1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bogobaum here. Stagonography is the art or 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: science of not only creating a secret message, but also 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: hiding the message itself. The word stagonography, which is based 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: on Greek and earlier roots for concealed and writing, was 6 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: itself hidden in a way for about a hundred and 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: fifty years. The word went into disuse in the early 8 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds in favor of the word cryptography, and it 9 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:34,599 Speaker 1: only came back in the nineteen eighties as a way 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: of distinguishing new digital types of cryptography. For the article, 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 1: this episode is based on How Stuff Work. Spoke by 12 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: email with Jessica Friederick, a system scientist at Binghamton University 13 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: in New York and an expert on stagonography's place in 14 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: digital media. She said, the power of technography is that 15 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: the very act of secret communication is not apparent. Cryptography 16 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: involves taking a piece of information and then trying to 17 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: render it unintelligible to anyone beside the intended recipients, which 18 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: is all well and good. Digital signatures rely on cryptography, 19 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: as do mobile phones and automatic teller machines. That's a 20 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: t N s Yet, as computer scientist Simon R. Wiseman 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: noted in a paper, this sort of communication quote can 22 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: be seen and it is obvious that some message is 23 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: being passed, even though the message cannot be read. With stagonography, though, 24 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: it's a whole new ball game, and it can work 25 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: in a bunch of different ways. But one is called 26 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 1: cover modification, in which Friderick explained quote an existing image 27 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: is modified to convey a desired message. For example, with 28 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: the right now, how you could embed Shakespeare quotes inside 29 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: an ordinary looking digital photo of a cat. One method 30 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: of doing so would involve modifying some of the pixels 31 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: in a way that's far too subtle for the naked 32 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: eye to detect. A Google Chrome browser extension, unveiled in 33 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: called Secret Book, capitalized on this concept. It allowed Facebook 34 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: users to make incredibly slight alterations to JPEG images hosted 35 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,679 Speaker 1: on the social media platform. Through that process, participants could 36 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: hide messages of a hundred and forty characters are fewer 37 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:18,399 Speaker 1: right inside the pictures, unbeknownst to just about anyone who 38 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: didn't have the password needed to reveal them. You might 39 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: also conceal messages in digital audio files. People who use 40 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: audio stagonography have many tricks at their disposal, from hiding 41 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,959 Speaker 1: echoes to making use of sound frequencies that lie above 42 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:37,639 Speaker 1: the normal human range of hearing. In the wrong hands, 43 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: stagonography can be a destructive tool. Cyber attackers have been 44 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: known to spread harmful malware by using steganographic techniques. I 45 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: think digital trojan horses. Government agencies and private companies also 46 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: need to be on guard against hackers who infiltrate their 47 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: websites and then leave dangerous data behind inside steganographic files. 48 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: A stegan analysis is the practice of trying to detect 49 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:06,640 Speaker 1: and expose stagonography. Sometimes suspicious looking files are inspected by 50 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: algorithms designed especially for this purpose. Frederick said, modern stagonography 51 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,679 Speaker 1: uses powerful source coding to minimize the impact of the 52 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: embedding changes. Modern stag analysis is usually based on machine learning. 53 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: For those keeping score at home, machine learning is what 54 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: happens when computers and algorithms are given huge sets of 55 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: data to learn from and then make predictions accordingly. It's 56 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: an exciting field in the world of artificial intelligence, and 57 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: stegnography has trickled into our popular culture. In The Pew 58 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: Research Center reported that quote fifty percent of American teen 59 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: social media users say they share inside jokes or cloak 60 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: their messages in some way as a way of creating 61 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: a different sort of privacy. Many teen social media users 62 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: will obscure some of their updates and posts, sharing coded 63 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: messages that only certain friends will understand. Scholars have called 64 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: this social steganography. Today's episode is based on the article 65 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: Steganography the Art of Hiding Messages in plain sight on 66 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, written by Mark Vancini. Brain 67 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with 68 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler. 69 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: Playing or more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the 70 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 71 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.