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You're reading from  Python for Secret Agents - Volume II - Second Edition

Product typeBook
Published inDec 2015
Reading LevelIntermediate
Publisher
ISBN-139781785283406
Edition2nd Edition
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Authors (2):
Steven F. Lott
Steven F. Lott
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Steven F. Lott

Steven Lott has been programming since computers were large, expensive, and rare. Working for decades in high tech has given him exposure to a lot of ideas and techniques, some bad, but most are helpful to others. Since the 1990s, Steven has been engaged with Python, crafting an array of indispensable tools and applications. His profound expertise has led him to contribute significantly to Packt Publishing, penning notable titles like "Mastering Object-Oriented," "The Modern Python Cookbook," and "Functional Python Programming." A self-proclaimed technomad, Steven's unconventional lifestyle sees him residing on a boat, often anchored along the vibrant east coast of the US. He tries to live by the words “Don't come home until you have a story.”
Read more about Steven F. Lott

Steven F. Lott
Steven F. Lott
author image
Steven F. Lott

Steven Lott has been programming since computers were large, expensive, and rare. Working for decades in high tech has given him exposure to a lot of ideas and techniques, some bad, but most are helpful to others. Since the 1990s, Steven has been engaged with Python, crafting an array of indispensable tools and applications. His profound expertise has led him to contribute significantly to Packt Publishing, penning notable titles like "Mastering Object-Oriented," "The Modern Python Cookbook," and "Functional Python Programming." A self-proclaimed technomad, Steven's unconventional lifestyle sees him residing on a boat, often anchored along the vibrant east coast of the US. He tries to live by the words “Don't come home until you have a story.”
Read more about Steven F. Lott

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Background briefing – images and social media


We'll use the Pillow implementation of the PIL package to extract and convert any graphics or images. In Chapter 1, New Missions, New Tools, we used the pip3.4 program to install Pillow 2.9.0. The PIL package has modules that allow us to convert images to a common format. It also allows us to create thumbnails of images. This can help us build a tidy summary of images we collected.

Most importantly, it allows us to validate an image file. It turns out that the compression algorithms used on some images can be hacked. Someone can tweak the bytes of an image so that it appears to be infinitely large. This will cause the computer opening the image to get progressively slower until the image processing application finally crashes. A basic counter-intelligence ploy is to circulate damaged image files that leave agents struggling to figure out what went wrong.

The PIL module is an important piece of counter-counter-intelligence. We don't want to accept...

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Python for Secret Agents - Volume II - Second Edition
Published in: Dec 2015Publisher: ISBN-13: 9781785283406

Authors (2)

author image
Steven F. Lott

Steven Lott has been programming since computers were large, expensive, and rare. Working for decades in high tech has given him exposure to a lot of ideas and techniques, some bad, but most are helpful to others. Since the 1990s, Steven has been engaged with Python, crafting an array of indispensable tools and applications. His profound expertise has led him to contribute significantly to Packt Publishing, penning notable titles like "Mastering Object-Oriented," "The Modern Python Cookbook," and "Functional Python Programming." A self-proclaimed technomad, Steven's unconventional lifestyle sees him residing on a boat, often anchored along the vibrant east coast of the US. He tries to live by the words “Don't come home until you have a story.”
Read more about Steven F. Lott

author image
Steven F. Lott

Steven Lott has been programming since computers were large, expensive, and rare. Working for decades in high tech has given him exposure to a lot of ideas and techniques, some bad, but most are helpful to others. Since the 1990s, Steven has been engaged with Python, crafting an array of indispensable tools and applications. His profound expertise has led him to contribute significantly to Packt Publishing, penning notable titles like "Mastering Object-Oriented," "The Modern Python Cookbook," and "Functional Python Programming." A self-proclaimed technomad, Steven's unconventional lifestyle sees him residing on a boat, often anchored along the vibrant east coast of the US. He tries to live by the words “Don't come home until you have a story.”
Read more about Steven F. Lott