way to get around that is to use an older camera, one that does not have GPS or a lot of the other data or strip the meta data off of images using whatever method the member decides to use. That's how to get rid of it in a nutshell.

So, that's when, where, why and how the who information is attached to images.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: AE_Collector on December 29, 2016, 01:50:17 PM
Too bad the photo upload thing on the forum didn't gave an option that admin could set to automatically downsize pictures to a reasonable size AND strip the meta data while uploading pictures.

Terry
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: unbeldi on December 29, 2016, 02:30:07 PM
Quote from: AE_Collector on December 29, 2016, 01:50:17 PM
Too bad the photo upload thing on the forum didn't gave an option that admin could set to automatically downsize pictures to a reasonable size AND strip the meta data while uploading pictures.

Terry

The admin interface does actually have a configuration option to remove metadata.  But it is a bad idea to implement it at that global level, I believe, because it would strip such information even when it is needed.  It is needed, for example, in animated gif images.  The animation information is stored as metadata and the intended effect would be destroyed, perhaps even make the image useless if the first "slice" is for effect only.
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on January 01, 2017, 01:54:35 PM
I haven't seen any post about this problem since I posted about BatchPurifier-Lite.

Anyone using it and if so, how do you like its simple use?

I discovered that right clicking on an image gives me the option under "Send to" to send the image directly to BatchPurifier-Lite (BPL) which eliminated the steps of opening BPL and adding the image. BPL came up with the image selected and the jpg box on the next screen selected so only had to do 2 things, select the desktop for the cleaned image and click to clean.

Could probably clean an image using tha methods in less than 10 seconds.

Anyone else try this program and if so, what did you think of it to resolve the security issue or clean sensitive meta data?
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Jack Ryan on January 01, 2017, 08:18:13 PM
I seem to spend a lot of time asking people to add metadata to shared files.

Removing it is counter-productive. It seems to me that the problem should be addressed.

Why would anyone scan a compressed binary file for the signature of malware? It's almost like looking for something wet in a puddle.

But that's just me.

Jack
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: TelePlay on January 01, 2017, 08:54:21 PM
Quote from: Jack Ryan on January 01, 2017, 08:18:13 PM
I seem to spend a lot of time asking people to add metadata to shared files.

Removing it is counter-productive. It seems to me that the problem should be addressed.

Why would anyone scan a compressed binary file for the signature of malware? It's almost like looking for something wet in a puddle.

But that's just me.

Well, no one is asking anyone to do that. Yes, it has it's uses for those who need it for whatever purpose or work they are involved in, as long it is legal use, non-malevolent use of the data. The point was if anyone has an image that does upload for whatever reason, have they tried that program to remove the meta data and then successfully upload the data.

Now, for those who are more conscious of what less than lawful people can get from a photo, iPhones with GPS location turned on will insert the longitude and latitude into the meta data, include the address closest to that point, the time and date that image was take, the direction the camera was facing and a google satellite map of the image creation locations.

Now, many members don't have to worry about their possessions or safety but I live in a metropolitan area that has a dangerous city at its center that just recorded 153 homicides for 2016 and already 1 in 2017. Doesn't seem like much but we have the 5th highest rate of violent crimes per capita and the 10th highest murder rate per capita in the US. I can speak only for myself but I prefer to keep my personal data, my location and my belongings private.

So, while the only intent was to help people fix one photo that for some reason can not be uploaded, it was not implied that all photos be stripped of meta data unless, of course, the poster of the picture prefers to avoid that data getting into the wrong hands.

I'm just looking for those who needed to fix an image and used BPL to do so, and to find out how it worked for them. After all of the posts I and others have done over and over to answers complaints about an issue we have no control over (we don't write code for SMF and don't have a direct line to their code writers) and finally finding a easy solution when the problem pops up for one or maybe two images, I find it refreshing to have a work around rather than have to post and post and post and post again about what we think is the reason and the multiple ways that some have found and suggested to maybe get around the problem and might not work. Problems that can now be fixed easily by the least knowledgeable computer code and/or software end user person.

Maybe, if I have the time, I will try using BPL with each of the jpg options offered in BPL to see what part or section of the meta data is found to be offensive by SMF code.

I don't strip meta data unless I end up with an image I can't load. I'm sure others do the same thing, don't think about meta data until they can't upload an image and then either fix it or complain about publicly. There has been so much written on the forum about this, it's just such a relief to say do this, have it work, and stop explaining and posing possible fixes.

Enough, off my soap box . . .

(http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6020.0;attach=140344;image)
Title: Re: "Security Error" when posting pictures
Post by: Doug Rose on January 01, 2017, 09:10:41 PM
I find when it happens to me, if I change the picture in the slightest way, ex tiny crop more, it will go through....Doug