TheyCryWolf | 457 points
An overlooked email.
Doing some independent research here. The title of this email stuck out to me, "Puttanesca sauce - we'd like to taste it" .
Yes, Puttanesca sauce is relatively common. Interestingly, it translates to "Spaghetti in the style of a whore". Alone, not much.
There is an attachment to the email . The title of the article screenshotted is in Italian and translates to "Hillary 2.0, social networks and youth to bring the Clintons in the White House". Maybe some sick inside joke?
Attachment seems to have some weird interference at the bottom of it. Maybe someone more technically savvy can find something there, otherwise just another strange coincidence.
Note the addresses on the email. Both abbreviated to "p.zza" (which translates to "square" in Italian). Looked up the location, and one is a real estate office. The infamous "handkerchief" emails also referenced some real estate searching, specifically where they "wouldn't get noise complaints". Communication around locations seem important.
There is mention of Puttanesca sauce in the article at the very end:
Meanwhile, his electoral strategist John Podesta has also inaugurated a new style with the press: preparing spaghetti puttanesca for journalists.
I suppose alone this would just be a little strange and not especially compelling, but given the network of strangeness surround this, it seemed significant.
Is this another hidden-in-plain-sight message to those in the ring? An offer for "spaghetti" from the "chef" Podestas?
Edit: In the original decoder posted on 4chan, "Sauce" was code for "orgy". It seems likely to me that Tony Podesta's "obsession over pasta" and this mention of "cooking pasta for journalists" is a coded invitation to an orgy.
JangoTheJanitor | 50 points
This is one of the reasons I'm really pushing for organization around here. If it's helpful, I spent a few hours digging into this very message and attachments - see my work here (https://www.reddit.com/r/pizzagate/comments/5cf9bo/thoughts_on_the_encrypted_data_steganography/d9wr5e9/?context=3)
Note that this appears to be an iPhone screenshot, but it's also definitely a corrupt PNG; look at the metadata in exiftool or pop it into a hex editor. I tried running a file carver on it but didn't get anything and also tried the fill-bucket method to detect possible artifacts, but that black space at the end is solid.
Note also that Podesta's dad was Italian-American and the etymology is closely related to "puttanata," an Italian noun meaning something worthless. Not sure if it's an inside joke kind of thing with him, but it's worth pointing out.
TheyCryWolf | 15 points
Apologies for not adding to your thread, I searched for the sauce name and couldn't find anything.
There's an interesting thread here about someone digging into data like this and finding hidden images.
I'm not tech savvy at all, but what was the takeaway from what you found in your analysis? Any information in all of those lines? Is that abnormal for a normal image?
JangoTheJanitor | 15 points
Oh, no need to apologize, I just feel bad that some of us are all covering the same ground. Always good to have multiple eyes on something, but it's also good to have access to the full body of existing research. A Wiki or something would be useful.
I've done a lot of work with steg in the past, but so far I've hit a dead end with this. It's abnormal for an iPhone screenshot to be corrupted, and this is definitely the kind of thing where hidden data COULD be, but having run a file carver against it, as well as a negative result from stegdetect, leaves me thinking manual hex analysis is pretty much the only option.
TheyCryWolf | 8 points
I agree, the corruption on the screenshot is very strange. I have never seen that happen on a smartphone before, iphone or otherwise.
JangoTheJanitor | 6 points
It's especially odd because the iPhone screenshotting functionality is built right into the OS, versus Android where it could easily be an external app, etc. Apple's quite anal about the QC of their core functionality, so it's really strange.
IC_UP | 10 points
looks like on german wikipedia is more on this sauce and the origins of it's name. it translates to italian brothels in the 50's were called something like closed houses, because they were houses with closed shutters on windows that were run by the state(!!!) and the prostitutes could only leave once a week for shopping because their time was worthy.
I'm kidding you not, go on google translate and check it out.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_alla_puttanesca
"Einer anderen Erklärung nach hängt er damit zusammen, dass italienische Bordelle in den 1950er Jahren – die damals case chiuse (wörtlich: geschlossene Häuser), Häuser mit geschlossenen Fensterläden, waren – vom Staat betrieben wurden und die Prostituierten nur einmal wöchentlich zum Einkaufen gehen gedurft hätten, und ihre Zeit kostbar gewesen sei."
Greenmonster71 | 3 points
They talk about the possible hidden data in old game files or formats, that's what this looks like is a flag from an old computer game.
setthetrap | 3 points
[deleted]
hoeskioeh | 1 points
actually no, quite the opposite.
the whole point of steganography is to hide information without being too obvious. if you could just detect it by saying "hey, it's a corrupted file" the method would be pointless.
not saying there's nothing in that file, haven't looked, just saying if it is, it's done stupidly so...
