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Rasputin42x69

[SPEC] Binary pattern in "student4.mp3" on Wongmo?

**Posted:** Sat Oct 11, 2003 3:54 pm

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well good luck! Twisted Evil

**Posted:** Tue Oct 14, 2003 7:33 am

Exo · Kilroy Joined: 20 Oct 2003 Posts: 2 Location: DK

I've just tried MP3Stego on the student4.mp3 file, and I believe there could be something hidden in it.

The reason is that when I use the tool to decode for instance "the_picture.mp3", I get this error:

[Frame 6423]Frame cannot be located
Input stream may be empty
Avg slots/frame = 313.489; b/smp = 2.18; br = 96.006 kbps
Decoding of "the_picture.mp3" is finished
The decoded PCM output file name is "the_picture.mp3.pcm"

I get that error on almost every mp3.
When I then create my own stegged mp3 file from a default Windows .wav file, I get this error while trying to decode it without the correct pass:

[Frame 435]Avg slots/frame = 417.006; b/smp = 2.90; br = 127.708 kbps
[ERROR]Encrypt: unexpected end of cipher message.

That error message is the same as the one I get when trying to decode the student4.mp3.

Has anyone looked into this thing? Am I way off or could there be something there?

**Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:39 pm

peter_magenheimer · Veteran Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 119 Location: Colorado

Well I've been working with MP3Stego for quite a while recently, and I haven't seen the first error you mentioned, Exo, but the 2nd one basically just means that it didn't find anything.

When I run the_picture.mp3 through the program, I end up getting a bunch of gibberish (same with dolphindance.mp3 from wongmo.org) spewed out into a txt file. I first thought that it might mean that the mp3 has text encoded in it, and it only needed the correct passcode to be revealed (since the text it spewed was different for each passcode I used). But, I think I'm wrong, because the same thing happened with a couple other completely un-related mp3's that I have on my computer.

If anyone's willing to spend some time trying some possible passcodes for those two mp3's, that'd be great, but I don't think you will find anything. It's hard to know, because it spits out text each time, so you can't really automate it... But please, feel free to try, we might end up finding some important info encoded in one of those files.

P.S. Are there any other mp3 stegonagraphy programs out there? It'd be worth a try to run the_picture.mp3 and dolphindance.mp3 through another program...

**Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:10 pm

Exo · Kilroy Joined: 20 Oct 2003 Posts: 2 Location: DK

**Posted:** Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:36 am

Sowelu · Boot Joined: 19 Oct 2003 Posts: 15

If you want it, here's another MP3 destegger. It's annoying, and it sucks, but it's proven much more effective than MP3Stego (which I NEVER got to work).

None of the game mp3s show up as stegged with it, though, and I suspect the program just sucks--but at least you can encode a message in a file that's already an mp3, and then decode it again! Of course, the song probably won't play very well afterwards. Oh, and it doesn't use passwords either.

Still, it's the only other mp3 stegger I found on the whole net...

**Posted:** Tue Oct 21, 2003 4:44 am

peter_magenheimer · Veteran Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 119 Location: Colorado

Where is it Sowelu? Wink

**Posted:** Tue Oct 21, 2003 5:19 pm

peter_magenheimer · Veteran Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 119 Location: Colorado

Well, I've discovered why we found some "false positives" in various normal, off-the-cd mp3's...

Apparently, I was correct in saying that some record companies are hiding 'secret messages' in some of their tracks. Except, instead of being riddles or something to that extent, these messages are actually the copyright information for that particular mp3. This way, if a company releases an album or a single in mp3 form on the internet, they can prove in court that it is indeed their material if someone else tries to claim it as their own. From http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ahchan/com3520/ppt/Ashwini.ppt : (html version: click here )

"Music company publishes albums in mp3 and publishes over internet.

Some people take these mp3 files and publish under their own name.

Case goes to court.

The Music company needs to prove that the material which is exhibit is indeed the one they published.

They need a hidden copyright."

So it's much more possible that the mp3's from wongmo.org and little-boxes.net are encoded with a secret message, and I think it's probably worth more effort to try to find that message, now that we're more sure that we're not receiving false positives.

**Posted:** Tue Oct 21, 2003 6:05 pm