How to Hide Data in Image, Audio & Video Files: Steganography

Ever wondered to know how to hide secret messages in images, audio and video files? Well, in this post I will take you through a concept called steganography using which, it is possible to hide your secret information in image files, songs or any other file of your choice. At the end of this post, you can also download free stegnographic tools and start hiding your data.





What is Steganography?



Steganography is a means of obscuring data where secret messages are hidden inside computer files such as images, sound files, videos and even executable files so that, no one except the sender and the receiver will suspect the existence of stealth information in it. Steganography may also involve the usage of cryptography where the message is first encrypted before it is concealed in another file. Generally, the messages appear to be something else such as an image, sound or video so that the transfer of secret data remains unsuspected.



The main advantage of steganography over other methods such as cryptography is that, it will not arose suspicion even if the files fall in the hands of a third party. Unlike cryptographic messages, stegnographic messages will no way attract the attention of a third party by themselves. Thus stegnanography has an upper hand over cryptography as it involves both encryption and obscurity.

What are the Applications of Steganography?



Steganography is mainly used to obscure confidential information/data during storage or transmission. For example, one can hide a secret message in an audio file and send this to another party via email instead of sending the message in the textual format. The receiver on the other end will decrypt the hidden message using the private decryption key. In a worst case scenario, even if a third party does manage to gain access to the email, all he can find is the audio file and not the hidden data inside it. Other usage of steganography include digital watermarking of images for reasons such as copyright protection.



Eventhough steganography has many useful applications, some may use this technique for illegitimate purposes such as hiding a pornographic content in other large files. Roumors about terrorists using steganography for hiding and communicating their secret information and instructions are also reported. An article claiming that, al-Queda had used steganography to encode messages in images and transported them via e-mails, was reported by New York Times, in October 2001.


How do Steganography Tools Work?



Stegnography tools implement intelligent algorithms to carefully embed the encrypted text messages or data inside other larger files such as an image, audio, video or an executable file. Some tools will embed the encrypted data at the end of another file so that there will be enough room for storing larger data.



There are many steganography tools available online but only a few are able to work flawlessly. I did not find any tool that worked perfectly on both small and large data. However I have managed to develop my own tool that can work perfectly on all types of files and all size of data. The tool is called “Stego Magic“. You can download it from the following link.



Download Stego Magic


Download StegoMagic.zip



The zip file contains two versions of Stego Magic: One for encrypting the text messages and the other for encrypting binary files. StegoMagic_TXT can be used to hide text messages in other files such as an image or a sound file. StegoMagic_BIN can be used to hide one binary file in another such as an executable file inside an image or an image inside a video file.



With Stego Magic, there is no limitation on the size and type of the file that you are intending to hide. For example, you can hide a video of size 1 GB in an image of size 1 MB or hide an executable file inside a WORD document. The tool is pretty straightforward to use and requires no special understanding of the concept.



At the end of the encryption process, a secret decryption key will be generated and the same is required during the decryption process.

How to Use Stego Magic?



Suppose you want to hide a text message inside a JPG file:



1. Place the JPG and the text file (.txt) in the same folder as that of StegoMagic_TXT.exe



2. Run StegoMagic_TXT.exe and follow the screen instructions to embed the text message inside the JPG image.



3. Note down the secret decryption key.



Now you can send this image to your friend via email. To decrypt the hidden message, your friend should load this JPG file onto the Stego Magic tool and use the secret decryption key.



I hope you enjoy this post . For queries and feedback, please pass your comments .

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How Antivirus Software Works

Due to ever increasing threat from virus and other malicious programs, almost every computer today comes with a pre-installed antivirus software on it. In fact, an antivirus has become one of the most essential software package for every computer. Even though every one of us have an antivirus software installed on our computers, only a few really bother to understand how it actually works! Well if you are one among those few who would really bother to understand how an antivirus works, then this article is for you.

How Antivirus Works

An antivirus software typically uses a variety of strategies in detecting and removing viruses, worms and other malware programs. The following are the two most widely employed identification methods:

1. Signature-based dectection (Dictionary approach)

This is the most commonly employed method which involves searching for known patterns of virus within a given file. Every antivirus software will have a dictionary of sample malware codes called signatures in it’s database. Whenever a file is examined, the antivirus refers to the dictionary of sample codes present within it’s database and compares the same with the current file. If the piece of code within the file matches with the one in it’s dictionary then it is flagged and proper action is taken immediately so as to stop the virus from further replicating. The antivirus may choose to repair the file, quarantine or delete it permanently based on it’s potential risk. 

