Metadata: Data about Data
The former director of the NSA and the CIA, General Michael Hayden, claimed “We kill people based on metadata.”
Metadata is often overlooked when it comes to protecting privacy, as this data is normally invisible to the user.
However, metadata in particular is easy to obtain and is well suited for the creation of profiles and relationships.
Often, the file's metadata can be combined with other metadata such as the IP address or telephone number, for example when the files are uploaded in a cloud or shared in a chat.
Encrypted zip Files
Normally, the metadata of files in zip archives can be easily viewed. However, when the zip archive is then encrypted, this metadata is also encrypted. File specific dates, file names etc. can be protected in this way.
But keep in mind: Like all files, zip files also contain metadata. Only the metadata related to the included files is encrypted.
File names are encrypted, only the name of the zip archive is visible.
But when a file from the zip archive is changed and the zip file is uploaded to the cloud, the modification date and time is visible - but it is not visible which file in the zip archive has changed.
