Are you hiding secret messages in LOLCAT photos?

Are you hiding secret messages in LOLCAT photos?

digg.com

Earlier this year, someone at the US Department of Justice smuggled sensitive financial data out of the agency by embedding the data in several image files. Defeating this exfiltration method, called steganography, has proved particularly tricky, but one engineering student has come up with a way to make espionage work against itself.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
spectrum.ieee.org

(I didn't want to cut digg out of the loop. without this getting onto the front page, I doubt I would have heard. I hope that goes with the 'spirit' of the forum...)

I myself have long wondered if there was anything hard and simple when in comes to the world of steganography in regard to code breaking. Seems that could be the case, in the near future.

Since lolcats were 'invented' on 4chan, it is possible that the users there have been using them to send secret messages. The 'slogans' might even be the cipher keys. Maybe they have hidden all the Scientology secrets behind lolcats.
DocMoreau

Please check out the Additional Link for the full article.

digg.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow, not one reply in regard to Lolcat images being used as packages for encrypted information?

Am I on global ignore? or am I off base in thinking that ATS members would want to discuss this?

DocMoreau

Originally posted by DocMoreau
Wow, not one reply in regard to Lolcat images being used as packages for encrypted information?
Am I on global ignore? or am I off base in thinking that ATS members would want to discuss this?
DocMoreau

No, I'm still looking at it.

I think you'll have to wait for users who understand the jargon.

Still does not ident. the perp.

And....I believe that we have now moved beyond this type of smuggling....low tech seems to have come back into play...leaves less of a footprint.

Good article.

I suppose someone could successfully hide a message in a lolcats pic. Lolcats speak is technically it's own secret language now.

However...



would do such a thing...

I love lolcats..

[edit on 30-8-2008 by samureyed]

Also....although I am no expert by any stretch of imagination ...I remember hearing that corporate loss prevention is more concerned with PREVENTING loss rather then catching the perp.

So this LOLCAT thing is good in that respect.

PS. I find stuff like this interesting thanks for posting this.

LMAO i love them too. Then again i love cats in general.

As for hiding stuff in pictures.. Its old school and has been around for a few years.. The fact that the security people are now just figuring this out is disturbing.

Hell..... This tech was showcased in a movie a few years ago.. And its not that hard to do ..

Hell here is a easy quick way of doing it..

Using the command prompt in Windows
This one's quite easy. Create an archive file (i.e a Zip or Rar file) which contains the files you want to hide.
Our aim is to hide this archive file inside an image. Let's assume secretfiles.zip is the archive file and mypicture.jpg is the picture file which will be used to hide the archive.

Now open the command prompt and use the following command:
copy /b mypicture.jpg + secretfiles.zip new.jpg

The above command will create a new image file named new.jpg, which contains secretfiles.zip.
Opening new.jpg will only display the image from the original mypicture.jpg file, so the zip file stays hidden. However, to access the archive, you'll have the open the new.jpg file with programs like Winzip,Winrar,7-zip etc.

This trick can also be used with other image formats like png, gif, tif etc. Additionally, the zip or rar archives can be encrypted(password protected), thereby making it difficult to retrieve even if one knows an image contains these files.

txpress.blogspot.com...

lol, I've used stenography before. It's actually VERY easy to do.

A simple method to do it, is to open a .bmp file in a text editor.
It will look like garbled symbols, but go ahead and try to plant a word somewhere in that long stream of symbols. Eventually you will find a location that doesn't corrupt the image.

Use that area to plant your message.

Save it... and post it.

People looking at the image have no idea theres a message hidden in the pictures code. Until they open it with a text editor.

There are already programs available in Linux which detect stenography within images. Of course, many times the programs will detect a hidden message that simply says what program made the image, who it was made by, and when. (Kind of like a digital version of a copyright watermark.)

But sometimes it detects something more interesting.

Most of the time, I find jokes, verbal slams on peoples bosses, etc.
I haven't come across anything sinister yet... but it is possible.
Problem is, if you wanted to spread information of a sinister nature, you wouldn't allow it into the public, you'd pass it by hand or verbally directly to the recipient.

But go ahead and look it up. It's a fun technique to mess around with.

Maybe even post a few stenographed pictures, and see if people can find the message. It can become quite the fun game.

reply to post by johnsky


Great idea about having a Steganography 'contest' so to speak.

This is more the conversation I was expecting when I posted the thread. I guess my weird formatting caused it to not draw as much attention.

DocMoreau

My cats don't talk like that. They are much smarter. LOLCats need to lay off the weed and television and read a book now and then.

disregard

[edit on 31-8-2008 by RickinVa]

Wow, this thread took an initial dive, then rebounded. Then took a serious dive off the deep end....

Anyone know more about this technology on Os X/Macs?
DocMoreau