Files in Linux have 3 types of timestamps: atime (access), mtime (modify) and ctime (change).
Someday you may have a situation when you would like to fake a timestamps of some file.
atime and mtime timestamps can be easily changed using touch command, but there is no a standard way to set a different ctime timestamp.
As a possible workaround you can set the system time to the ctime you want to impose, then touch the file and then restore the system time.
Read the below article to learn how to change a file’s timestamps and keep anonymity. (more…)