Abeon Tech

We are all aware of the threats faced while online or connected to the internet.
But think about the security problems that could arise if your laptop, flash drive or cds were stolen!
Physical theft is often overlooked when thinking about the security of your personnel details.

As security online increases and encourages secure passwords, they also get harder to remember.
As a result of this, many of us have files on our hard drive / flash drive / cds etc containing our login details and other sensitive information.

There are many reasons why this is a bad idea. The latest to grab the attention of the media is related to the new powers given to US Customs and Border Patrol, allowing any suspicious electrical device to be search and / or seized!…..

Since 9/11, CBP agents have been searching and seizing laptops, digital cameras, cellphones and other electronic devices at the border, without search warrants, or probable cause. CBP agents can subject these devices to extensive forensic analysis, according to the courts.

Maria Udy, a UK citizen working for a US global marketing firm, had her company laptop seized by a federal agent prior to flying from Dulles International to London, in December, 2006. The Washington Post reports Udy said the agent told her he had a “security concern” with her. Fourteen months later, Udy’s laptop had not been returned, nor had she been able to find out what happened to it.

[ Excerpt From Tripso.com]

I would feel a lot better knowing my files where secured, if I were to lose my laptop or removable storage.

There are a few ways to hide files on your computer without too much effort.

In this example we will hide a text message inside a picture. We have choose for this tutorial a text file named Secret.txt and a picture firefox.jpg.

1. Move your files you want to combine in a new folder, in our case C:\Hidden.

2. Add the file you want to hide into a new RAR archive (in our example named Secret.txt.rar).

3. WinRar created the archive in the folder where our files are located.

4. Open Command Prompt (Start -> Run…, type cmd and press Enter).

5. Go to the folder where your files are located, in this case C:\Hidden by using the cd command.

6. Now type copy /b firefox.jpg + secret.txt.rar helpero.jpg where firefox.jpg is the original picture, secret.txt.rar is the file that will be hidden, and helpero.jpg is the file which contains both.

7. If you open helpero.jpg you will see the firefox.jpg image.

8. Try opening the file with WinRar (select All files).

9. Now you can see the text file that is hidden in the picture.

Using this method, you can “hide” any rar file (or other file, for that matter) inside the picture. It will also retain the preview and other standard picture file associations.

This won’t stop a major forensic examination, but should stop the casual user from finding your most personnel login details!