High school students learn about image steganography and steganalysis at the MIP day

On February 22^nd, 2024, the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Innsbruck hosted the MIP day, a special event for high school students from Tirol and Vorarlberg who are interested in Mathematics, Informatics, and Physics.

Among the various workshops and lectures offered at the MIP day, one of them was about image steganography and steganalysis, led by two researchers from the UNCOVER project: Martin Benes and Verena Lachner.

The workshop had an overall theme of solving a mysterious crime that happened on the campus. Martin and Verena were captured on a photo stealing a bike. The attendants were “detectives”, trying to decode their steganographic communication to find out whether they were guilty or not. To do so, they had to learn about how to process images in a computer, how to hide secret messages into them, and how to find them.

The workshop was interactive and engaging, as the students used various tools and methods to manipulate and analyze images. They also learned about the applications and challenges of image steganography and steganalysis in the real world.

In the end, it turned out that Martin and Verena were innocent, as they just lost the lock key, so they were cutting the lock on their bike. The students were able to discover this by decoding the hidden message in the photo, which was a proof of ownership of the bike.

The workshop was a success, as the students enjoyed learning about a fascinating topic and solving a fun mystery. They also gained valuable skills and knowledge that could spark their interest in pursuing further studies or careers in computer science.

For more information about the MIP day and the other workshops and lectures, please visit the official website: https://www.uibk.ac.at/informatik/schule/tag-der-mip/