ASCII Art Steganography

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Posted by timothy on Sunday January 11, 2009 @08:37PM from the of-all-the-ideas-out-there-this-is-one dept.

bigearcow writes "ASCII art is nothing new, but this site takes it one step further by allowing you to embed another data file within the image. The resulting ASCII art remains printable (i.e. no special unicode symbols) — this means you can print the image out, hang it on your wall, and have it look like an innocent ASCII art when it's hiding a secret document of your choice." You'll need a small (200x200 pixel max) base image from which the ASCII art will be built.

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Excellent! by Seriousity · 2009-01-11 20:42 · Score: 5, Funny

Now we can hide instructions on how to pirate movies in **AA logos! Great day for freedom!

--
This post was made in complete sincere seriousity; as such any attempts to derive humour are doomed to instant failure.
1. Re:Excellent! by Xest · 2009-01-11 21:01 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Or even more amusingly, hide the keys for Bluray's DRM in the Bluray logo, although it would be more fun to not hide it and just make an ASCII Bluray logo out of the keys they tried to magic off of the net claiming the string was copyrighted or whatever when they were first released.
2. Re:Excellent! by mathew7 · 2009-01-11 22:55 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  You're like someone who drives a Ferrari and when it breaks down he has to call the service...oh wait...there is no service because all the technical people are extinct since the new ones DID NOT learn the old ways.
  I'm sure this kind of (programming) thinking is why Vista had so many bad reviews from enthusiasts.
  And without those boring interrupt calls and HW access you would not have any other high-level language and you would be stuck in the old platforms (compatibility). Someone still has to do the dirty work.
  I so hate the idea of "everyone can be a programmer".
3. Re:Excellent! by seanellis · 2009-01-12 01:09 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  See how effective it is? There is a relevant comment hidden in the above post - I challenge anyone to find it!
  
  --
  Sean Ellis
  Follow OfQuack's antics on Twitter.
hang it on your wall? by commodoresloat · 2009-01-11 20:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

Who wants to hang ascii art on their wall? Besides:

2. Select data file. This will be the data file embedded in the ascii art. (Limited to around 40kb at the moment)
Hmmm, how secure can this tool be when you have to send your secure data, unencrypted, to another site to use it?
1. Re:hang it on your wall? by shitzu · 2009-01-11 20:51 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Who says you may not encrypt it first? A little AES never hurt steganography.
2. Re:hang it on your wall? by HonestButCurious · 2009-01-11 22:55 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Um, actually AES does hurt steganography since steganalysis tools have an easier time finding uniformly distributed payloads (such as AES ciphertexts) than somewhat biased payloads (such as standard text).
  So, it would be easier to know that you have some data in there, but harder to know what the data is. Your call.
  Take a look at this tutorial:
  www.citi.umich.edu/u/provos/papers/practical.pdf
3. Re:hang it on your wall? by digitalhermit · 2009-01-12 02:43 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Ahh, memories.
  Back in the 80s it was the height of geek couture to have an ASCII printout of Princess Leia adorning your wall.
Breaking news by Aiml · 2009-01-11 20:47 · Score: 5, Funny

A Catholic priest has been cleared of child pornography charges after the only evidence the prosecution could offer was a series of ROFLcopters found on his harddrive.
1. Re:Breaking news by Chrisq · 2009-01-11 20:57 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  That, plus being a Catholic priest should be enough to persuade most juries.
2. Re:Breaking news by IBBoard · 2009-01-11 22:35 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Being a Catholic priest persuades most people to clear them? I must have missed that one!
3. Re:Breaking news by Main+Gauche · 2009-01-12 03:54 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  It was sitting right next to the joke.
can only encode about 40kB by OrangeTide · 2009-01-11 20:48 · Score: 5, Funny

Not quite big enough for a torrent, yet.

--
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
1. Re:can only encode about 40kB by spintriae · 2009-01-11 22:12 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  This Google App Engine application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later.
  
