Personal computing discussed

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Arclight
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Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:07 am

Hey guys,

I just saw a tutorial on another forum that might come in handy at some point. Basically it allows you to hide an archive into a jpeg, png or w/e type of file by merging a "decoy" file with the archive, that contains the file(files) you want to hide.

Here is how to do it (when hiding files into a .jpg)
Create folder in C:
eg: C:\Bio

Archieve the files you want to hide and move the archive in the respective folder (C:\Bio)
eg. Movies.rar

Put the image (.jpg format) in the folder
Eg: Tropic.jpg

Open cmd prompt

Type:
cd/
Hit Enter
cd Bio
Hit Enter
COPY /B Tropic.jpg + Movies.rar test.jpg
Hit Enter

Note
Cmd will create a image called "test" (you can call it w/e you want) which will contain your hidden files

To extract, open your archiver (Either Winrar or 7Zip) browse to the new file you just created, select it
then choose where to extract your hidden files.

If you want to hide it in another type of file just make sure that the original decoy file and the final decoy file are the same type (.pdf, .png w/e).

I don't claim any credits, as i said i just noticed it on another forum. I can't give credits, idk how long back Windows can do this so i guess MS deserves the credit :D
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Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
Philldoe
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:56 am

Mommy find your porn stash?

I remember this being posted a few years ago.
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yogibbear
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:20 am

OR... just go useraccounts... password....

Still cool though.
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Arclight
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:22 am

yogibbear wrote:
OR... just go useraccounts... password....

Still cool though.


Bingo
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Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
Flying Fox
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:38 am

Philldoe wrote:
Mommy find your porn stash?

To the OP: be glad you don't end up getting your computer shot at.
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Arclight
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:02 am

Flying Fox wrote:
Philldoe wrote:
Mommy find your porn stash?

To the OP: be glad you don't end up getting your computer shot at.


Many seasons have passed since i was underaged. Please stop with the porn alusions. And yes i do watch porn but i do it on the internet, no need to download anything. This was useful find for me since when i make e-mail, accounts i write everything in txt files. Frankly i'd like them to be hidden.
nVidia video drivers FAIL, click for more info
Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
bthylafh
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:23 am

Creating a TrueCrypt container and storing your sensitive information there would be more robust.
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Arclight
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:40 am

bthylafh wrote:
Creating a TrueCrypt container and storing your sensitive information there would be more robust.


I haven't used it but i assume it requires a password right? That's exactly what i'm trying to avoid, remembering long, randomly created passwords...
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Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
bthylafh
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:46 am

/facepalm

You don't use a long randomly-created password, then. Use something decently long that you can remember but isn't in the dictionary.

http://xkcd.com/936/

Security by obscurity isn't.
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Arclight
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:55 am

bthylafh wrote:
/facepalm

You don't use a long randomly-created password, then. Use something decently long that you can remember but isn't in the dictionary.

http://xkcd.com/936/

Security by obscurity isn't.


/double face palm

Guess i should have only said i'm taking the lazy man's way....i posted this for everyone to see and i'm not expecting all of them to use it for the same purpose. You can hide anything, the thread is not titled: How to protect your sensitive passwords.
nVidia video drivers FAIL, click for more info
Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
just brew it!
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:53 pm

If you want a lazy man's solution that doesn't require a password, just put the files on a thumbdrive and hide it. I would argue that it requires less effort and offers better security than your proposed method.
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Arclight
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:58 pm

just brew it! wrote:
If you want a lazy man's solution that doesn't require a password, just put the files on a thumbdrive and hide it. I would argue that it requires less effort and offers better security than your proposed method.


jbi, i'm seriously starting to regret spending so much time in a forum where you can't post a few tricks without being judged.

I'd understand if you guys said "Oh but i already knew this like 100 years ago" or "Nice i'm gonna hide so much unorthodox material at school/work"...but nitpicking at what i choose to use the trick? Srsly? This community kinda s*cks....
nVidia video drivers FAIL, click for more info
Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
ludi
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:12 pm

Arclight wrote:
I'd understand if you guys said "Oh but i already knew this like 100 years ago" or "Nice i'm gonna hide so much unorthodox material at school/work"...but nitpicking at what i choose to use the trick? Srsly? This community kinda s*cks....

Dude, stop and think about it for a second.

"Hide in plain sight" tricks of this sort are effective mainly against novice snoopers who know nothing about file management beyond "double-click to see what this is", but would be suspicious of things locked with obvious keys and demand an explanation. That pretty well limits you to computer un-savvy spouses fumbling around for evidence of improper behavior, and low-tech parents who saw a Today Show special citing access to how much digital porn is currently in storage by children living at home. Everyone else is going to wonder why you have a 140GB copy of Santa Fe Stucco, and promptly break out WinRAR, 7Zip, or some heavy-duty disk management tools to figure out where the space went.

I suppose you might be able to hide some relatively small text files in some relatively large compressed images, and rely on the ordinary uncertainty of the compression algorithm to disguise a few kilobytes of file size variance, but once again these will show up immediately in a simple binary deconstruction of the file (i.e. force the image to open with notepad). Security can be done better.

IOW it's an interesting trick, but you probably should have seen this reaction coming.
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Flying Fox
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:03 pm

Arclight wrote:
bthylafh wrote:
Creating a TrueCrypt container and storing your sensitive information there would be more robust.


I haven't used it but i assume it requires a password right? That's exactly what i'm trying to avoid, remembering long, randomly created passwords...

You can use a keyfile instead, or both a keyfile and a password (which I use). I made sure I don't have too many copies of the keyfile around.

Arclight wrote:
This community kinda s*cks....

Just not what you expect the reactions to be. It has nothing to do with the quality of the forums. TR forum members have a generally higher average age, plus there is not a lot of "novice snoopers" around that can't tell if there is something fishy with a 200MB picture file. In the real world, whether it is in higher education institution and at work, these tricks may even violate policies that have real consequences, such as firing or even prosecution. The TR community takes this very seriously that is why you see the response that you are getting.
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LocalCitizen
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:57 pm

I'm with Arclight. If you are hiding small text files among thousands of picture in a typical computer, then this trick works great. Photos from digicams can be several MB in size. No one will notice a few kB difference. Even if someone is suspicious, who has the time to unrar a few thousand files, unless you are targeted?
It's a good idea. I'll take a note of it.
 
Jon
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Re: Hide folders into images

Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:10 pm

Flying Fox wrote:
Philldoe wrote:
Mommy find your porn stash?

To the OP: be glad you don't end up getting your computer shot at.


That was incredible, wow. I can empathize with the father, teenagers really can be a PITA.
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