Hey everyone, I'm not really tech-savvy, but my girlfriend, who studies IT, gave me a challenge. She gifted me a USB stick with an image of roses, which has a quote on it that's been altered—"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is ZIPPED AWAY to the eye."
I suspect she hid a zip file within this image, especially since she specifically changed the original quote to include 'ZIPPED AWAY.' I've tried changing the file extension from .jpg to .zip, and I spent hours brainstorming solutions with ChatGPT, but I feel stuck. She assured me that it's not too complicated, so I'm hoping to figure it out. Anyone here has any ideas on how to uncover this hidden zip file?
5 Answers
What software did you use after renaming the file? If you just went with Windows Explorer, I’d recommend trying 7zip to see if that reveals any hidden content. You should also take a look at this guide for hiding files inside an image: https://www.instructables.com/How-to-hide-your-files-inside-a-picture/.
Have you tried enabling "Show hidden files"? Sometimes the hidden files can be easily overlooked. Just a simple check can save you time!
It sounds like she used a technique known as steganography to hide the zip file. You could try using a steganography detection tool, or even open the image in Notepad to see if there’s any hidden info beneath the header.
You might be overthinking this a bit. Try showing hidden folders instead, it could really help you spot what you're looking for!
Good point, but I already tried that too, nothing popped up.
Check the image properties. Sometimes, encoded text or data can be embedded in the metadata of the image file itself. It could be worth a look!
Yes, I already checked that. No hidden files were found.