Ever wondered to know how to hide secret data in image, audio and video files? Well, in this post I will take you through a concept called steganography using which, it is possible to hide your secret information in image files, songs or any other file of your choice. At the end of this post, you can also download free stegnographic tools and start hiding your data.
What is Steganography?
Steganography is a means of obscuring data where secret messages are hidden inside computer files such as images, sound files, videos and even executable files so that, no one except the sender and the receiver will suspect the existence of stealth information in it. Steganography may also involve the usage of cryptography where the message is first encrypted before it is concealed in another file. Generally, the messages appear to be something else such as an image, sound or video so that the transfer of secret data remains unsuspected.
The main advantage of steganography over other methods such as cryptography is that, it will not arose suspicion even if the files fall in the hands of a third party. Unlike cryptographic messages, stegnographic messages will no way attract the attention of a third party by themselves. Thus stegnanography has an upper hand over cryptography as it involves both encryption and obscurity.
What are the Applications of Steganography?
Steganography is mainly used to obscure confidential information/data during storage or transmission. For example, one can hide a secret message in an audio file and send this to another party via email instead of sending the message in the textual format. The receiver on the other end will decrypt the hidden message using the private decryption key. In a worst case scenario, even if a third party does manage to gain access to the email, all he can find is the audio file and not the hidden data inside it. Other usage of steganography include digital watermarking of images for reasons such as copyright protection.
Even though steganography has many useful applications, some may use this technique for illegitimate purposes such as hiding a pornographic content in other large files. Rumors about terrorists using steganography for hiding and communicating their secret information and instructions are also reported. An article claiming that, al-Queda had used steganography to encode messages in images and transported them via e-mails, was reported by New York Times, in October 2001.
How do Steganography Tools Work?
Stegnography tools implement intelligent algorithms to carefully embed the encrypted text messages or data inside other larger files such as an image, audio, video or an executable file. Some tools will embed the encrypted data at the end of another file so that there will be enough room for storing larger data.
There are many steganography tools available online but only a few are able to work flawlessly. I did not find any tool that worked perfectly on both small and large data. However, I have managed to develop my own tool that can work perfectly on all types of files and all size of data. The tool is called “Stego Magic“. You can download it from the following link.
The zip file contains two versions of Stego Magic: One for encrypting the text messages and the other for encrypting binary files. StegoMagic_TXT can be used to hide text messages in other files such as an image or a sound file. StegoMagic_BIN can be used to hide one binary file in another such as an executable file inside an image or an image inside a video file.
With Stego Magic, there is no limitation on the size and type of the file that you are intending to hide. For example, you can hide a video of size 1 GB in an image of size 1 MB or hide an executable file inside a WORD document. The tool is pretty straightforward to use and requires no special understanding of the concept.
At the end of the encryption process, a secret decryption key will be generated and the same is required during the decryption process.
How to Use Stego Magic?
Suppose you want to hide a text message inside a JPG file:
-
Place the JPG and the text file (.txt) in the same folder as that of StegoMagic_TXT.exe
-
Run StegoMagic_TXT.exe and follow the screen instructions to embed the text message inside the JPG image.
Please note that if you’re using Windows 7/Vista, right-click the file and select “Run as Administrator”. Otherwise the tool may fail to work properly. -
Note down the secret decryption key.
Now you can send this image to your friend via email. To decrypt the hidden message, your friend should load this JPG file onto the Stego Magic tool and use the secret decryption key.
I hope you’ve now understood what is steganography and how to use it to hide your secret data. For queries and feedback, please pass your comments.
I am Srikanth Ramesh, a computer engineer from India.
