Broadcast pictures to a wide circle of friends, but with a hidden message in each photo that only your best buds can read. Hide a picture in another picture. Hide a message by changing the spacing between text. Or tuck textual messages into music, as does a cyber-rebel band in Bill Neugent’s novel. The fancy name for this stuff is steganography, “hidden writing.” It’s just what you need if you want to chat without anyone knowing that you’re chatting. Your web site could feature your smiling face beaming an invisible note to a cadre of secret agents, or maybe just one agent.

Steg is fun. And depending on what you’re hiding and from whom, it can be a literal lifesaver. There’s even one case where it can make you some good money. Check out the Treasure Hunt to learn about several intriguing hidden messages in Bill’s novel. Just as Brent Singleton communicates with Lexor, so can an author talk to his readers and make one extremely happy.

Rose and Ubald (Bill’s grandparents) their friends young Irene (Bill’s mother) and The Shadow

In the old days, some pictures carried secret messages without using steganography.

For more information about steganography, you can wallow for days in Neil Johnson’s excellent site:

http://www.jjtc.com/Steganography/

Try a demo

Really, try playing with steg tools. One that’s free and easy is JPEG Hide and Seek (TaleCatcher™ used JPHS for Windows) from Allan Latham:

http://linux01.gwdg.de/~alatham/stego.html

TaleCatcher™ offers no warranty and accepts no liability for use of Allan’s beta toy.

For other interesting demos, try the one below which is particularly cute. It hides a textual message in a textual message by generating a note that looks like spam:

http://www.spammimic.com/

Links to Steg Tools

	http://www.jjtc.com/Security/stegtools.htm
	http://www.jjtc.com/Steganography/toolmatrix.htm
	http://www.cotse.com/tools/stega.htm
	http://www.stegoarchive.com/

Updated: 20-Oct-2005