As new viruses and malwares are created and released every day, this method of detection cannot defend against new malwares unless their samples are collected and signatures are released by the antivirus software company. Some companies may also encourage the users to upload new viruses or variants, so that the virus can be analyzed and the signature can be added to the dictionary.

Signature based detection can be very effective, but requires frequent updates of the virus signature dictionary. Hence the users must update their antivirus software on a regular basis so as to defend against new threats that are released daily.

2. Heuristic-based detection (Suspicious behaviour approach)

Heuristic-based detection involves identifying suspicious behaviour from any given program which might indicate a potential risk. This approach is used by some of the sophisticated antivirus softwares to identify new malware and variants of known malware. Unlike the signature based approach, here the antivirus doesn’t attempt to identify known viruses, but instead monitors the behavior of all programs.

For example, malicious behaviours like a program trying to write data to an executable program is flagged and the user is alerted about this action. This method of detection gives an additional level of security from unidentified threats.

File emulation: This is another type of heuristic-based approach where a given program is executed in a virtual environment and the actions performed by it are logged. Based on the actions logged, the antivirus software can determine if the program is malicious or not and carry out necessary actions in order to clean the infection.

Most commercial antivirus softwares use a combination of both signature-based and heuristic-based approaches to combat malware.

Issues of concern

Zero-day threats: A zero-day (zero-hour ) threat or attack is where a malware tries to exploit computer application vulnerabilities that are yet unidentified by the antivirus software companies. These attacks are used to cause damage to the computer even before they are identified. Since patches are not yet released for these kind of new threats, they can easily manage to bypass the antivirus software and carry out malicious actions. However most of the threats are identified after a day or two of it’s release, but damage caused by them before identification is quite inevitable.

Daily Updates: Since new viruses and threats are released everyday, it is most essential to update the antivirus software so as to keep the virus definitions up-to-date. Most softwares will have an auto-update feature so that the virus definitions are updated whenever the computer is connected to the Internet.

Effectiveness: Even though an antivirus software can catch almost every malware, it is still not 100% foolproof against all kinds of threats. As explained earlier, a zero-day threat can easily bypass the protective shield of the antivirus software. Also virus authors have tried to stay a step ahead by writing “oligomorphic“, “polymorphic” and, more recently, “metamorphic” virus codes, which will encrypt parts of themselves or otherwise modify themselves as a method of disguise, so as to not match virus signatures in the dictionary.

Thus user education is as important as antivirus software; users must be trained to practice safe surfing habits such as downloading files only from trusted websites and not blindly executing a program that is unknown or obtained from an untrusted source. I hope this article will help you understand the working of an antivirus software.

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How to Hack Windows Administrator Password

This hack will show you how to reset Windows administrator password (for Win 2000, XP, Vista and Win 7) at times when you forget it or when you want to gain access to a computer for which you do not know the password.

Most of us have experienced a situation where in we need to gain access to a computer which is password protected or at times we may forget the administrator password without which it becomes impossible to login to the computer. So here is an excellent hack using which you can reset the password or make the password empty (remove the password) so that you can gain administrator access to the computer. You can do this with a small tool called  Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. This utility works offline, that means you need to shut down your computer and boot off your using a floppy disk, CD or USB device (such as pen drive). The tool has the following features.

• You do not need to know the old password to set a new one
• Will detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts!
• There is also a registry editor and other registry utilities that works under linux/unix, and can be used for other things than password editing.

How it works?

Most Windows operating systems stores the login passwords and other encrypted passwords in a file called sam (Security Accounts Manager). This file can be usually found in \windows\system32\config. This file is a part of Windows registry and remains inaccessible as long as the OS is active. Hence it is necessary that you need to boot off your computer and access this sam file via boot. This tool intelligently gains access to this file and will reset/remove the password associated with administrator or any other account.

The download link for both CD and floppy drives along with the complete instructions is given below
Offline NT Password & Reg Editor Download

It is recommended that you download the CD version of the tool since floppy drive is outdated and doesn’t exist in today’s computer. Once you download you’ll get a bootable image which you need to burn it onto your CD. Now boot your computer from this CD and follow the screen instructions to reset the password.

Another simple way to reset non-administrator account passwords

Here is another simple way through which you can reset the password of any non-administrator accounts. The only requirement for this is that you need to have administrator privileges. Here is a step-by-step instruction to accomplish this task.

