Steganography Lab
Steganography Lab
Show simple examples of steganography
Materials needed
Kali Linux Machine
Software Tools used
zip command (Linux command)
steghide (Linux program)
Objectives Covered
Security+ Objectives (SY0-601)
Objective 2.8 - Summarize the basics of
cryptographic concepts
Steganography
Image
What is Steganography?
A type of obfuscation where the actual message does
not attract attention
A message is embedded in an image
TCP packets have message embedded inside them
Watermarks that are invisible to the eye on the paper
This image has the
message “You may be
compromised, meet your
handler at headquarters”
embedded in it.
The Steganography Lab
Setup Environment
Embedded text (zip command)
Embedded text (steghide app)
Setup Environment
Log into your range
Open the Kali Linux Environment
You should be on your Kali Linux Desktop
Find Steganography Lab Files
Click the Folder icon in the top left of Kali
Then navigate to CourseFiles > Cybersecurity > steganography-
lab and select "Open Folder"
Embedded Text (zip Command)
Take a look at the images inside of this folder
Open the images to see if you see any hidden
messages
3 of the images have hidden messages
Embedded Text (zip Command)
Let’s discover the text hidden inside of the
panda_hanging.jpg image
Open a terminal
Navigate to the folder
cd CourseFiles/Cybersecurity/steganography-lab
When inside the folder, unzip the image
unzip panda_hanging.jpg
Notice that a
TopSecret.txt file was
extracted from this image
Embedded Text (zip Command)
What does the TopSecret.txt file say?
List all the files in the folder
ls
Notice there is a TopSecret folder
Navigate into this folder and list all the files
cd TopSecret Notice the hidden
ls message that was
embedded in the image
Read the TopSecret.txt file
cat TopSecret.txt
Embedded Text (zip Command)
Your turn to hide a message in an image just like this one.
Create the message here:
Navigate back to steganography-lab folder
cd ..
Create and edit the text document
nano SekretMessage.txt
Enter your secret message to be hidden
Press CTRL+X, then Y, and ENTER to save
Embedded Text (zip Command)
Now, put the message in a zipped folder:
Create a directory:
mkdir SekretMessage
Move the message into the directory
mv SekretMessage.txt SekretMessage
Zip the directory
zip -r SekretMessage.zip SekretMessage
Remove the old directory
rm SekretMessage -rf
Embedded Text (zip Command)
Concatenate the zipped file with image1:
Combine the files
cat image1.jpg SekretMessage.zip > berry.jpg
Delete the old message
rm SekretMessage.zip
Navigate to the berry.jpg file, notice it’s just an image of
a strawberry…
…or is it?
Embedded Text (zip Command)
Without unzipping the image, try to find the embedded
message inside the berry.jpg image:
Now, unzip the file and find the hidden message
unzip berry.jpg
Display the message
cat SekretMessage/SekretMessage.txt
Embedded Text (zip Command)
Your turn: Hide your own message
Create a text file (hidden message!)
Put the text file into a folder
Zip the folder (Recursively!)
Concatenate the zipped folder and image2.jpg to hide
the message
Delete the old files (except new image with hidden
message)
Then have someone else discover the hidden message!
Embedded Text (steghide app)
This is already installed on the CYBER.ORG Range
Install steghide:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install steghide
Enter “y” when/if prompted
Embedded Text (steghide app)
Once steghide is installed, discover the hidden
message inside of the giraffe image:
steghide extract -sf giraffe_tongue.jpg
When prompted for a passphrase:
Use “verytall” (without quotations)
Display the hidden message
cat HiddenMessage.txt
Notice that this gives the
passphrase for the koala image.
Find the hidden message
embedded in the koala image
Embedded Text (steghide app)
Let’s read the manual for steghide:
man steghide
Locate the following flags/options:
-sf
-ef
-cf
What are the purpose of
these flags/options?
Embedded Text (steghide app)
Create and edit the message
nano MessageToHide.txt
Enter your secret message to be hidden
Press CTRL+X, then Y, and ENTER to save
Embedded Text (steghide app)
Embed the message inside of image3.jpg
steghide embed -ef MessageToHide.txt -cf image3.jpg
Enter a password when prompted
Re-enter to confirm the password
Remove the old message
rm MessageToHide.txt
Embedded Text (steghide app)
Try to find the embedded text without steghide
Use steghide to find the message
steghide extract -sf image3.jpg
Enter password when prompted
Display the message
cat MessageToHide.txt
Embedded Text (steghide app)
Your turn: Hide your own message
Create a text file (hidden message!)
Hide the text file inside image4.jpg
Remember the password!
Delete the old message
Have someone else try to discover the hidden
message!