Hide secret messages in music, pictures

March 28, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Do you remember those secret decoder rings? Armed with such a ring, you could write secret messages to your friends, secure in the knowledge that your parents or teachers could never decrypt your secret thoughts. Just to see if today’s kids have anything like that still available, I did a Google search but only found historical references. So although the ring may have become a small bit of history, your computer now offers kind of a modern-day substitute.

Probably the most popular type of file being traded and exchanged by today’s cyber-active youths are mp3 music files. Mp3 players are being worn as fashion statements, hung from belts and even integrated into clothing. Now they can secretly communicate by embedding hidden text messages in mp3 files with a program called Secret Media from Direct Logic. Secret Media for Windows enables you to hide secret text messages within audio mp3 as well as graphic files. Supported files include JPG, MP3, WMA, GIF, BMP, and WAV.

According to Direct Logic, there is plenty of unused room within these files to embed messages without altering the actual content in any way. Even compressed formats such as jpeg that remove redundant and unused data still maintain enough unused space to easily hide lots of text information.

When you first run Secret Media, a wizard-style interface guides users in creating and viewing hidden messages. To install a hidden message, you first select the data file into which the message will be placed. Then type in your message and Secret Media will determine if there is enough space available to hide all of it within the selected file. If not, you can shorten the message until it fits.

Reading a hidden message is just as easy. But in order to keep secret messages hidden away from prying eyes who might also have a copy of the program, you’ll need a password before the message will be decrypted. So your mission is to make sure that all friends in your secret circle have a copy of Secret Media and the password.

This is not something that’s going to be undetectable to professional spies and decryption specialists. But then again, neither was the secret decoder ring. From the looks of things, I’d say that Secret Media is a fun little program that will probably let you fly below the usual radar of parents and teachers. It probably will never occur to them that your innocent pictures and audio files contain your secret information.

As an afterthought, you may find Secret Media to be an inexpensive kind of hidden “watermarking” application you can use to secretly mark and identify your proprietary or original data. For example, a musician or photographer who wants to secretly mark their work might use Secret Media to embed their copyright identification. There are professional applications available that are specifically designed for watermarking identification but those programs are typically a lot more costly than the $19.99 you’ll shell out for a copy of Secret Media.

For more information, visit www.directlogic.com/secretmedia.htm.

Craig Crossman is a national newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. For more information, visit his Web site at www.computeramerica.com.

2010 McClatchy Tribune