  Looks like 40kB was pushing it.
2. Re:can only encode about 40kB by roachdabug · 2009-01-12 01:27 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  2GB ASCII art would seem pretty suspicious to me.
slashdot v google slashdot wins by Anonymous Coward · 2009-01-11 20:56 · Score: 5, Interesting

google has been slashdotted.. well only that users app, but still, slashdot > google ;-)
"App Engine Error
Over Quota
This Google App Engine application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later. "
Though it is intermittent.
Re:Seriously? by im_thatoneguy · 2009-01-11 21:00 · Score: 5, Funny

Behold Cloud Computing! Fast, Efficient, Scalab.. errr--hold that thought.
Huh? by Frosty+Piss · 2009-01-11 21:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

From the application linky:

This Google App Engine application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later.

From Google App Engine web site:

Google App Engine makes it easy to design scalable applications that grow from one to millions of users without infrastructure headaches.

Maybe not...

--
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
1. Re:Huh? by Fruit · 2009-01-11 21:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Quota is about money headaches, not infrastructure headaches. Google can't help you with that.
2. Re:Huh? by m0i · 2009-01-11 21:33 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  AppEngine quotas explained
  
  --
  have you been defaced today?
3. Re:Huh? by wisty · 2009-01-11 21:54 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Still, it's good to know we slashdotted google. I bet that hasn't happened for a while.
4. Re:Huh? by HonestButCurious · 2009-01-11 22:49 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  The App Engine cluster is not just a big dump truck of cycles you dip into on demand. The processing power is quantized into discrete machines. There's actually a nice scheduler there that checks how busy your app is and assigns new processors to handle it. This isn't a real-time process so there are transient periods with overload. On the long run, GAE will scale fine.
  There are some nice vids about the architecture on the Google developer youtube channels.
5. Re:Huh? by MrZaius · 2009-01-11 23:21 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  >Quota is about money headaches, not infrastructure headaches. Google can't help you with that.
  No, it's about infrastructure. They allow for users to "apply" for more if the app is cool enough, and presumably award some free access to a higher quota - Read the grandparent post link. Google does at least offer to consider helping. Regardless, though, money buys and maintains infrastructure, and that's all that really is the issue here even if they are trying to milk most developers that use the service of a bit of cash.
An example of what it can do... by Copley · 2009-01-11 21:12 · Score: 5, Funny

ilovet ow at c h d o n k e y p o r nbutdo n t e ll my mother

--
I am bald
1. Re:An example of what it can do... by shird · 2009-01-11 21:28 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  dont ell my mother?
  But yes, it's not exactly difficult to have ascii art embed a message. It's text afterall.
  
  --
  I.O.U One Sig.
2. Re:An example of what it can do... by Copley · 2009-01-11 22:08 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  It's beta code... there's bound to be a few errors in the encryption algorithm!
  
  --
  I am bald
Re:already /.ed by Copley · 2009-01-11 21:17 · Score: 4, Funny

You might have a little bit of a narrow world-view... It's midday here, and I hear that the time in other places is even more different! ;-)

--
I am bald
Previous art by dee.cz · 2009-01-11 21:36 · Score: 5, Informative

We r0mb ya d0nt - 256b intro from 1999, has 200 bytes of additional code hidden in file_id.diz
Re:Seriously? by m0i · 2009-01-11 21:52 · Score: 4, Interesting

Behold Cloud Computing! Fast, Efficient, Scalab.. errr--hold that thought.
It does if you can justify the need to Google, for now they have quotas (see http://code.google.com/intl/fr/appengine/articles/quotas.html).

