Extracting the hidden text off an image embedded with steganography

Question

Is it possible for me to extract the hidden text off a stego-image without using the same application that the hidden text was hidden with.

I used 5 applications that do steganography such as, SteganographyX, QuickStego, Xiao Steganography, SSuitePiscel & OpenStego. I only inserted hidden text in a .BMP image and did not embed any type of encryption to make it more secure, just kept it basic.

The thing is that if i hid text using for example QuickStego, i cannot extract what i hid with another application mentioned above.

Is it possible to create such code and create my own application that does let me extract an image's hidden text created by any steganography tool? Like with python or something?

Answer 1

Yes, you can write a single application to reveal the hidden information as long as you know the method and they are not encrypting the messages they hide. The Wikipedia article in Steganography tools lists some information about availability as an opensource, their methods, and usege of encryption. And some information can be found on their website.

For example, QuickStego says that;

The QuickCrypto steganography function allows carrier files to be photographs, drawings, images (.jpg, .gif, .bmp file types) and sounds (.wav and .mp3 file types). Any type of file can be hidden within these types of carrier files. Files and text to be hidden can easily be encrypted prior to hiding if required.

and SSuite Picsel

SSuite Picsel secures all your text messages using Steganography encryption...

If encrypted you must know the encryption algorithm and the key to decrypt the message after you retrieve the hidden messages.

There may be also a patent problem since the SSuite Piscel is a company. They may have some patents on the steganographic methods. You may write your software by reverse engineering their products, but distributing it; may cause legal problems.