1. Open the command prompt (Start->Run->type cmd->Enter)
2. Now type net user and hit Enter
3. Now the system will show you a list of user accounts on the computer. Say for example you need to reset the password of the account by name John, then do as follows
4. Type net user John * and hit Enter. Now the system will ask you to enter the new password for the account. That’s it. Now you’ve successfully reset the password for John without knowing his old password.
So in this way you can reset the password of any Windows account at times when you forget it so that you need not re-install your OS for any reason. I hope this helps.

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FatCal - Automatic SQL Injection tool

FatCat is an automatic SQL injection tool. This tool is useful for testing SQLI vulnerabilities of a web application. This tool can extract whole database data. FatCat Features that help you to extract the Database information, Table information, and Column information from web application. Only If it is vulnerable to SQL Injection Vulnerability.



Features:  
1)  Normal SQL Injection 
2)  Double Query SQL Injection   


In Next Version:   
1)  WAF bypass 
2)  Cookie Header passing 
3)  Load File 3) Generating XSS from SQL   


Requirement:  
1)  PHP Verison 5.3.0 
2)  Enable file_get_function  


Download:
http://code.google.com/p/fatcat-sql-injector/downloads/list

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Call of Duty, Spider-Man and other 7 Largest Video Game Sites Hacked

Today Turkish Hackers from group "GrayHatz" hack and Deface Call of Duty, Spider-Man and other 7 Largest Video Game Sites.

Hacked Sites Include:- Call of Duty® Official Video Game Site : Link and Mirror
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine Official Video Game Site : Link and Mirror
- Spider-Man: Edge of Time Official Game Website
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Official Video Game Site : Link and Mirror
- Prototype 2 Official Video Game Site : Link and Mirror
- Infinity Ward Developer of Call of Duty : Link and Mirror
- The Quantum Of Solace Game Official Video Game : Link and Mirror
- DJ Hero 2 | Available Now Official Site : Link and Mirror
- Guitar Hero Official Site : Link and Mirror

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NASA and Pentagon Hacker - TinKode Arrested in Romania

NASA and Pentagon Hacker - TinKode Arrested in Romania

Romanian police have arrested a man believed to be TinKode, the notorious hacker responsible for several daring, high-profile cyberattacks, including last year's breach of NASA's servers, Royal Navy, The European Space Agency and MySQL.com. The 20-year-old man, named as Razvan Manole Cernaianu, allegedly attacked Pentagon and NASA computer systems, revealed security holes, and published information about SQL injection vulnerabilities he had discovered, the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorist (DIICOT) said in a press release.

He also posted a video on his blog demonstrating an attack he carried out against the U.S. government, and created and offered for sale a computer program used to hack Web sites. Through his exploits, Cernaianu blocked access to systems and seriously disabled their proper functioning, authorities said.

Currently, Cernăianu is being taken to Bucharest for questioning and he is charged with breaching a computing system without authorization, unauthorized transfer of data from a computing system, and the disruption of a computing system. Romanian authorities said the FBI and NASA took part in the investigation.

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Anonymous Hacks FBI and Records Conference Call

Anonymous Hacks FBI and Records Conference Call

Earlier today, Anonymous released a confidential conference call between the FBI and law enforcement officers in the UK. The 16-minute call discusses ongoing investigations into hackers associated with Anonymous, AntiSec, and LulzSec.

From all appearances, Anonymous retrieved the sensitive access code information and a list of attendees from an FBI email account. The group released a roughly 15-minute-long recording of what appears to be a Jan. 17 conference call devoted to tracking and prosecuting members of the loose-knit hacking group.

The email, titled “Anon-Lulz International Coordination Call”, was published on pastebin earlier today: http://pastebin.com/8G4jLha8 . The email with details for accessing the call was sent to law enforcement officials in Britain, France, the Netherlands and others but the only people who identify themselves on the call are from the FBI and Scotland Yard.In a message on Twitter, Anonymous posted links to the audio recording and said the FBI "might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."

The initial link to the conference call was for an mp3 download, but it was also made available to stream on YouTube.

The FBI and Scotland Yard have now confirmed that their internal conference call describing their investigation into Anonymous hackers was illegally intercepted, as was the email containing the conference call details. The Metropolitan Police also confirmed it, saying:“We are aware of the video which relates to an FBI conference call involving a PCeU representative. The matter is being investigated by the FBI. We continue to carry out a full assessment. We are not prepared to discuss further.”

Karen Todner, a lawyer for Cleary, said that the recording could be “incredibly sensitive” and warned that such data breaches had the potential to derail the police’s work.“If they haven’t secured their email it could potentially prejudice the investigation,” she told. Following a spate of arrests across the world, the group and its various offshoots have focused their attention on law enforcement agencies in general and the FBI in particular.

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