Greenmonster71 | 3 points
Run the same diagnostics on the email from the cocaine trafficker that talks about the attachements/picture contained in it capture the evening on "several different levels". May there is something there on different levels, it was a pun perhaps. I don't know how to run crypto on that stuff or I would.
JangoTheJanitor | 4 points
Link me to the specific email?
Greenmonster71 | 5 points
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/5716
mcp2001 | 1 points
2photos. first is Tony Podesta at his birthday party. #2 is the pope francis at the party talking to some bearded man. what's he doing at Tony's party?
Greenmonster71 | 1 points
That bearded man is probably ly a nefarious character
mcp2001 | 2 points
I don't doubt it. Check the author of the email as well. Ashok and Amrita Mahbubani. You'll find the couple on this Comet twitter page. Don't miss Obama's pics also. Disgusting. https://twitter.com/i/moments/795452870745354240
MirrorMirrorRTJ | 29 points
One of the real estate descriptions was odd. It said the ceilings may be too low for you. Some speculate it's an Alice in wonderland reference basically saying this party might be too extreme for your tastes.
ThrowPizzaAtGate | 3 points
The interference is nothing of interest. My image viewer displays it as a thumb - or something like that. http://imgur.com/wonfQnw
JangoTheJanitor | 7 points
The fact is, it is a corrupt PNG (verifiable if you check the metadata). The black area is extraneous corrupt data and that's strange because it appears to be an iPhone screenshot and you don't see that much. I've seen it a lot using things like PhotoRec to recover images from unallocated space, and steg is basically reverse file carving, so it piques my curiosity.
IC_UP | 3 points
seriously check this translation of the german wikipedia! This link pretty much confirms this food is code: The lower paragraph: https://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpaghetti_alla_puttanesca&edit-text=
ThisMeansGroundWar | 3 points
FYI - that image is huge. Would love for someone to run steganography tests on it.
mcp2001 | 3 points
I'm not an expert. Just a concerned mom. I wish I could help, but I can't do much. Hate this and wish they could all be exposed. These poor kids need help, fast.
victimculture | 2 points
The image is being used for steganography
newfoundland_urth | 14 points
Not trying to be a dick, but I have not seen one verifiable instance where someone has found anything embedded in an image. I don't think anyone understands how difficult it may be to detect... We are working on it, but unless you know what stegonagraphic method someone uses, it is unlikely you will be able to decrypt it a priori. The easiest thing for people to do is reverse image search all of these images to see what they lead back to. As I have been going through the images, I find weird links to shit right on google by doing a reverse google image search.
Injectortape | 8 points
Edit2: I feel that u/JangoTheJanitor is asking exactly the question that needs to be asked about this for verification and to the best of my knowledge it remains unverified. My comment following this is false until the images are verified.
Not to be a dick but have you not seen the owl and the cross found in the "it doesn't get any better than this image"?
https://www.reddit.com/r/pizzagate/comments/5cxsn9/the_owl_and_the_cross/?st=IVIQ3VB2&sh=8073f469
Edit: apparently only one person has been able to produce this image so far and it has not been verified as being embedded in the "it doesn't get any better than this image"
JangoTheJanitor | 17 points
Unfortunately that post isn't forensically verifiable because it can't be replicated - the guy didn't post the exact method. I remember the original 4chan thread has something about "adjusting the contrast" in whatever steg decrypter he was using at the time, but the amount wasn't documented. Everything we find needs to be documented to the point where it can be replicated from the original Wikileaks - otherwise it has no scientific merit and no validity as evidence in court.
shhyoudontknowitsme | 1 points
He used a hex editor
JangoTheJanitor | 3 points
"Using a hex editor" is not a procedure. Saying "there is an embedded file between offsets X and Y, which can be isolated using a hex editor" is.
newfoundland_urth | 10 points
Not to be a dick but this is wholly unverified. Until someone explains how they found the embedded image (software with source code or a detailed explanation) it could be nothing/fabricated. If you are using a steganalysis software and you don't know how it is if functioning how can you verify that there is actually an embedded image at all? It could literally be generating a random image with any image you input. I like that people are looking in to this angle, but we need to be careful about what we are accepting as "true". Their is an ungodly (no pun intended) amount of misinformation coming through reddit, 4chan, and 8chan.
Injectortape | 4 points
That's fair, I glossed right over the unverified aspect. Thanks for the information.
Gem420 | 3 points
Ok wait what?! I just realized, the little girl in the pic bears striking resemblance to the girl "taped" by the wrists to the table.
