Lion Cipher Lab
Read and strip file metadata with ExifTool
- Digital Forensics & IR (DFIR)
- Beginner
- ~25 min
- Free · no account required
Why it matters
Almost every photo and document carries hidden metadata — data about the data. A phone photo can quietly record the exact GPS coordinates where it was taken, the phone model, and the timestamp; a PDF or Word file can carry the author's real name, the software that made it, and a trail of edit times. This cuts two ways, and both are worth understanding. To a defender or investigator, metadata is genuine evidence: it can reveal where a file came from, tie several files back to one origin, and expose when a story does not add up. To you as an ordinary person, the same fields are a privacy leak —…
What you'll learn
- reading EXIF and file metadata
- finding GPS coordinates in photos
- reading document author and software fields
- stripping metadata before sharing
- privacy hygiene
- artifact analysis basics
Steps in this lab
- What metadata is — and why it cuts both ways
- Install ExifTool
- Read the metadata in your own photo
- Find the GPS — the location hiding in a phone photo
- Read a document — author, software, and timestamps
- The two sides, side by side
- Strip it before you share
- The habit worth keeping