Hacker 10 – Security Hacker

Tag: hide data inside sound file

  • Hide data inside sound files with DeepSound

    Hide data inside sound files with DeepSound

    DeepSound is a steganography tool to hide any kind of data, from text to photos, inside sound files, for extra security everything can be encrypted using AES256-bit and only available with the correct password, the modified audio file will play as normal and nobody should notice it contains hidden data inside. The program interface is very simple, it comes with a file browser to manually peruse the directory where a suitable carrier sound file can be found, when password protecting the data you will not be asked to confirm the black dot covered password twice, if you make a typo you will not notice it until it is too late, it will be best if you test the file after creating it to make sure everything works as expected.

    Encoding or extracting data can be quickly executed using shortcuts, the program settings allow you to graduate output quality ratio from low to high. If you are going to create an audio CD with hidden data the developer advises to disable volume normalization in the CD burning software to prevent data corruption that would stop hidden files recovery, a one page help manual with screenshots is included, you are not likely to have to read it.

    DeepSound hides data inside audio files
    DeepSound hides data inside audio files

    This tool can only hide data inside Waveform Audio File Format .wav and Free Lossless Audio Codec .flac sound files, these are not very common files, .wav is normally uncompressed, perfect to hide files inside, but the files are very large and not usually used for music, only small sounds.

    FLAC is a royalty free open source alternative to proprietary .mp3, .flac files are compressed and suitable for music albums, supporting metadata and album covert art, if you are going to hide data it will probably look less suspicious inside a .flac than the inadequate .wav file format, and it will be easier to distribute a .flac file given its smaller size. This application could also be used to watermark copyrighted music and track down the source if it is later found leaked in file sharing networks, but converting the file audio format to something else would get rid of the hidden watermark.

    Visit DeepSound homepage

  • Steganography software OurSecret hides text inside photos

    Steganography software OurSecret hides text inside photos

    Unlike encryption, where it is evident that you are trying to hide something from others, steganography allows you to hide secret messages inside a photo (audio, video, etc), post that photo to Flickr, Imgsrc or any other online photoalbum and nobody looking at your activities will notice that you are sending secret data, the receiver will also be safe by visiting a harmless website instead of being seen downloading encrypted messages.

    OurSecret is a free steganography tool that can hide text or files inside other any other file, for the receiver to be able to read the message he will have to be using the same software, you can password protect your data to thwart accidental discovery. The carrier file can consist of an image, video, sound file or anything else, the file can be viewed as normal even after data has been hidden in them, after hiding data inside a file you will be offered a location to save it, you should get rid of the original file, an easy way to detect hidden data inside photos is by comparing the original file with the one holding a concealed a message, by destroying the original file you make it very hard to detect that something is hidden unless your opponent is specifically looking for steganography messages and has access to steganalysis tools.

    Steganography software OurSecrets
    Steganography software OurSecret

    Steganography tools take advantage of unused bits of data in a file to hide data inside them, data is made up of bytes, with 1 byte being made up of 8 bits, if the less significant bit of each byte is modified to hide something inside it, the original file will still work as usual, a file header is another good place to hide data, it normally contains file type information, the end of a file is normally predefined and can be used too, hidden data can be added in those places without significantly altering the original file. By not adding any extra bits to the file and only modifying those that already exist, the chances of discovering hidden data is made more difficult, there are steganography detection algorithms that can be successful finding hidden data but extracting that data is much more difficult, specially if it has been encrypted.

    Uncompressed files are the best ones to hide big files, for example, a bitmap .bmp image file will have more spare bits than a compressed .jpeg image, and a .wav sound file will be able to conceal more data than an already compressed .mp3 file.

    Visit OurSecret homepage