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Hiding Files Inside Images (Steganography v2.0)

  • 20-01-2014 05:53PM
    #1
    cirx08
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 117 ✭✭


    Prevent your family, friends and anyone that has access to your computer from viewing your precious files!

    I am a student studying Software Development in college and over the Summer I decided to learn how to program in C#. The results of all my learning is a program called Steganography by Cirx08.



    *** Update ***

    Steganography v2.0 is now online giving support for masking the size of an image with huge archives inside it meaning if you hide a 20GB file inside a 5MB image, the image size stays 5MB!
    Other bugs that were brought to my attention have also been fixed and support for replacing files that already exist.



    Download the app here - http://sourceforge.net/projects/steganographyv20/


    Creation Interface:
    Steg_Create.png


    Open File Interface:
    Steg_Open.png


    What is does:
    It takes any archive file made in a program like WinRAR, 7-zip, etc. and hides it inside the LSB of any image. After the secret image is created the image still looks and feels like a normal image to unsuspecting users. It can be viewed with image software, it can be printed as normal and edited in editing software (This part will save the image as a new image deleting all you secret files). But once you use the program to open the secret image you will be able to see all the files hidden inside it. Otherwise you can also simply right click the file and select the "Open With" option and select the Archiving program of your choice and it will open inside there.



    Where to download it:
    You can download it over at my profile on SourceForge at this link - https://sourceforge.net/projects/steganographyv20/



    Other apps by me:
    After I was done with this app I created a few more that you might find interesting, you can view these apps by visiting either my website or my profile over on SourceForge.

    Website - http://www.chrispbacon10.com/
    SourceForge - http://www.sourceforge.net/users/cirx08


    How to use:



    File size limits:
    There are no file size limits if you use .RAR type archives, I used this program to hide a 6.7GB file inside a 461KB .JPG image and it worked perfectly! You won't have to worry about going over any limits which is great :D

    Note: The larger the file the longer it will take to create, just let the program do its thing until you get the "Image was created successfully" message.



    Version 1.0 is still available for download here -http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/steganography/



    Hope you all like it and are willing to give it a try and tell me what you think.

    Also to all the guys out there we all know what most of you are going to hide with this ;)


Comments

  • #2
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,863 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    cirx08 wrote: »
    Steganography v2.0 is now online giving support for masking the size of an image with huge archives inside it meaning if you hide a 20GB file inside a 5MB image, the image size stays 5MB!
    How does that work?


  • #3
    cirx08
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 117 ✭✭cirx08


    oscarBravo wrote: »
    How does that work?

    There are two methods it uses called "Inner" and "Outer", In Inner the files themselves are hidden in the LSB of the file but this can make a 5MB a 20GB image if you pack 20GB of video and other data inside it so that's why there's the option for outer which only stores a link to the copied, hidden and renamed files deep inside your computer where nobody will find them. This way the image still works as a secret image but stays the same size as the original image :P

    P.S. When I say nobody will find the files that excludes the authorities looking for hiding incriminating files as this program is not intended for that use. You won't believe the amount of people that have asked me to create a feature to do that...


  • #4
    Call Me Jimmy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,449 ✭✭✭Call Me Jimmy


    I have no use for it personally but in my final year in college I learned about this technique and was very intrigued by it on a theoretical level. I only learned about messages being interleaved into pixel data and extracted at the other end, not the possibility of masking the true size of a file.

    Good to see that you're working on your own stuff, it'll look great, as you know, when you go looking for a job (if you don't end up working for yourself) :)


  • #5
    cirx08
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 117 ✭✭cirx08


    Call Me Jimmy wrote: »
    I have no use for it personally but in my final year in college I learned about this technique and was very intrigued by it on a theoretical level. I only learned about messages being interleaved into pixel data and extracted at the other end, not the possibility of masking the true size of a file.

    Good to see that you're working on your own stuff, it'll look great, as you know, when you go looking for a job (if you don't end up working for yourself) :)

    I'd love to work for myself but the real reason I built this program was to move over from Java and learn C# for a job I have in mind when I finish college now in a few months :)


  • #6
    cython
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,846 ✭✭✭cython


    cirx08 wrote: »
    There are two methods it uses called "Inner" and "Outer", In Inner the files themselves are hidden in the LSB of the file but this can make a 5MB a 20GB image if you pack 20GB of video and other data inside it so that's why there's the option for outer which only stores a link to the copied, hidden and renamed files deep inside your computer where nobody will find them. This way the image still works as a secret image but stays the same size as the original image :P

    P.S. When I say nobody will find the files that excludes the authorities looking for hiding incriminating files as this program is not intended for that use. You won't believe the amount of people that have asked me to create a feature to do that...


    Does it also exclude someone who can use a program such as WinDirStat (or even du on a *nix system) in the eventuality that you use the "Outer" method? All in all it still seems very reminiscent of the below post on your original thread on this topic:
    fergalr wrote: »
    Interesting project.

    A wise man once wrote:
    Bruce Schneier wrote:
    There are two kinds of cryptography in this world: cryptography that will stop your kid sister from reading your files, and cryptography that will stop major governments from reading your files.

    I am guessing this is the former?

    I know its a steg project, not crypto, but what I'm asking is, if someone suspects you are using this program it's going to be pretty easy for them to A) confirm it, and B) recover the message? Or not?

    The idea is still an interesting concept, but unfortunately I think some of the claims of the efficacy for "hiding" data is overstated still.


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  • #7
    Procasinator
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,311 ✭✭✭Procasinator


    If you wanted to play further with the Outer technique, maybe encrypting the outer file and storing the key in the image could be interesting.

    Obviously it's not very secure from a key management point of view, but it could be something to play around with.


  • #8
    Dermot Illogical
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,131 ✭✭✭Dermot Illogical


    It is an interesting concept alright, but without much real world value that I can think of. The increased file size is a dead giveaway for the inner method. The plain text path after the <OUTER> marker makes the outer method trivial to get around for anyone snooping. Likewise the filenames in plain text before the <INNER> marker for that method.
    I can't get the inner method to successfully create a file which will unpack afterward. (Win 7 64bit.)


  • #9
    ChRoMe
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,021 ✭✭✭ChRoMe


    I find it amusing that people curious about a security app are blindly executing binaries on their systems.


  • #10
    Dermot Illogical
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,131 ✭✭✭Dermot Illogical


    ChRoMe wrote: »
    I find it amusing that people curious about a security app are blindly executing binaries on their systems.

    Assuming they are. I would expect that anyone interested in security apps has a selection of systems for testing on. Sure you probably do yourself.
    Or do you test stuff live? :eek:


  • #11
    Procasinator
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,311 ✭✭✭Procasinator


    ChRoMe wrote: »
    I find it amusing that people curious about a security app are blindly executing binaries on their systems.

    I never executed it myself, just relied on the description. But who knows, to say they are blindly executing it might be an assumption on your part too. They might at least be running it under a VM.


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