In this Internet age, nothing is really secure and one of the primary concerns of most of the users is data security. We are always trying to find new ways to secure our data, whether it’s just passwords or specific confidential messages where no one can really access it. Hiding messages, it’s not a 21st-century concept. The concept of encrypting messages has been followed since ancient times using different methods. In this post, we will have a look at freeware SSuite Picsel Security which will help encrypt messages in images.
How to hide or encrypt messages in images
Picsel Security is a portable application that encrypts any plain text messages or text files. Don’t take this application lightly since it uses a powerful encryption technique called Steganography. For those who aren’t familiar with this term, Steganography is a method of hiding a message within another file or an image. It’s a really interesting story about who first introduced this method.
A German cryptographer, Johannes Trithemius, published a three-volume book called Steganographia, which appeared as a book about magic but was actually a written work dealing with Steganography in 1499. The concept of hiding messages in plain sight was first done in 440 BC when Demaratus (King of Sparta) sent a warning about a forthcoming attack to Greece by writing it directly on the wooden backing of a wax tablet before applying its beeswax surface. Well enough with the history lesson, I just get too excited about these things.
The application’s usage is really simple. It’s a portable application, so we don’t need to install anything.
To encrypt your message, click on “Open Original Image” and select a picture of your choice. Then, type the message you want and click on “Encrypt Image.” Once it’s encrypted, click on “Save Image” to save the encrypted image.
Now to decrypt the image you need the original image. Open the Original image and click on Decrypt Image, it will ask you to select the saved encrypted image. Just select the image and it will display the hidden message.
SSuite Picsel Security free download
It’s a nice little application for serious users as well as for fun. You can download the application from here. Worked fine on Windows 10 too.
I hope you find this application useful. Here, download this attachment. I have an encrypted message for you. There is an encrypted image and included the key for decryption. Let me know what message you find in it. :)
Read: Best free Steganography tools to hide text in image.
Your message must translate to “April Fool!”, since the link to the test attachment currently is to the normal list of freeware maintained with active links as usual on TWC site.
The dev site says it has “military grade encryption”, and this advert apparently is copied verbatim at other download sites such as MajorGeeks, Softpedia, CNET, etcetera; yet not one of these sites seems to know what the algorithm of such “military grade” encryption is; but as a 1.70MB tiny, tiny app, the military grade might well be “4F”.
Good as a novelty or perhaps to foil common thieves when looking for an easy way to remember one’s own complex passwords, but hardly likely to bring the world of computer forensics to its knees.
I am able to download the attachment. I wonder why you get redirected… Direct link https://www.thewindowsclub.com/downloads/for-picsel.zip
I haven’t an OS/browser issue(s) as cause, either. Whether using the original story link, or using your link you gave, in “Pale Moon” both go to the same TWC freeware listing page; when I use either link in IE 11 for Windows 7, they go to a blank page.
Then, I just now went to IE 11 for Windows 7, went directly to the TWC homepage, and voila! The link to the attachment worked, download was available! Ditto in Pale Moon, also then going directly to TWC homepage.
Curiously(?), I only therefore get redirects to non-attachment pages when I link to same from the story (and your reply to me) contained in my GMail account inbox copy of TWC daily emailing. I would thus suspect Google isn’t allowing a text via email which its system may be identifying as malware (a number of today’s malware criminals will keep encrypting their scumware until most AV scanners can’t recognize it, so maybe Google is using a filter against links to any image sniffed for hidden text…it’s not any of my security, which is set to essentially detect on direct download or worst case as a suspect or even cleared by weirdly-acting file opens, and which allows me to choose download of TWC attachment on warning).
It’s past my bedtime here in USA Pacific NW, so I hope this explains what I saw until tomorrow, should you require further. Cheers!
I like it very much, works for me perfectly. :)
I think that not using passwords is much better in security. No more forgetting that pesky password to open encrypted messages…