Greenmonster71 | 4 points
I think that little girl is in several of his photos. I'm beginning to think that he's created a weird cult like pizza and darkly gay hipster borderline inappropriate with kids crossing boundaries vibe/ideology/ethos , that is his business and life and it's kind of behind the scenes, but it fuels the mainstream success of his pizza restaurant which is recognized as legit gourmet pizza and provides a body of employees with friendship and livelihood , and his closest friends/employees kids are hanging around up there and they're thinking it's funny to do inappropriate or borderline inappropriate stuff with them or at least put up the appearance of doing so, and it's like their little click, and it's funny /taboo but they get it and it's their thing and nobody gets it from the outside looking in . No I'm not a shill, just trying to come up with laudable explanation for all this. It just makes no sense there is all this innuendo and no smoking gun. If there is hard evidence I want to see it. The Instagram photos are disturbing he needs to give an account for them, by legal authority
Gem420 | 1 points
Lord, I hope you are right. Podesta needs to answer for the picture on his stairwell. When coupled with the stuffed animals in his room, the paintings of children being sexually abused, and his love of cheese pizza and dominos, well, I just have some doubts. Big ones. He, and the rest of these men, have some serious explaining to do if it is all 'innocent'.
AluminumDeodorant | 3 points
She is the daughter of one of the girls. That was taken a day or two after they were released from North Korea.
The Stegonagraphy will be especially hard to catch without an original. Our best real shot is an obvious file size discrepancy or two of the same pictures that are different and we can detect the difference.
Injectortape | 1 points
I know the two pictures you are referring to, they are not the same as the one with the owl and the cross hidden in it
This is the email with the picture attachment that has the other image supposedly embedded
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/10037
the_sharpest_knife | 2 points
http://www.howtogeek.com/77831/encrypt-and-hide-your-personal-files-inside-of-a-photo/
kingkongwaswrong | 2 points
if you remember pasta is code for little boys, and puttanesca means 'in the style of a prostitute' - does that mean he's whoring out little kids to journalists? To buy them off?
TheyCryWolf | 3 points
I read somewhere that "pasta" is code for "orgy". It seems more likely to me that it's a hidden-in-plain-sight code for "we're hosting orgies for journalists." Just speculation, though.
yogabotty | 1 points
Just wanted to point out that the translation for puttanesca is basically whore. Puttanesca sauce is basically a cluster fuck collection of all the shit ingredients left in the fridge and someone some day made a delicious sauce out of it
Jeffreys_pasta | 1 points
Odd that there is only one other e-mail in all the Podesta leaks where Simone Bemporad is mentioned.
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/15844
Greenmonster71 | 1 points
We need to do crypto on the beanie babies email too, see if there's anything there
KiA423469420 | 1 points
I opened the png in notepad++ looking for anomalous text strings that might be clues. Since this isn't how the file is meant to be interpreted, it is of course almost entirely gibberish. Opening up random-ass files in text editors is rarely a productive investigation avenue, but I find parsing the gibberish to be fun. I have some fond memories of finding my teachers' passwords in crufty bits of the school network that weren't meant to be parsed as text, but turned out to contain things that a text editor could read all too well.
There's nothing so awesome here, but I did find a few things worth mentioning. Near the top, there are two strings of not-gibberish. The first one is four characters in a string that say "IHDR". That appears to be something related to the PNG spec. The second one is "iCCPICC Profile", which I believe represents color formatting data. I wonder if we can "reverse" the corruption somehow by tweaking the data of the PNG.
There's also some repeating D's in lines 280-310 and again at 499-504. I wonder what those represent in terms of the file's structure. Some kind of break in the data? Whatever they are, they're not meant to be parsed as text.
grumpy_edge | 1 points
Just tried to reverse image search the attactment on google, comes back with the following message:
"The image is too large (over 8,000 by 6,000 pixels) or Google can't read its encoding."
Never seen that before?
dextromaxhbr | -2 points
its just sauce..... you guys are really making us look like idiots
FuckkTheOligarchy | -1 points
This whole 'investigation' is insanity. I was interested in it when they first were getting into comet ping pong, now its just fucking absurd
dekektive | 78 points | Nov 14 2016 23:12:06
Shit, that's weird. You're doing god's work. Help us out please by investigating it? Also everyone upvote real info like this, we are currently getting brigaded.
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open_ur_mind | 1 points | Nov 15 2016 03:51:42
an orgy for journalists? doubtful. The distorted picture is strange, but beyond that this entire post is reaching pretty far.
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Ragnar-ze-Red | 8 points | Nov 15 2016 06:46:37
Speaking in code, especially if this is as deep as it seems, is definitely not going to be anywhere near that obvious dude.
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Aarno4412 | 2 points | Nov 15 2016 17:06:20
It certainly puts this twitter exchange in a new context
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/301069-podesta-fires-back-at-assange-over-leaked-emails-risotto
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2-DRY-4-2-LONG | 0 points | Nov 15 2016 08:15:18
So what is your logical explanation?
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