I was recently watching a video where they were talking about using a software called OutGuess to reveal hidden messages in Jpeg photos. I remember Q posting a LOT of Jpegs and was thinking maybe there is hidden text in those photos---especially the American flag he posted several times. Just wondering if anyone has tried this? I am not smart enough. I barely can type a sentence!
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Yes, hidden data embedded in digital photos/content is called steganography. Autists did look for this back in the day. As I recall, a lot of the info were titles of books.
I was just wondering if it was looked at. Should have known! Keke
I remember that
That is data that has been added. Like text or a hidden image. There's also EXIF data and metadata stored in digital images and videos.
That flag did seem to have a " more then meets the eye" quality
I am too old and not smart enough to look into it. Using Dos is beyond me and some of that software goes WAY over my head!
You were smart enough to put 2 and 2 together, I have never heard of OutGuess.
That is why we are all here
Then don't IDC
I studied them, I can say the various flags are different on a pixel level, just never figured out the significance. Probably should subtract the earlier from the later one and see what happens, things like that.
It gave me a headache. My eyes knew something was wrong but my brain would just try to say it was a flag. Even though I knew steganography was involved.
The name of this is steganography.
I have had similar thoughts.
You are talking about EXIF and Metadata. It's hidden in images taken with digital cameras. Exif is info such as the device used, GPS, longitude, latitude and altitude where the image was taken, shutter speed, focal length .
There are several sites online that you can use simply by uploading the photo or even an url. There are also programs and maybe some online sites where you can wipe the EXIF data from a photo. I've never fool with those.
Here's one online data viewer/reader I've used in the past: https://exifmeta.com/
Steganography hides the bits for message bytes directly in the data for the image, not in EXIF or metadata. For instance, the least significant two bits of a pixel data byte can be set to two bits of a message byte. The image won’t be materially degraded because the chosen image bits are of low significance. Half of the bits will be correct anyway and differences from the original image would likely appear to be noise.
To defeat any attempt to decode the hidden message, the resulting byte stream can be enciphered (and deciphered) with a one-time pad system resulting in almost complete security. The almost comes from using the one-time pad correctly. Doing so results in complete security.
Metadata can be easily read with almost any image software. It is kind of hidden, but easily read. It is just info related to the picture - like exposure info, location where it was taken, settings like the aperture, etc.
Steganography is usually (always?) encrypted and takes special software to see the message, along with the password to decrypt the message. Stuff like text messages, other pictures, and some small files can be hidden that way.
I use PS and Lightroom and Metadata is not what I am talking about. I am told that what I am speaking of is steganography. I'll have to look that one up!
Everything has meaning!