Steganography in PDF files

file pdf file-format steganography
user2144425 picture user2144425 · Apr 19, 2013 · Viewed 16k times · Source

Can somebody tell me, where is possible to hide some data into PDF file? In other words, steganography in PDF files. Is there any algorithm to do this?

Answer

Dan Pichelman picture Dan Pichelman · Apr 19, 2013

There are lots of ways to do this, including

  • Embed the info into an image using traditional image steganography tools then embed the image into the PDF
  • Set the text color to white and make sure you are not using a colored background
  • Superimpose a white rectangle over your text.
  • Using the appropriate low level tools, create the text objects of your secret text then mark those objects as deleted. As long as no one tries to compact your PDF (Pitstop is one such compression/cleaning tool), your data will exist.
  • If you're really feeling optimistic, start reading the PDF Specification (I'm not sure if this is the most recent one, it's been a few years). There is/was a cross-ref table that would list the parts of the file that were "currently in use". It would be easy enough to add a few holes to that.

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