104 Comments
fred{nigeria-esut}
October 28, 2011 at 3:46 AMSrikanth
October 28, 2011 at 3:00 PMfitra
January 13, 2013 at 11:05 AMShadab
October 28, 2011 at 11:52 AMuk-no
October 28, 2011 at 4:44 PMSrikanth
October 28, 2011 at 5:35 PMpankaj subedi
October 28, 2011 at 6:33 PMSartaj
October 28, 2011 at 8:00 PMgdk
October 28, 2011 at 8:21 PMMizero
October 28, 2011 at 8:30 PMHack Facebook Account
October 28, 2011 at 8:57 PMinvisible risul
October 29, 2011 at 12:13 AMmann
October 29, 2011 at 4:34 AMABC
October 29, 2011 at 9:40 AMARPIT
October 29, 2011 at 9:07 PMChammu
October 30, 2011 at 1:43 PMLonelywolf
October 30, 2011 at 8:43 PMSrikanth
October 31, 2011 at 12:03 AMLonelywolf
October 30, 2011 at 8:45 PMStefanutz11
October 31, 2011 at 12:45 AMMiniMite
October 31, 2011 at 2:22 PMSrikanth
November 3, 2011 at 12:39 PMDevinder
October 31, 2011 at 4:50 PMFaisal
October 31, 2011 at 10:15 PMSrikanth
November 3, 2011 at 12:40 PMmahendra chhimwal
November 1, 2011 at 2:36 PMADAM ERO
November 1, 2011 at 2:51 PMRajesh Kumar
November 1, 2011 at 11:16 PMsusac
November 2, 2011 at 6:04 PMSrikanth
November 3, 2011 at 12:35 PMdivo
November 3, 2011 at 8:00 AMManas
November 3, 2011 at 2:45 PMAbdur Rahman
November 4, 2011 at 7:34 PMrana
November 5, 2011 at 2:26 AMmanoj
November 5, 2011 at 1:35 PMAlisa Malotra
November 6, 2011 at 12:55 PMOtota
November 8, 2011 at 4:46 PManna
November 9, 2011 at 2:34 PManna
November 9, 2011 at 3:21 PMSrikanth
November 11, 2011 at 12:49 PMDaniel
November 10, 2011 at 5:08 AMaaa
November 11, 2011 at 12:48 PMSrikanth
November 11, 2011 at 12:51 PMRahul
December 8, 2011 at 9:13 AMASHARAM SEERVI
December 10, 2011 at 12:40 PMHemanth
December 14, 2011 at 11:02 AMakarshan
December 14, 2011 at 7:23 PMSuresh Krishna
December 17, 2011 at 11:20 AMAditya
January 10, 2012 at 7:09 PMSaver
January 22, 2012 at 6:07 AMSrikanth
February 19, 2012 at 11:06 AMwindurs
January 22, 2012 at 3:31 PMAnimesh N
January 31, 2012 at 10:40 PMI'mLonely
February 1, 2012 at 10:14 PMsatyenhacks
February 2, 2012 at 10:51 AMAwais
February 12, 2012 at 7:00 PMLucifer
February 12, 2012 at 7:57 PMPhilosophi
February 14, 2012 at 1:56 AMshehan
February 17, 2012 at 8:21 AMSarang
March 15, 2012 at 9:40 PMharindra
March 17, 2012 at 3:36 PMOwaiz Khalife
March 26, 2012 at 10:30 PMSamurai
April 9, 2012 at 3:50 AMchris
April 20, 2012 at 10:03 AMAditya
April 24, 2012 at 7:14 PMyash
April 28, 2012 at 11:58 AMhenric
May 1, 2012 at 7:29 AMZaam
May 10, 2012 at 1:31 PMSwathy
May 16, 2012 at 11:36 AMSrikanth
May 16, 2012 at 1:56 PMsudheer
May 18, 2012 at 9:32 PMDumpty Driller
July 20, 2012 at 7:30 PMSrikanth
September 3, 2012 at 4:18 PMDumpty Driller
July 20, 2012 at 7:40 PMTaimoor Ali
July 29, 2012 at 8:45 PMkaushikvaru
August 15, 2012 at 5:27 PMankur aggarwal
August 23, 2012 at 9:53 PMpulus
August 26, 2012 at 1:59 AM@Nazrin....@
September 9, 2012 at 8:11 PMhellslay
September 10, 2012 at 10:08 PMSrikanth
September 11, 2012 at 8:43 AMpritish
September 17, 2012 at 3:31 PMCastor
September 19, 2012 at 12:11 PMSrikanth
October 26, 2012 at 5:22 PMJeevan
October 6, 2012 at 12:18 AMmadhav
November 7, 2012 at 5:48 PMFezan Qadir Bhatti
November 19, 2012 at 12:37 AMGeeta Solanki
November 19, 2012 at 9:11 PMVijay Anand
November 29, 2012 at 3:03 PMSrikanth
November 30, 2012 at 2:48 PMpuspa
December 13, 2012 at 6:36 PMsangeetha
December 19, 2012 at 2:54 PMhenock negash
January 10, 2013 at 12:02 PMOmar
January 10, 2013 at 6:13 PMvishwatek
January 11, 2013 at 2:25 PMKnow hacking
January 19, 2013 at 12:29 AMhere
January 20, 2013 at 8:56 AMAbraham
February 8, 2013 at 5:54 PMSrikanth
February 20, 2013 at 12:34 PMCash Advance
February 18, 2013 at 3:00 AMBilal
February 19, 2013 at 1:37 AMSrikanth
February 20, 2013 at 12:31 PMhenock
February 19, 2013 at 4:37 PMSrikanth
February 20, 2013 at 12:29 PM