--
have you been defaced today?
huh by pondermaster · 2009-01-11 21:52 · Score: 5, Funny

who needs steganography when you can hide whole sites with slashdotting at least for a while...
Real Men don't make backups by andyn · 2009-01-11 22:01 · Score: 5, Funny

Real Men don't make backups. They embed their private data into ASCII art and let the world mirror it.
Re:Seriously? by BenoitRen · 2009-01-11 22:09 · Score: 4, Funny

And they say people don't RTFA...
Sorted words by cornicefire · 2009-01-12 01:12 · Score: 2, Interesting

I've always liked the way to hide information in a list of things. Peter Wayner wrote a Java thingee that starts with a list of top disco songs. Talk about ambiguous. Any order would make sense. But you can use any list. Here's my favorites: Barry White: Barry White's Greatest Hits (20th Century, 1975) KC & The Sunshine Band: KC & The Sunshine Band (TK, 1975) Gregg Diamond Bionic Boogie: Hot Butterfly (Polydor, 1978) The Jimmy Castor Bunch: Butt Of Course (Atlantic, 1974) Silver Convention: Save Me (Midland International, 1975) Voyage: Voyage; Fly Away (Marlin, 1978) First Choice: Delusions (Gold Mind, 1977) Beautiful Bend: Beautiful Bend (Marlin, 1978) Candi Staton: Young Hearts Run Free (Warner Bros., 1976) Loleatta Holloway: Loleatta (Gold Mind/Salsoul, 1976) Trammps: The Trammps (Golden Fleece/CBS, 1975) Giorgio Moroder: From Here to Eternity (Casablanca, 1985) Cerrone: Love In C Minor (Cotillion, 1977) Santa Esmeralda: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Casablanca, 1977) Chic: Chic (Atlantic, 1977) Taana Gardner: Taana Gardner (West End, 1979) LaBelle: Nightbirds (Epic, 1974) B.T. Express: Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) (Roadshow, 1974) Salsoul Orchestra: The Salsoul Orchestra (Salsoul, 1975) Michael Zager Band: Let's All Chant (Private Stock, 1977) Donna Summer: The Donna Summer Anthology (Casablanca/Chronicles, 1993) Linda Clifford: If My Friends Could See Me Now (Curtom, 1978) Direct Current: Direct Current (TEC Records, 1979) Cloud One: Atmosphere Strutt (P&P, 1976) Gloria Gaynor: Never Can Say Goodbye (MGM, 1975) Kano: Kano (Emergency, 1980) France Joli: France Joli (Prelude, 1979) Village People: Village People (Casablanca, 1977) Diana Ross: The Boss (Motown, 1979) Tantra: The Double Album (Importe/12, 1980) Cerrone: Cerrone 3 - Supernature (Cotillion, 1978) Hamilton Bohannon: Summertime Groove (Mercury, 1978) Love And Kisses: Love And Kisses (Casablanca, 1977) Ashford & Simpson: So So Satisfied; Send It (Warner Bros., 1977) Isaac Hayes: Chocolate Chip (HBS, 1975) Love Unlimited: Under The Influence Of . . . (20th Century, 1973) Disco-Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes: Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes (Chelsea, 1975) Kool & The Gang: Wild And Peaceful (De-Lite, 1973) Sister Sledge: We Are Family (Cotillion, 1979) Sylvester: Step II (Fantasy, 1978) Change: The Glow Of Love (Warner Bros./RFC, 1980) Sister Sledge: Circle Of Love (Cotillion, 1975) Grace Jones: Portfolio (Island, 1977)
1. Re:Sorted words by peterwayner · 2009-01-12 01:19 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  For more information, you can find the Table of Contents, FAQ and a few other case studies at my site.
  The Third edition of the book just came out. I think Amazon just got their copies from the printer.
Re:Help me! 5 Minutes of Computer time by Anonymous Coward · 2009-01-12 01:34 · Score: 4, Funny

Could you imagine 19 giant black cocks repeatedly ass raping and mouth fucking you?
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those!
OOOOLLLLLDDD by drmitch · 2009-01-12 02:40 · Score: 2, Interesting

There have been console programs for *nix that do this for YEARS!
Recursive ASCII steganography? by grimJester · 2009-01-12 05:07 · Score: 2, Funny

First to make an ASCII image of Xzibit that includes itself wins the Internet!